In giving Volume of voice, the vocal aperture is made as open as it can
be and still have the elements of speech definitely formed; and the
vibrating column of air is guided through the aperture without being
biased by it. The chief agents which guide the voice through this
aperture are the sides of the throat and the tongue in its proper
relation to the pharynx, hard palate, and soft palate. When we combine
Slide with Volume there must be an exact relation between the
contraction of the vocal cords and the proper position and action of
these vocal organs.
Freedom of will expressed in volume is that quality of voice which
suggests no hindrance, no limitation. The “voice of thunder” is not
known by its degree of noise, for it may be so distant as to be only
perceptible to the senses, yet it is still recognized as thunder from
its illimitable quality, in other words, its volume. Loudness is not a
necessary quality of volume, but illimitation is. Listen to the voice of
a young martyr, who has been condemned by the Roman emperor to be flung
into the amphitheater, there to be devoured by ferocious beasts. Her
father, who does not see the truth as she sees it, pleads with her to
abjure her faith and worship the old gods. She turns to him and says,
“Father, _I_ would, but _Christ in me_ will not.” Light shines in the
eyes of the old man as he looks at her and says, “I believe God is in
thee.” Her will was absorbed in the divine will, and that divinity spoke
through her. Even He who made the world spoke in her voice. The roar of
the lion, though terrible, could not drown her tones, though low,
devout, and tender.
Some who heard the voice from heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son in
whom I am well pleased,” said it thundered. This does not indicate that
the voice was loud, but that it had the quality of illimitation, and so
impressed the imagination as nature’s voice. It is the Christ, speaking
through man’s voice that has turned this world “upside down”; that has
lifted up the cross of Christ, before whom all the kings of earth
tremble, and become like chaff on the summer threshing floor.