The “roof” voice is extremely useful for illusions of all kinds, and perhaps is the easiest of the three to acquire. Its purpose is to make sound appear to come from any point above the audience, and the entertainer practices it at first by standing erect, taking in a deep breath, and then drawing backwards and downwards the lower jaw, holding it by muscular contraction in that position. With the lips about an inch apart say your words, whatever they may be, just as you would the “ah!” of the bee drone, concentrating your mind on the effort of directing the sound waves towards the roof of the mouth. In this case, however, exhalation should take place very slowly, while the speech is uttered with unusual clearness.
The effect of the illusion, however, is destroyed if whilst using the “roof” voice you look either straight before you or down to the ground.
The ventriloquist must bear in mind that it is important to deceive the audience, just as a conjurer does, but the former has this advantage over his magic brother, that the deception is both optical and oral.
Let him, therefore, when “throwing his voice” to the roof, glance sharply upwards as soon as the words are uttered, and turn his head in a listening attitude; his example will be followed immediately by the audience, who naturally fall into the trap prepared for them, and, for the time being, are quite satisfied that the sounds do really come from the roof.
This is an advantage on which the ventriloquist can trade to an enormous extent, because the ear is so easily deceived. How difficult it is, when listening from within a closed room to a street organ playing outside, to tell whether the music comes from up or down the road. So with ventriloquism—the performer has but to modify the position of the vocal chords as indicated, and to fix his eyes upon the roof, when lo and behold! everybody is perfectly satisfied that the speech does come from above.
“Level” Sounds
Of the three “distant” voices, the “level” is, perhaps, the most useful and the most generally successful, because the mere fact of the entertainer being on the same plane as the door and the windows, from behind which people are supposed to converse with him, provides him with opportunities for using the facial muscles and for distorting sounds, and so heightening the illusion.
For instance, whereas he must turn full or three-quarter face when using the “roof” voice, he can carry on a dialogue on the “level,” sideways to the audience; or in the case where the stage possesses a door at the rear, he may often be permitted for a moment to turn his back.
Practice as before in the “bee drone” voice, without endeavoring to any great extent to shut off the sound in the throat. This may be done by curling up the tongue so that its tip presses against the back of the upper teeth.
If you are practicing by the side of the door, as you open it towards you the ventriloquially uttered sounds must be raised in tone and made more distinct by lifting the shutter from the throat, or, in other words, by allowing the tongue to resume its normal position, and the sounds to issue forth on the principle of the “bee drone.”