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EXPRESSIVE VOICE CULTURE
INCLUDING
THE EMERSON SYSTEM
By Jessie Eldridge Southwick
Teacher of Voice Culture in the Emerson College of Oratory.
PREFACE
The Emerson System treats the voice as a natural reporter of the
individual, constantly emphasizing the tendency of the voice to express
appropriately any mental concept or state of feeling.
This treatise is a setting forth of methods and principles based upon this
idea with a fuller elaboration of the relation of technique to expression.
No attempt is here made, however, to present more than an individual
contribution to this broad subject.
J. E. S.
EXPRESSIVE VOICE CULTURE
CHAPTER I
Principles of Voice Culture.
The first essential to one beginning the study of voice culture is an
appreciation of the real significance of voice development. We must
recognize at once the fact that the voice is a natural reporter of the
conditions, emotions, thoughts, and purposes (character and states or
conditions) of the individual. The ring of true culture in the voice is
that perfect modulation of tone and movement which, without
self-consciousness, communicates exactly the meaning and purpose which
impel the utterances of the speaker.
It is almost impossible for any person to cultivate vocal expression to
the best advantage without an intelligent and sympathetic teacher; he
lacks the perspective upon himself which is necessary in order to correct
his individual faults and draw out his most effective powers. Then, again,
he needs that personal supervision and direction of his efforts which will
allow his mind to be constantly occupied with thoughts and principles, and
relieve him of all temptation to watch his own performances as such. But
it is necessary that the student should have a simple and logical basis
for practice, however great may become the variety of its application.
That the voice is naturally expressive is shown in the fact that even
where there is no possible suggestion of cultivation we instinctively read
the broad outlines of meaning and feeling in the tones and inflections of
the voice. May it not therefore be possible that a finer culture will
reveal all the subtle shades of thought and feeling, and a more
discriminating judgment be able to detect these, just as the ethnologist
will reconstruct from some crude relic the history of an earlier
civilization?
We must remember, too, that first of all the voice is a vital instrument.
The physical condition affects most noticeably the quality, strength, and
movement of the voice. Hence we see that physical health is essential to a
good voice, and the proper use of the voice is itself one of the most
invigorating exercises that can be practised. All the vital organs are
called into healthful action through this extraordinary manipulation of
the breath, and the nervous system, both vitally and emotionally, receives
invigoration.
In the beginning, therefore, such vital conditions as are essential to the
production of tone should be considered.
First, a standing position, in which the vital organs are well sustained,
is essential. One cannot even breathe properly unless one stands well. The
weight should be mainly upon the balls of the feet, and the crown of the
head so positively elevated as to secure the erectness of the spinal
column. This will involve the proper elevation of the chest, the essential
freedom of respiration, and the right sustaining tension of the abdominal
muscles.
(_a_) Take standing position as follows: weight on balls of feet,
heels together, toes slightly apart; line of gravity from crown of head,
well lifted, to balls of feet; the ear, point of shoulder, and point of
hip should be in line; muscles of the thigh strong in front; ribs well
lifted so that front line from waist to throat is lengthened to full
extent; back kept erect, and curve at waist not emphasized. Breathe
strongly and deeply several times.
To secure the elevation of the ribs the hands may be placed under the
arms, as high as possible, fingers pointing down; then try to turn or
press the ribs up and forward with strong action of hands, breathing
freely and emphasizing strength in waist muscles. _Sustain_ the ribs
in this elevated position, and thus uplift the chest. Keep shoulders free.
Drop hands to sides again.
(_b_) Take half a step forward; sustain weight on advanced foot; do
not change position of retired foot, but keep the sense of purchase in it.
The chest should be carried forward of the abdomen and the abdominal
muscles given their best leverage by a slight bending forward from the
hips. (Bending forward must not be done by any dropping of the chest, or
shortening of the line at waist through relaxation.) This position must be
light, active, buoyant, and reposeful.
A constant sense of easy balance should be developed through poising
exercises.
The habit of healthful and powerful respiration should be established by
physical exercise for that purpose, and the right manipulation of breath
in tone production should be secured by the nature of the voice exercises.
Any vocal exercise which involves in the very nature of its production a
good control of breath becomes, by virtue of that fact, a good breathing
exercise as well.
[Footnote: See exercises described in a later chapter.]
If the voice be perfectly free, it is then capable of expressing truly all
that the person thinks and feels. The first desirable end sought, then, is
freedom. What is freedom, and how secured? When all cavities of resonance
are accessible to the vibrating column of air the voice may be said to be
free. By cavities of resonance is meant the chest (trachea and bronchial
tubes), the larynx, pharynx, the mouth, and the nares anterior and
posterior, or head chambers of resonance. The free tone is modified
through all its varieties of expression by those subtle changes in form,
intensity, movement, inflection, and also direction, which are too fine
for the judgment to determine, or even observe successfully. These
varieties are made possible by the very organism of the voice, which is
vital, not mechanical, and are determined by the influences working from
the mind through the nerves which control this wonderful living
instrument. This is governed by the law of reflex action, by which
stimulation of any nerve center produces responsive action in other parts
of the body. The voice will obey the mind. Right objects of thought will
influence it much more perfectly and rapidly than the mere arbitrary
dictates of calculation.
