METHODS FOR CULTIVATING THE VOICE.

FREEDOM AND RIGHT DIRECTION.

Freedom of tone is secured by the delicate adjustment and elasticity in the action of those parts which form the transient resonant molds. The hindrances to freedom of voice are produced by holding the vocal organs too rigid and close while forming these molds.

I have spoken of the deleterious effect upon the health caused by the misadjustment of the tongue in its relation to the pharynx, which results in “clergyman’s sore throat.” Another malformation of a resonant chamber is produced by holding a portion of the tongue too near the posterior portion of the roof of the mouth. A third is produced by holding the tongue too near the hard palate; a fourth by holding the tongue too near the front teeth. All these false adjustments are reported in throaty, rasping, and squeezed tones of the voice. The first object in the cultivation of the voice should be to establish habitual openness and freedom throughout the vocal aperture and this, too, by the shortest possible method. This method should consist, not in giving definite attention to first one portion of the vocal tube and then to another, but in securing a unified action of all the parts. By vocal practice, while holding the right mental concept, a clear and open passage from the vocal cords to the anterior portion of the nares can easily be secured.

DOMINANT CENTER OF THE VOICE.

The tone must be idealized with reference to place and form. The student should imagine the tone outside that resonant chamber of the nares most distant from the vocal cords. This will bring the consciousness outside that part of the nose which is between the eyes. The anterior portion of the nares is, so far as place and consequent resonance are concerned, the dominant center of the voice. My reason for calling this the dominant center of the voice is that when the tone is perfectly directed toward this chamber, all the resonant passages open freely through the entire nares, mouth, and pharynx to the vocal cords; and also the tongue has a tendency to relax its rigidity.

MENTAL CONCEPT.

It is important, however, that the mind should not think of this locality as being in the nares, but outside, and think of it, too, as an ever expanding and luminous globe which moves in a forward and downward curve.

Beauty of voice is largely due to the fact that the vocal aperture is in the form of a curve. Unpleasant qualities in the voice are caused by the vocal column being made to move in angles instead of curves. That the voice may be shaped to the vocal aperture, it is necessary to hold in the mind a curve as an object of thought. Voice is in the mind before it is expressed in sound. The mental form precedes, causes and accompanies the physical form.

This curve should become a fixed mental object during all vocal practice, whether in speaking or in singing. Holding this object must become a habit so firmly established that the mind will ultimately act above consciousness in forming it. The vocal organs always react upon ideals held in the mind. Thus, if a flat object is held in the mind while using the voice, the tone tends to flatness; if a round one, it tends to roundness; if a narrow form, it tends to narrowness; if a contracting figure, it tends to contraction; if a free, elastic, expansive one, it tends to freedom, elasticity, and expansiveness. The figure of an expanding globe gives the voice the qualities last described. This figure, moving in the form of a curve, unites to the above qualities that of beauty, for the curve always awakens in the imagination the sense of the beautiful.

Tone is vocalized breath. It is observable that the higher order of animals usually begin their tones in the form of the nares resonance. When the cow lows for her young the tone is resounded in the nares before the mouth opens. The same thing is to be noticed in the mother horse calling to her young. She begins the tone with the nares resonance, and as the impulse increases she opens her mouth to let forth the whinnie so full of feeling. No animal excels the house cat in the correct use of the voice. She begins her tone as a nares resonance, and when her mouth opens, the tone which is moving in the right direction indicates that her vital energies are fully aroused. She acts upon the same principle that a man does in aiming a gun. He aims before he fires. Nature aims the tone before she gives the explosion. The mightiest of all voices is that of the lion. He distinctly guides his tone with the nares resonance. If he did not so direct it, the blast of tone which shakes the very earth would rend his throat.

Many people injure their throats by letting on a power of voice which is not properly guided. The only reason a person’s throat ever suffers from continued use of the voice is because the tone is not properly directed. Some public speakers after using their voices for an hour, or even half an hour, feel an irritation in their throats, but if their tones were properly directed, they could use their voices without injury as long as their general strength would permit. The moment the current of tone is turned from its proper direction, the voice is being injured.

All the muscles of respiration work in a harmonious manner with each other when the tone is properly directed; they work improperly together in a way to produce friction when the tone is not centered.