DRAMATIC EXPRESSION IN THE VOICE
Dramatic adaptation in expressing various characters, emotions, and motives is potentially very great. Though the average speaker is generally limited by one type of voice, which he varies somewhat, it is not often disguised. It is the belief of the writer that this is largely due to a psychological limitation. It requires broad sympathy and a vital realization of the subjective view-point of different characters, with an appreciation of the relative force of different appeals to those characters, in order that the responsive voice may have the convincing ring which expresses the psychology of the character represented, and not merely the mannerisms and externalities of impersonation.
Impersonation may be more easily achieved intellectually, requiring only keen observation and the power of imitation. Dramatic interpretation, on the other hand, deals mainly with the phase of human nature which is not exterior—the interior force of the character. We would classify these two departments in this way, though in the highest dramatic work elements of both phases are combined. Pantomime is more essential to the development of impersonation, but dramatic interpretation gathers power from the psychological appreciation attained from the studies pertaining to personal development. In dramatic interpretation the voice is a much more significant feature relatively than is the detail of gesture in pantomime. Impersonation absolutely requires the finest detail of mannerism to be represented in the action.
It has been very well demonstrated that the quality of the so-called "line" of the voice is influenced in accordance with dramatic action. If one makes a gesture expressive of directness, the tone of the voice, if given with the simultaneous impulse, will express that characteristic. If subtlety or sinuousness of meaning is desired, the body and the gesture of the hand may be powerful aids in inciting vital expression in the voice. In order to test this, take a certain tone like ah or o and hold it while taking vital dramatic attitudes differing widely in significance.
This may also be done in the practice of single words or short sentences. Take some such word as "come" or "go," "forward" or "away," practising with different attitudes, and it will be seen at once that it is almost impossible to make tone and dramatic action contradict each other.
Fine descriptive shades may be attained by taking such selections as Byron's "The Ocean," Bryant's "Thanatopsis," Shelley's "The Cloud" and "Ode to West Wind," accentuating with gestures of the arm and hand every sweep or impulse of the word-painting, letting the curve of the figure described in the air by the hand correspond with what is wanted in the mind by the picture. Then, if the vital center of dramatic action is aroused and the tone support is good, the voice alone—all gestures withheld—can reproduce the same impressions. This is often of great advantage, as the strength of repose is expressed to a great degree in restraint of movement. However, it is advisable for the student of expression not to be too absolute in determining how much he will or will not "make gestures." The person whose impulse is not sufficiently strong from the center may do far better to arouse activity of the organism by more action than to allow any inadequacy of nervous energy to depress the power of vibration which determines the influence of the voice.
There are many simple principles and laws of expression that may be advantageously used in preparation for public recitation or finished interpretation.
The emphasis of various qualities appearing in typical selections, such as beauty in "The Chambered Nautilus," by Holmes, and other selections of varying character, intensifies both the appreciation and the power of expression in different characteristics. Careful observation and analysis of the modes of different qualities which manifest themselves in this way give full resource, and then whatever quality we have mastered and stored in our nerve centers through appreciation will spring up spontaneously under the influence of inspiration, making calculation practically needless at the time of one's highest artistic expression. Analysis and practice in preparation are the steps over which we must climb to the platform of power. Having attained this, the infinite variety of the broader vision calls forth the expression of all that has been previously involved.
Dramatic adaptation, then, from the standpoint of expressive voice culture, is attained by free and varied development, focused in the psychological triumph at the moment of interpretation. The body is as a musical instrument of which the voice is the reporter. There are two things to be sought in the artistic voice: one is concentration of consciousness in the vibration of the tone so that the voice may be filled with conscious motive; the other is the response of the free voice to the powerful act of the imagination. Affirmatively, the voice vibrates with the individual message. Reflectively, it mirrors the ideal conceived at the moment of speech. The orator must have the former of these two powers of the voice. The artist, though emphasizing the latter, can scarcely achieve power in this without also attaining the former.