Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

chest high and active during the singing of the vowel, making the entire movement from the abdomen.

6. Blending of tone. Inhale deeply, and exhale on singing oo, o, and ah, blending them into one continuous stream of voice. The transitions from one vowel to the other should be very gradual. In this exercise the tone will seem to go forward of its own accord, and the student should assist this tendency.

7. Shock of the glottis. This exercise is to be practised with care and very moderately at first. Strike the voice softly but clearly on the element hup, taking a breath between each stroke. Keep to one pitch at a time, without the slightest variation. After a few strokes have been made in bright, clear tone, change to other pitches until the entire scale has been covered. This is a valuable exercise for clarifying the voice. As in previous exercises, the breath must not be heard.

Repeat this exercise in the elements he, ha, haw, hah, ho, and hoo. Take one element at a time and master it before proceeding to the next. Practise very slowly at first, but as facility is gained the speed may be increased.

EXAMPLES FOR PRACTISE IN PURE TONE

The following extracts contain a large number of open liquid sounds, and will be found useful in securing pure quality of voice. They should be read aloud, standing, with special regard to this quality, while endeavoring to apply the results of the previous exercises. To distinguish pure quality of tone may at first be difficult, but the student should persevere until the ear is trained to discern the slightest waste of breath during voice production.

[blocks in formation]

2. Blow, blow, thou winter wind,
Thou art not so unkind

As man's ingratitude;
Thy tooth is not so keen
Because thou art not seen,

Although thy breath be rude.

Heigh-ho! sing heigh-ho! unto the green holly:
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then, heigh-ho! the holly!

This life is most jollly.

Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky,

Thou dost not bite so nigh
As benefits forgot:

Though thou the waters warp,
Thy sting is not so sharp

As friend remember'd not.

Heigh-ho! sing heigh-ho! unto the green holly:
Most friendship is feigning, most loying mere folly:

Then, heigh-ho! the holly!

This life is most jolly.

"As You Like It."

SHAKESPEARE.

3. Our bugles sang truce, for the night-clouds had lower'd,
And the sentinel stars set their watch in the sky;
And thousands had sunk on the ground overpower'd,
The weary to sleep, and the wounded to die.

When reposing that night on my pallet of straw
By the wolf-scaring fagot that guarded the slain,
At the dead of the night a sweet Vision I saw;
And thrice ere the morning I dreamt it again.

Methought from the battle-field's dreadful array
Far, far, I had roam'd on a desolate track:
"Twas autumn-and sunshine arose on the way

To the home of my fathers, that welcomed me back.

I flew to the pleasant fields traversed so oft

In life's morning march, when my bosom was young,

I heard my own mountain-goats bleating aloft,
And knew the sweet strain that the corn-reapers sung.

Then pledged we the wine-cup, and fondly I swore
From my home and my weeping friends never to part;
My little one kiss'd me a thousand times o'er,

And my wife sobb'd aloud in her fulness of heart.

"Stay-stay with us!-rest!-thou art weary and worn!”— And fain was their war-broken soldier to stay;But sorrow return'd with the dawning of morn, And the voice in my dreaming ear melted away. "The Soldier's Dream."

THOMAS CAMPBELL.

4. Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the twilight in the room,
Making it rich, like a lily in bloom,

An angel writing in a book of gold.

Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the presence in the room he said,-

"What writest thou?''-The vision raised its head,
And with a look made of all sweet accord,

Answer'd, "The names of those who love the Lord."
"And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay, not so,"
Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low,
But cheerily still; and said, "I pray thee, then,
Write me as one who loves his fellow men.

The angel wrote, and vanish'd. The next night

It came again with a great wakening light,
And show'd the names whom love of God had blest,
And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest!
"Abou Ben Adhem and the Angel."

LEIGH HUNT.

5. Full many a glorious morning have I seen
Flatter the mountain-tops with sovereign eye,
Kissing with golden face the meadows green;
Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy,
Anon permit the basest clouds to ride
With ugly rack on his celestial face,
And from the forlorn world his visage hide,
Stealing unseen to west with this disgrace:
Even so my sun one early morn did shine
With all-triumphant splendor on my brow;
But, out, alack! he was but one hour mine,
The region cloud hath mask'd him from me now.

Yet him for this my love no whit disdaineth;

Suns of the world may stain, when heaven's sun staineth.

Why didst thou promise such a beauteous day,
And make me travel forth without my cloak,
To let base clouds o'ertake me in my way,
Hiding thy bravery in their rotten smoke?
'Tis not enough that through the cloud thou break,
To dry the rain on my storm-beaten face,
For no man well of such a salve can speak
That heals the wound and cures not the disgrace:
Nor can thy shame give physic to my grief;
Tho thou repent, yet I have still the loss:
The offender's sorrow lends but weak relief
To him that bears the strong offense's cross.

Ah! but those tears are pearl, which thy love sheds,
And they are rich and ransom all ill deeds.

No more be grieved at that which thou hast done:
Roses have thorns, and silver fountains mud;
Clouds and eclipses stain both moon and sun,
And loathsome canker lives in sweetest bud.
All men make faults, and even I in this,
Authorizing thy trespass with compare,
Myself corrupting, salving thy amiss,
Excusing thy sins more than thy sins are:

« ZurückWeiter »