CHAPTER II

QUALITY

Quality is the kind or character of sound,

the purity or

impurity of voice. This vocal element is easily recognized in various voices and is peculiar to each individual. We soon learn to know a person by the sound of his voice. A child's voice, a woman's voice, a man's voice, or the voice of a dog, a horse, or a song bird are essentially different in Quality because of the size and shape of the vocal organs of each.

Our states of mind and feeling are shown in these Qualities. If we say "Good morning," in a pleasant, happy frame of mind; then utter the words, "Oh! I'm so tired," in a weary, languid manner; then give the words, "I hate you!" in an angry mood; then whisper the secret injunction, "Boys, be still"; and lastly, if we scream, under the influence of fright or terror, we easily recognize different Qualities of voice.

A distinguishing characteristic of each Quality is its resonance, which is the strengthening or reënforcing of vibrations in the cavities of the head, throat, and chest. Repeat the words of Darius Green, "The birds can fly and why can't I?” in a nasal, twanging tone; then utter in a peaceful, tranquil manner, "How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank”; then give in a bold, patriotic way the sentence, "Thou too sail on, O Ship of State! Sail on, O Union, strong and great!"; and lastly, speak in a deep, hollow, sepulchral tone the words ""Tis midnight's holy hour"; and we clearly detect a deepening of the resonance from the first to the last quotation. It will be seen, then, that we have the power to change resonance at will, and, by this process, change the Quality of voice in a natural and effective way. This may be likened to the stops of the pipe organ, by which the musician changes the Quality of the tone, though the key, time, and melody remain unchanged. The reader, like the organist, must "know his stops."

Every person at any period of life has a normal, predominant Quality of voice and seven other distinct Qualities in various stages of development; these are technically called, (1) Normal, (2) Orotund, (3) Oral, (4) Nasal, (5) Falsetto, (6) Guttural, (7) Pectoral, and (8) Aspirate.

Relation to Man's Triune Nature.

We have seen that Quality, broadly speaking, represents the Emotive nature of man; but a closer analysis reveals the fact that each Quality responds more especially to some one

NOTE. The Qualities of voice are no more difficult to learn nor less practical in application than the essential elements of any other science prescribed in a curriculum. In fact, it has been shown that every student is already in possession of them, but, like all other powers, they need cultivation and intelligent application so that the speaker may use them correctly, effectively, and unconsciously while speaking. The teacher will understand that any given Quality of one voice may be quite unlike that of another voice; the care will be to have each student make his own Qualities at their best. The secret of successful use of these and all elements of expression lies in the practice of them with a full realization of the sentiments or emotions they imply.

SECTION I. NORMAL QUALITY

The Normal is the ordinary, predominant Quality of voice peculiar to each individual. It is the basis of all the other Qualities, each of which is some modification of or variation from the Normal. A speaker's Normal may be very harsh and

impure, yet it is no less his own habitual tone. The most agreeable and effective Normal is pure in Quality; the vibrations of the vocal cords are smooth and even, the resonance is in the upper and back part of the mouth, and there is but little escape of unvocalized breath.

In the sounds of nature this Quality is heard in the rippling brook, the song of birds, the prattle and laughter of children, and in the common conversation of all peoples. It belongs to the Mental division of man's triune nature because it is the natural expression of our ordinary thoughts and moods when we are not influenced by any unusual restraint or strong emotion. It is used then to express ordinary thought and emotion such as solemnity, tranquillity, mild pathos, conversation, didactic thought, gladness, joy, mirth, and laughter.

The use of a pure Normal is an economic method, for it has greater carrying power than any other Quality, requires less effort and less expenditure of breath, and is more easily heard by the audience, to say nothing of the pleasing impression of a good voice. To acquire it, practice on the vowel sounds, use a pure Normal habitually in conversation, and, with a full realization of the sentiment, read aloud or recite such selections as the following:

Selection illustrating Normal Quality.

