Expressive Voice Culture, Including the Emerson System

by Jessie Eldridge Southwick

CHAPTER IV. The Relation of Technique to Rendering.

It is certainly true that the highest use of the voice is the revelation of the soul. The most important and effective means of cultivation lie in the exercise of the voice under such mental conditions as shall invite the expression of the highest thoughts, but the voice is in one sense an instrument which is capable of being attuned. Right technical study and practice adjust the instrument in proper relations with the natural laws of its use, and establish, or deepen, the tendency to obey those laws. Hence the mind finds a more ready response in the instrument, and one is able to express with greater facility all that the soul desires to reveal. It would seem of little consequence that a person should be able to use the voice well simply as an ornamental accomplishment; for these agents of expression, these powers of the material being, have a higher significance than the mere exhibition of any qualities, however admirable. Such a motive in studying expression would be a very shallow one, for what would it signify in comparison with the great purposes of living?

But so long as these instruments of ours do not serve us they are a hindrance to the higher expression of our being and the accomplishment of our highest mission to others. We do indeed desire to escape from the material and transient into the world of eternal verities, but these conditions are given us for a purpose. They have their use, and we cannot escape from the imprisonment in which we find ourselves until we have solved their meaning and conquered them for the service of the higher mind. We therefore study, not for the attainment of particular feats, but to secure the obedience of all our activities to the higher laws through which they can fulfil the purpose for which they were created.

This harmonizing of the forces having been once accomplished, little time is required to keep in tune this harp of the soul; while the broader culture and the higher realization of all meanings that can be expressed are constantly sought in such discipline of the mind itself as shall secure the activity of its highest powers. The whole aim is to secure the development of character by the expression of the highest elements of character.

Although the voice, like all other agents of expression, is naturally the reflector of the individual and his states, it is necessary to understand what that statement implies in order to appreciate the great need for the higher culture of the vocal organism. If the individual's condition were attuned to perfect harmony, to perfect unity of action, and to singleness of purpose, together with the habit of personal expression rather than expression through some limited mode of action—if, indeed, this were so, his voice would scarce need training,—certainly not corrective training,—nor would he need "culture" of any kind, being already a perfect human being.

Those who postulate the "perfectly natural" voice, i.e., one that is unconscious of its own art, either presuppose this condition of innate perfection or assume that the simple wish to speak—and its exercise—will be sufficient to overcome wrong habits and conditions. Will it? Let us see.

The culture of expression is a very different thing from the artful imitation of the signs of feeling and purpose. If we are to have a real education along lines of expression we must begin with the "content," or cause, of expression. We may for the moment postpone discussion as to the relative power of the sign to evoke the feeling, and the power of the feeling or condition to evolve the most effective sign. There is something to be said upon both sides; and, surely, the truth lies in the adoption of all good means to produce the desired end.

First, then, to the basis. All oratorical values are measured primarily from the standpoint of the "what;" the "how" is important, too, but only in its relation to the "what" and "wherefore." The voice of the orator must be an influence—a sincere vibration of the motive within. Theoretically it is so naturally, but practically it is so only when the voice is free from bias and is responsive through habit or spontaneous inspiration to the thought of the speaker.

We will admit that genius sometimes is great enough to bring into harmonious action all powers of the individual under its sway; but education mainly strives to unfold the imperfect, to balance, the ununified elements. Even genius, however, needs direction and adjustment to secure the most perfect and reliable results. How, then, shall we develop the motive, how enlarge the content?

There is such a subtle relation between motive and action that it has been said, "The effect of any action is measured by the depth of the motive from which it proceeds." [Footnote: Ralph Waldo Emerson.] And so this is why the clever performer cannot reproduce the effect of a speech of Demosthenes or Daniel Webster. This is a reason aside from that arising from the difference in the occasion. Great men and great artists make the occasion in the hearts of their hearers. The voice of the orator peculiarly should be free from studied effects, and responsive to motive. It is not the voice of entertainment, but of influence above all. The orator should be taught self-mastery. The orator who is not moved by high moral sense is a trickster or a hypocrite; the former juggles with human susceptibility for unworthy or inadequate ends, and the latter poses for motives he has not. So complex is human nature that this can be done by a good actor so as to deceive the judgment and feelings; but the influence will ultimately reveal the truth, if the auditor will use intuition and not be taken off guard by the psychic influence of a strong will bent on a given effect.