CHAPTER VII
ORAL COMPOSITION
37. The Great Essential.—We have now discussed certain matters which will be of service to you if you write your thoughts for others to read. Will these principles still hold if you speak your thoughts for others to hear? Yes, in the main; but you must remember that in the one case the persons you address have simply to read; if they do not understand, they can simply look back and reread. In the other case, the persons you address are listening, and they must understand each sentence as it comes to them, for of course any one in an audience cannot stop a speaker because he fails to hear a word or a phrase. A speaker must therefore, first of all, take pains that each person in his audience hears clearly every word he says.
38. How to be Heard.—If you wish to speak so that every one in your audience can hear all that you say, you must take pains about several things:—
1. Proper Position.—Speech is sound produced by a stream of air forced from the lungs (as from a bellows) and striking against certain cords in the throat. By altering the tightness of these cords and by changing the position of the palate, tongue, and teeth, we change the character of the sound. If we are to speak to a considerable number of people, then, we must make sure that all this bodily machinery works with special ease and force, and first of all, that the lungs (the bellows) move freely. This means that they must have space to work, and this in turn means that we must stand erect, with the shoulders thrown back, the chest out, and the stomach in. The body should not be held stiffly or else the throat muscles are likely to become rigid also; but we should stand naturally, and firmly, not as if we were about to tumble over or to jump, but as if we were ready to speak quietly to our friends—which is just what we are to do.
2. Proper Breathing.—We should breathe slowly, regularly, and deeply, from the abdomen rather than from the top of the lungs. If we breathe too fast or too irregularly, we shall speak in a rapid, jerky way, and find it very difficult to make ourselves understood.
3. Proper Use of the Muscles of the Throat and Mouth.—We must be careful not to cramp the muscles of the throat, but to let them move easily. We can thus produce a loud clear tone without tiring ourselves unduly. If the head does not hang down, if the mouth is opened wide, and the throat muscles are allowed to work freely, without rigidity, the voice will be clear and distinct.
4. Proper Pitch.—We must be sure (particularly the girls) not to pitch the voice too high, as if it were a siren whistle or a fife. A clear, rather low-pitched voice is the most pleasant to hear. We must be careful, too, not to talk (as so many of us do) through our noses. A nasal voice is almost always a disagreeable voice.