NOTE. When the illustrative selection contains a great predominance of the element under consideration, the lines are unmarked; but when a few words of the selection illustrate the particular element in question they will be underscored.

A SECOND TRIAL

SARAH WINTER KELLOGG

It was Commencement at one of our colleges. The people were pouring into the church as I entered it, rather tardy. Finding the choice seats in the center of the audience room already taken, I

pressed forward, looking to the right and to the left for a vacancy. On the very front row of seats I found one.

Here a little girl moved along to make room for me, looking into my face with large gray eyes, whose brightness was softened by very long lashes. Her face was open and fresh as a newly blown rose before sunrise. Again and again I found my eyes turning to the roselike face, and each time the gray eyes moved, half smiling, to meet mine. Evidently the child was ready to “make up” with me. And when, with a bright smile, she returned my dropped handkerchief, and I said, “Thank you!" we seemed fairly introduced. Other persons, now coming into the seat, crowded me quite close up against the little girl, so that we soon felt very well acquainted. “There's going to be a great crowd,” she said to me.

"Yes," I replied; "people always like to see how school boys are made into men."

Her face beamed with pleasure and pride as she said: "My brother's going to graduate; he's going to speak; I've brought these flowers to throw to him."

They were not greenhouse favorites; just old-fashioned domestic flowers, such as we associate with the dear grandmothers; "but,” I thought, "they will seem sweet and beautiful to him for little sister's sake."

"That is my brother," she went on, pointing with her nosegay. "The one with the light hair?" I asked.

"Oh, no," she said, smiling and shaking her head in innocent reproof; "not that homely one; that handsome one with brown wavy hair. His eyes look brown, too; but they are not -they are dark blue. There! he's got his hand up to his head now. You see him, don't you?"

In an eager way she looked from me to him, and from him to me, as if some important fate depended upon my identifying her brother.

"I see him," I said. "He's a very good-looking brother."

"Yes, he is beautiful," she said, with artless delight; "and he's so good, and he studies so hard. He has taken care of me ever since mamma died. Here is his name on the programme. He is not the valedictorian, but he has an honor, for all that."

I saw in the little creature's familiarity with these technical college terms that she had closely identified herself with her brother's studies, hopes, and successes.

"His oration is a real good one, and he says it beautifully. He has said it to me a great many times. I 'most know it by heart. Oh! it begins so pretty and so grand. This is the way it begins,” she added, encouraged by the interest she must have seen in my face: "Amid the permutations and combinations of the actors and the forces which make up the great kaleidoscope of history, we often find that a turn of Destiny's hand —”’

"Why, bless the baby!" I thought, looking down into her bright, proud face. I can't describe how very odd and elfish it did seem to have those big words rolling out of the smiling, childish mouth. As the exercises progressed, and approached nearer and nearer the effort on which all her interest was concentrated, my little friend became excited and restless. Her eyes grew larger and brighter, two deep red spots glowed on her cheeks.

"Now, it's his turn," she said, turning to me a face in which pride and delight and anxiety seemed about equally mingled. But when the overture was played through, and his name was called, the child seemed, in her eagerness, to forget me and all the earth beside him. She rose to her feet and leaned forward for a better view of her beloved, as he mounted to the speaker's stand. I knew by her deep breathing that her heart was throbbing in her throat. I knew, too, by the way her brother came up the steps and to the front that he was trembling. The hands hung limp; his face was pallid, and the lips blue as with cold. I felt anxious. The child, too, seemed to discern that things were not well with him. Something like fear showed in her face.

He made an automatic bow. Then a bewildered, struggling look came into his face, then a helpless look, and then he stood staring vacantly, like a somnambulist, at the waiting audience. The moments of painful suspense went by, and still he stood as if struck dumb. I saw how it was; he had been seized with stage fright.

me.

Alas! little sister! She turned her large, dismayed eyes upon "He's forgotton it," she said. Then a swift change came