THE ART OF SPEECH AND DEPORTMENT PART I BASES OF EXPRESSION Question. What is fundamental in the study of Expression? Answer. That you acquire exact habits of thought and a definite understanding of terms and of the meaning of words, even the simplest. Q. What is my first duty? A. To fix your mind upon important truths and make the knowledge so obtained thorough. Q. What subject should I first consider? A. Expression. Q. What is the meaning of Expression? A. It is materialized thought, anything having shape, form, color, or sound, due to human effort or interpretation. Q. What is the derivation of the term Expression? A. It is derived from Latin words meaning stamped, shaped, or pressed out. It is this that gives outward form to the thought of the artist, who thus stamps his personality upon all that he says or does. Q. Define the word Impression. A. Impression is that which precedes Expression, the picture presented to the mind through the senses, producing thought and emotion. Q. How are Impressions classified? A. Into sensations, ideas, and emotions. Receiving from without you act from within, in accordance with impressions so received. Art is the emotion (impression) of man worked out in action (expression). Q. What do you mean by Art? A. Art is man's effort to produce the ideal. It divides itself into as many branches as there are vehicles used. A beautiful house, a magnificent temple, a jewel finely cut and uniquely set, the mind and character of a man suggested by the sculptor's hand in plaster or marble or by the -painter's brush on canvas, a rug rare in design and coloring, a chair or table the form and color of which provoke our admiration, a book that compels our attention, a song which is repeated by poet and peasant, each and all are works of art, vehicles used for the conveyance of the thought and emotion of man. Q. Which art makes the most direct and universal appeal to man? A. The art of self-expression through voice and action. Q. Why is this most important? A. Few are called upon to paint pictures, carve statues, create poems, write plays, design jewels, plan buildings, sing songs, dance dances, but no one can avoid using his speaking voice and his body to convey his sensations, his thoughts, and his emotions. Q. Has the art of self-expression subdivisions? A. Yes; in common with the other arts it has many subdivisions, each an art in itself and all needful for adequately impressing the individual upon the mind of others. self Q. What is mind? A. Mind is used as synonymous with consciousness, and includes feeling and intelligence, both being mental processes. Q. What is feeling? A. Feeling covers by far the greater part of man's inner activity, or subjectivity, comprising as it does both the sensations and the emotions as distinguished from the intelligence. Every mind is largely given up to recording impressions sensational and emotional. |