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.