The great advantage of the Tonic Sol-fa system over any other is the definite and graduated ear-training which the pupils must derive from it, rendering the singing true and accurate, however poor the voices may be.
It is also of great use in developing the voice and training the ear of those who are older, and have for some reason neglected all musical and vocal culture.
Books recommended—Curwen’s Tonic Sol-fa Courses and The School Music Teacher, by Evans and McNaught. Publishers, Curwen & Sons.
ELOCUTION.
By Rose Seaton.
The speaking voice is often left to what we are pleased to call “Nature”; but a natural voice and a fine speaker are like the language of the race, the product of cultivation.
Weak and toneless voices are frequently the result of faulty production. We may divide the vocal apparatus into three parts: (1) Lungs; (2) Larynx; (3) Mouth. Consider the functions of each separately, and afterwards their relations to one another.
Great care is needed to develop the lungs, that they may store the requisite quantity of air and supply the waste of it constantly and silently; breath control is of primary importance.
In reading aloud, teaching, lecturing, the air in the lungs should be felt as an active force. All speech is uttered on the outgoing current of breath. The vocal chords in the “voice box” or larynx close when sound is made, and toneless or woolly voices show that the chords are slack and the breath is passing through without being used for sound, as when the bow of a violin passes over loosened strings. Note that the larynx should never be tightened by the band or collar of the dress.
The three principal resonators for sound are: the bones of the chest, the head bones, and the roof of the mouth.