EVERY VARIATION in the voice, whether in conversation or address, is a relief to the ear-nerves and brain nerves of the listeners; but when the variation expresses the meaning of the thought or the feeling back of it, the effect is more than doubly pleasing and attractive. Few persons know these facts; and we have never known a man or woman who came by this practice naturally or as a habit. Like accomplished singing, it is one of those things that must be taught as a form of culture, producing in speaking and in conversation what is known as the cultivated voice. The attractive voice must be:

1. Natural.

2. Modulated.

3. Flexible.

Commonplace thoughts should not be declaimed nor rendered in a bombastic style. When your thoughts, whether of your own composition or coming from other sources, are common place, the natural style is conversational.

Very often lofty thoughts are clothed in simple forms, and rare beauty dwells in ordinary words. We here give an example of this complex composition; but nevertheless it is much more effective and carries the impression of naturalness if rendered in a purely conversational tone; just, as if you were in the same studio with the artist trying to describe your mother to him.

"Oh, if I could only make you see

The clear blue eyes, the tender smile, The sovereign sweetness, the gentle grace,

The woman's soul, and the angel's face That are beaming on me all the while!

I need not speak these foolish words: Yet one word tells you all I would say:

She is my mother,"

Commonplace thoughts may be lofty, like the foregoing; and as such they may be given the dignity and value they demand, even in ordinary conversation. In an address or recital, speech or reading, this natural style is most agreeable and pleasing.

But it should be colored with true feeling.

A modulated voice is one in which there is a constant departure from a monotonous pitch, or avoiding too much closeness to one of the pitches as scheduled in the preceding lesson The table of the Nine Pitches furnishes the working material for an immense amount of practice and development in many departments of vocal training; therefore it should be not only well memorized but kept at hand ready for use whenever called upon for service.

Everybody knows either through experience or instruction the havoc that is wrought upon the nerves of listeners through the lack of modulation in conversation or speech. A trained voice is not only able to produce the needed variations, but knows how to make them coincide with the meanings in the thoughts and in the feelings. Wonderful as the voice is,the power of expressing meanings in the movements of pitch is still more wonderful. These meanings may be summed up as follows; UPWARD MOVEMENTS:

1. Thoughts or feelings that tend toward uncontrol move upward.

2. All forms of excited interest tend upward.

3. Tendencies to lightness or frivolity tend upward.

4. Sympathy, gentleness, tenderness and similar moods move upward.

5. Beauty, exaltation and triumph move upward.

6. Inquiry, doubt and insincerity move upward.

7. Weakness moves upward, including servility and obedience.

The COLOR of the voice, as well as the timbre used, determines the character of the thought or feeling.

DOWNWARD MOVEMENTS: The following take downward modulations:

1. Decision, strength, command, conclusion.

2. Discouragement, surrender, and similar moods.

3. Sublimity of statement.

4. Disobedience and surly moods.

5. Reply and certainty of assertion.

6. Self-control.

7. Weighty and serious thoughts.

8. Superiority.

In the natural use of the voice all modulating movements undulate, which means that, instead of a steady rise or fall they rise and fall back and forth on an upward movement, and (all and rise back and forth on a downward movement. This fact would have been discovered by any person in practicing.

The following is an upward modulating movement:

"He that formed the eye shall He not see?"

Begin at any part of the scale of Nine Pitches which may be found in the preceding lesson, and rise naturally in the inquiry. Repeat until this movement is easily made.

Here are two quotations from Hamlet:

"Hold you the watch tonight?"

"Armed, say you?"

Other quotations that exemplify the laws for upward movements are as follows:

"Dear master, I can go no further."

"Insects generally must lead a truly jovial life."

"This our life, exempt from public haunt,"

"Finds tongues in trees,"

"Books in the running brooks,"

"Sermons in stones,"

"And good in everything."

The first of this group depicts weakness; the last six depict beauty; and all require a general modulation upward, not in steady rises but in undulations.

The next group requires falling modulations:

"Stop, I command you."

"Life is a shadowy, momentary dream."

"The dizzy train reels as it swoops down the mountain."

"Conscience does make cowards of us all."

It is not at all difficult to find quotations that meet the requirements set forth in the early part of this lesson; and it is a very excellent mental exercise for the pupil to do this, as the practice will cultivate discernment.

One of the best examples of an undulating modulating movement is the following quotation from a speech of Patrick Henry; and accounts of his style made by witnesses who were present agree that he used his voice very much in the following manner

"Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot?"

The quotation contains four divisions.

Each division is a movement upward in the following manner approximately:

"Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance," starting in the lowest pitches and gradually rising for about three or four pitches.

"By lying supinely on our backs," starting about the third pitch and moving upward for three or four pitches.

"And hugging the delusive phantom of hope," starting about the fourth pitch and moving upward for three or four pitches

"Until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot," starting at about the middle or sixth pitch, and moving upward as high as the voice will run. Having practiced these movements many times, the final process is to blend the whole quotation as one piece of dramatic inquiry.

Double movements are very pleasing, and can be selected freely by any student. Here is one from Richelieu:

"I have re-created France."

The words, "I have re-created," are given a decided upward action, and the word "France" falls. This is a double movement.

Perfect freedom of choice is allowed any student in making these modulating movements, provided their meanings are sustained under the laws stated in the early part of this lesson.

FLEXIBILITY consists of mental coloring and of magnetic coloring. It imparts to the voice an inexhaustible richness and a most exquisite beauty.