We are now prepared to consider the Evolution of Expression, the study of which involves the technique employed in this college for the cultivation of the voice as well as oratorical expression.
ANIMATION OF VOICE.
The name of the first chapter in the first volume is Animation of Voice. This is the name of an effect, not a cause. A certain state of mind will produce Animation of Voice, therefore I work to induce in the pupils the right state of mind, which is as sure to manifest itself in Animation of Voice as a sufficient amount of excellent gunpowder set on fire in a good cannon is to discharge its contents.
The first physiological condition of the vocal organs in Animation of Voice is freedom. The second condition is nerve energy. If an elocutionist should be engaged in some public or private school to teach oratory and voice culture, he would probably be requested first to teach the boys to open their mouths. Every previous effort to do this having failed, an elocutionist is engaged for one hour a week to pry open the mouths of the boys. The elocutionist might begin by saying, “John, you do not open your mouth wide enough.” John tries, but fails. The teacher might go through the class in this way, but with no better success. At last comes recess, and the teacher, listening to the boys in the yard, hears John, who had the lockjaw in the schoolroom, telling the boys about some incident—his mouth fully open. The elocution teacher was outside of the boy; and the key that would unlock his jaw was inside of him. How stiff, hard, grinding, and throaty was his voice in the schoolroom, but now how open and free!
The nerves which control the organs of speech, and the muscles that govern what is called facial expression have their roots directly in the brain. Superficially, they are attached to its under surface, but they also run up into the cerebrum. The man within touches the keys in the brain, and the vibrations extend to the organs of speech and the muscles of facial expression. I strike a key of a piano, and at a remote distance from the key the string vibrates, filling the room with tone. So this man within touches a nerve center in the brain, which corresponds to a key upon the piano, and this causes the vocal organs to respond in a way to give true expression to the thought.
Nature gave John an object lesson by showing him a horse running away, and as he tells his story she smiles and says, “I am making an orator of John.” John opens his mouth; there is freedom in the vocal organs, plenty of nerve energy—and the result is Animation of Voice. It was John’s desire to have the other boys see with their minds the things he was telling them of that caused his mouth to open. There was no such inducement in the schoolroom. A boy wants to know that he is of some use in the world. He will open his mouth when he has a proper impulse for so doing. To impart is natural to a boy; if he has anything good, and it is not too material, he likes to share it. The first thing to cultivate, in order to open the vocal organs and free them from all hindrances, is the disposition to impart to others what the mind has seen. To be interested in the subject is not sufficient; it is the desire to impart which will open the vocal organs, free them and give them nerve energy.
SMOOTHNESS OF VOICE.
The second chapter in this volume is Smoothness of Voice. When the mind of the speaker is steadily concentrated upon the thought for the exclusive purpose of causing other minds to act upon it, the tones under the repetition of drill gradually tend to evenness. To get this result, I once worked with pupils to make them hold the diaphragm and abdominal muscles in right relation to each other, and in one way or another, to manipulate all the organs which are actually employed in sustaining the tones; but I found that as soon as a thought was held steadily in the mind of the pupil, together with a dominating purpose to communicate that thought to others in a way to affect their minds in a definite manner the voice began to show evenness of support.