Right psychology would be the only thing necessary to the thorough
cultivation of the voice if the conditions were so perfect that there were
no habits of stricture and our instrument were thus in perfect tune. And
in spite of the fact that it is not usually found in perfect tune, the
influence of practice under right mental conditions is the most potent and
indispensable part of voice culture. Let this fact not be lost sight of
while we are discussing those more technical methods of training which are
designed to tune and regulate our instrument.
First, freedom of voice is attained (technically speaking) by right
direction of tone and vital support. A few words of explanation will make
this patent.
If the vibrating column of air when it leaves the vocal cords is so
directed that it passes freely through all the cavities of resonance, it
cannot fail to find the right one. The following exercise, if properly
taken, will induce right direction of tone: produce a light humming sound
such as would be the sound of _m, n,_ or _ng_, if so idealized
as to eliminate that element of sound commonly spoken of as nasality. That
which is called nasality is caused by the failure of the tone to reach
freely the anterior cavities of the nares. The cavity which lies just back
of the nose and frontal bone imparts a musical resonance resembling the
vibrating after-tone when a note has been struck upon a piano and allowed
to die away gradually. The "nasal" effect comes when the tone is confined
in the posterior or back part of the nares, or head cavity, or is split by
the dropping of the uvula so that part of the tone is directed through the
nares and part through the mouth. Many so-called "humming tones" are given
for practice, but in accepting them observe whether the foregoing
principle is obeyed.
The controlling center of consciousness is the extreme limit of the
_nares anteri_. The tone should be thought of as outside. Keep the
mind upon results, just as one would hold the thought of a certain figure
which one might desire to draw. If one wishes to inscribe a curve, he
thinks of the curve as an object of thought, not of the muscles which act
in executing it. So with the voice. A tone is not a reality until its form
of vibration reaches the outer air. One should always think of the tone
one wishes to make--never listen to one's own execution. If the ideal is
not reached by the effort it will be known by the sense of incompleteness.
Why is the _nares anteri_ the ruling center of tone direction? The
dominant or ruling center of any organism is that point which, if
controlled, will involve the regulation of all that is subordinate to it.
For example, the heart is the dominant center of the circulatory system;
the brain is the dominant center of the nervous system; the sun is the
dominant center of the planetary system. In all these systems, if the
center be affected, the system is proportionately influenced. If any other
part than the dominant center be affected, it is true that all other parts
may also be affected, but the desired unity in result will not be secured.
The voice will follow the thought as surely as the hand will reach the
object aimed at. The extreme anterior part of the nares, or head cavity,
is the chamber of resonance farthest from the vocal cords. Therefore, if
the voice be directed through that chamber of resonance all the others
must be passed in reaching it, and hence all must be accessible to the
vibrating column of air. It is a law of acoustics that any given cavity of
resonance will resound to that pitch to which its size corresponds, and to
no other. This law of sound secures the appropriate resonance for every
pitch much more accurately than it could be secured by an effort to
develop chest, middle, and head registers through calculating the
differences. Again, we need the higher chambers of resonance to reinforce
even the low pitch, because every note has its overtones that enrich it,
and if these cannot find their proper resonance the tone is impoverished.
It may be well to explain our use of the term "overtone."
This word "overtone" is used unscientifically by many. The significance of
its use is somewhat varied among teachers, but it generally means head
resonance, or a tone "sent over" through the head cavities. The term is
used here technically, not arbitrarily. Overtones are not confined to the
voice, but are those constituent parts of any tone which are produced by
the vibrating segments into which any vibrating cord will divide itself.
Any cord, or string, stretched between two given points, when struck will
vibrate throughout its entire length in waves of a certain length and with
a certain degree of rapidity, according to the tension of the string. This
vibration of the entire length of cord gives forth the tone heard as the
fundamental pitch or tone. Besides this fundamental or primary vibration,
the movement divides itself into segments, or sections, of the entire
length. These sections also have vibrations of their own which are of
shorter length and more rapid motion. The note given off by these
subdivisions is, of course, on a higher pitch than that produced by the
fundamental vibration of the cord; hence, they are higher tones, or
overtones. It will be remembered that pitch depends upon the rapidity of
the sound waves or vibrations. This subdivision of the vibrations is
incalculably multiplied, so that it may be said to be impossible to
determine the number of overtones accompanying the fundamental tone. What
the ear hears is the fundamental pitch only; the overtones harmonize with
the primary or fundamental tone, and enrich it. Since this is a law of
vibration, it is unscientific to speak of giving an overtone, for all
tones contain overtones. Where these overtones are interfered with by any
imperfection in the instrument the result is a harsh or imperfect sound.
In relation to the voice it should now be clearly understood that since it
is the overtones which enrich or give a harmonious sound to any tone, and
since all tones (low as well as high) have overtones as constituent parts
of their being, therefore the whole range of the resonant cavities of the
voice should, for the production of pure tone, be open to all degrees of
pitch, in order that the overtones may find their appropriate
reinforcement in the resonance chambers. Thus the quality of the voice
depends, not simply upon the condition of the vocal cords themselves, but
upon the form and quality of the resounding cavities.