After this brief discussion of the principles involved in this method of practice, we will proceed to give some essential exercises for practice.

EXERCISE FOR SECURING FREEDOM OF TONE

This is the foundation of all voice culture.

1. Take position in accordance with directions given in Chapter I.

2. Take humming tone as indicated in the preceding chapter,—m, n, ng,—idealized and pure. The mouth should be opened and closed without changing the tone.

3. Endeavor to concentrate all consciousness upon the conception of a tone emanating from the nares anteri and floating in ideal forms of vibration in the surrounding air. Those forms may vary in their definite nature, but must always obey the principle of curves and radiation. One should never reach up to a tone, but should seem to alight upon it from above, as a bird alights on the branch of a tree. The mind must never lose sight of the result—the ideal aimed at. The knowledge of processes leads us to a right conception of aims, and enables us to judge of their correctness. We should know what processes are normal (natural and healthful) and what objects of thought will induce them.

While taking the above exercise no effort should be made in the throat. The voice should seem to find its way without effort. The tone should not be loud or sharp.

If the student finds it difficult to produce the tone alone, some word ending in ing should be practised, as ring-ring-ring-ng.

FORMING OF ELEMENTS

First Exercise. Start the humming tone as indicated in the first lesson, and maintain the same focus while forming certain elements. Take the syllable n-Ö-m, allowing no break while going from n, the nares sound, to the vowel sound of o, and returning to the nares sound of m. This is perhaps the best element to begin upon, because of its definiteness, but the same principle can be applied to other elements of speech, as Most-men-want-poise-and-more-royal-margin. Form each syllable with the utmost care. Concentrate the mind upon the ideal sound. First be sure that the pronunciation is accurately conceived. Then enunciate clearly and try each time to make the form more perfect. The principle of thinking is the same as that involved in striving to make a perfect circle, or to execute any figure with more and more beauty. The effort of the mind will bring the result, if the conception of the element to be formed be correct. The sentence given—"Most men want poise, and more royal margin"—is composed of such alternation of elements as will tend to bring forward those that might be formed too far back by their association with those elements that are necessarily brought to the front. For example, the wordpoise. The first and last elements are distinctively front. That helps to bring out what is between.

The constant recurrence of the nares tone, as in m, n, etc., may serve as a regulator of tone. The object of this step in practice is to form elements with beauty, and to form them with the same focus as that secured by the humming tone. In this stage of practice each element should be dwelt upon separately, but not in such a way as to mar its expression. For example, unaccented syllables should be lightly pronounced and the right shading carefully observed. Otherwise, when the elements are put together their harmony and smoothness will be wanting and the effect labored and mechanical, as is often the case where attention has been given to the practice of articulation. To make the effort of articulation a vital impulse in response to a mental concept,—this is the object sought. The principle is that the will should be directed toward the ideal to be reached, while the mind comprehends the means incidentally. The means may be considered as a matter of knowledge, useful in guiding the judgment but a hindrance when used as a trap to catch the conscious attention of the practising student.

The whole difference between the artist who is spontaneous and the artisan who is artificial is that the one recognizes the fact that the very existence of human expression proves that the mind awakens the instinctive response of the physical organism, while the other thinks that he can calculate that infinite harmony which makes unity of action, without reverting to the first cause of expression—the thought that created it. To reproduce the impulse born of the thought—this is the aim of a psychological method. This is secured only by right objects of thought; it is impossible to reach it by voluntary mechanics.

SMOOTHNESS AND HARMONY OF UTTERANCE

Having obtained the results sought in our last division, we should learn to manipulate the elements of speech fluently without breaking their relation to (harmony with) the primary focus, or direction of tone.

Practise the same sentence, "Most men" etc., striving to make every tone and the form of every element perfect, without dwelling upon them separately; practise this (as also the preceding exercises) upon various degrees of pitch in the musical scale, generally beginning on a "medium high" pitch, then lower, and afterwards higher. Strive to speak or sing fluently without breaking the quality of tone used. A break in quality signifies loss of focus.

The object of this practise is to attain facility in manipulating the elements while maintaining the smooth quality of the tone. After this sentence other sentences may be used in reference to the same idea. The primary exercise given should always be reverted to as a working center, in order to secure, through repetition, a deepening of the tendency involved. Variety is admissible only in addition to the original exercise, but should not be substituted for it.

FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF MUSICAL EXPRESSIVENESS OF TONES

This opens the way to expression in tone,—dramatic expression,—but the technical preparation for expressive responsiveness in the voice is the development of its musical possibilities, for all artistic expression in tones is musical whether the person be a singer or a speaker. Inflections are variations in pitch, and are "the tune of the thought."

Exercise. Practise the syllables mÄ, zÄ, skÄ, Ä. The sound of the Italian a, as in ah, gives the freest position of the organs for the production of tone, and perhaps the most difficult form in which to direct a tone with certainty. It is combined with these consonant elements in order to invite it forward and bring it to a point (figuratively speaking). The m relates it to the nares or humming tone (which is the basis of all resonance in the voice). The z sharpens the consciousness at the front, and the sk furnishes a good start for a positive stroke in the voice, while the a alone leaves us to venture upon the free tone unassisted by these guides to direction. The exercise should be practised with such musical variations as the student can learn to execute—the scale, arpeggios, etc., both sustained tone and light touches, broad tones and shaded tones. Other vowels may also be practised thus.

The practice of rhythm, or the practice of rhythmical accent, should be introduced, as the sense of rhythm is an important element in the development of expressiveness.

The object now is to secure sensibility and responsiveness in the voice. This opens the possibilities of vocal expression. When we speak of the nares anteri (or front head resonant cavity) as the dominant center of physical consciousness nothing mechanical is meant. One is conscious that the eye is fixed upon an object, but not therefore conscious of the action of the muscles used in turning it upon the object. One thinks not of the eye, but through the eye toward the object.

Finally, technique has as its object the training of the instrument to freedom and responsiveness; but the true art of vocal expression begins when the instrument is used in obedience to such objects of thought as should cause its strings to vibrate loudly or softly, all together or in partial harmony, in obedience to that vital impulse which the instrument itself was created to obey.