Exercises on the Phrases of Melody Examples of Different Forms of Cadence. Downward Movement in Diatonic Melody ANALYTIC ELOCUTION. CHAPTER I. Introductory Outline of Principles. 1. SPOKEN LANGUAGE is employed to declare that which passes in the human mind in its various states and conditions. All that passes in the heads, -ideas and emotions. perceptions or thoughts. By emotions, all the effects produced upon the mind by those ideas, including the calmer feelings or sentiments which result from a stimulation of the fancy or the imagination, and those states of violent mental agitation arising from the excitement of the strongest passions. mind may be reduced to two By ideas we mean all simple The speaking voice possesses distinct means for declaring these several states of thought, sentiment, and passion through the varied employment of its constituent elements. 2. The two great ends of elocution, or the study of spoken language for artistic purposes, are: (1) To improve and develop the voice to its fullest capacity as regards beauty, power, and flexibility. (2) To adapt it to the correct and natural utterance of all thought, sentiment, or passion. The two constantly react upon each other, for in studying the vocal elements employed in the utterance of lan guage, their character, and correct production by the organs,-the voice is developed, and the ear and mind at the same time accustomed to the value of sounds in their relation to thought and passion. 3. All of the elements of spoken language, articulate and expressive, are comprehended under the five following heads, which designate the five generic properties of the voice: Pitch, Quality, Force, Abruptness, and Time. A study of these five properties in detail, and of the multiplied combinations of their several forms, degrees, and varieties, familiarizes the student with all the articulative and expressive powers of speech. 4. Pitch relates to the variation of the voice with regard to acuteness or gravity, or high and low, on what is termed in music the scale. It is a primary element of reffect and significance in speech, and may, in all its varieties, be brought perfectly under the command of the organs for the purposes of art. 5. Quality is the kind of voice, and is popularly designated as rough, smooth, harsh, full, thin, musical, etc. It is here more definitely described under the divisions of the natural, the aspirated, the falsetto, an improved quality called the orotund, the pectora!, and guttural. 6. Force is a term used to designate the power, energy, or intensity with which a sound of the voice is uttered. Its degrees are designated by the terms loud, soft, forcible, weak, strong, feeble, vehement, and moderate. The different forms of its specific application are exhibited in what is called stress, or the application of force to certain parts or to the whole of the extent of a syllable. 7. Abruptness is the suddenness, combined with (a greater or less degree of) fullness, with which every syllabic sound may be opened. It may vary from the most delicate, but clear opening of a syllable, to its most violent or forcible explosion. |