To all these unfavourable conditions most young ladies subject themselves by habitual stooping postures — particularly in the attitude of study and reading. Such postures, while they impair, to a great extent, the general health of the body, are one principal cause of weak voice and imperfect utterance; as they disable all the primary organs of speech, by cramping those of respiration.

Mode of Respiration required for Appropriate Reading.

Having attended to the due enlargement of the vocal instrument, the next step in execution, obviously, is to provide it with a full supply of air. The habit of deep and full inspiration, is at once indispensable to the healthy action of the whole corporeal frame, and to the formation of adequate sound. Let the "blower" fail to do his duty of supplying the instrument with air, and no skill, in the organist, can produce music.

Young ladies, in general, whether from constitutional imperfection or defective habit, fail in the great requisite of voice, a full supply of breath. The habitual practice of exercise in the open air, and a special attention to the mode of breathing, are indispensable prerequisites to the right use of the voice.* The organs of respiration, it should never be forgotten, are also, by their constitution, the primary organs of voice; and without their free and vigorous action, no adequate vocal sound can be produced.

Appropriate Mode of producing Vocal Sound.

The next stage, in the organic processes, is to give free scope and action to the organs which serve to expel the breath from the lungs, and to form vocal sound. - The preparatory step of deep and full inspiration having been taken, and a full supply of the material of sound having been secured, it is not less important that the remaining condition of effective voice should be fulfilled, which is that the great expulsory muscles, extending, in front of the body from the chest downward, should be made to play with due energy.

These muscles, by an impulsive motion, participated in and ren

* The appropriate exercises for regulating the breath and forming the voice, are prescribed in detail in the volume entitled, "Orthophony, or Vocal Culture in Elocution."

dered expulsory by the diaphragm, the pleuræ, and the lungs, throw up the breath from the air-cells of the lungs, through the bronchial tubes, which connect these with the trachea, or windpipe, into the larynx, or the upper part of the windpipe, to the glottis, or opening of the larynx, where the issuing breath is converted into voice. The vigorous condition, the unembarrassed posture, and the energetic action of these expulsory muscles, evidently must be of the utmost consequence to the formation of full vocal sound. We are thus reminded, once more, of the great importance of healthy vigour, of true position, and energetic action, in the appropriate organs of voice. In imperfect health, the expulsory muscles are incapable of the activity adequate to produce a firm and clear tone; as may be observed in the habitual utterance of the sick, the feeble, the languid, or the exhausted person. By a stooping posture, the expulsory muscles are curved, and, consequently, incapacitated for effective action.

In coughing, and in sneezing, which are mechanical expulsory acts, and in the utterance of a sudden interjection of fear, joy, or any other strong emotion which causes an abrupt involuntary expulsive act, we may observe how powerful the exertion of these muscles, in such circumstances, becomes. In vehement speaking, it is,— although not so violent, yet quite perceptible. But, in the usual forms of speech and of reading, it escapes our notice; as the effort with which it is attended is so slight in comparison, and so easy to the organs. The motion is, in these cases, one of which we are scarcely conscious, and which we are apt to think of as wholly involuntary. It is only in part so, however; and the vividness and expressive character of the human voice, are more dependent on the vigorous action of the expulsory muscles, than on any other condition.

What is required of the reader, in regard to the play of these muscles, is, that there be a voluntary effort, a consentaneous action of the will, added to the habitually unconscious movement of the organs, — in order to give efficacy to the function of voice.

Management of the Breath.

Another stage in the management and control of the vocal organs, is to be attentive to very frequent renewal of the breath,—to keep a supply always in advance of the demand, and thus never to “get out of breath," or to become feeble in voice. — A person of very delicate

organization, who is duly attentive to an upright, expanded, and projected position of the chest, and to breathe frequently, can easily give forth a full and resonant tone of the voice. But the prevalent habit, – among female readers especially, — is to neglect all these conditions, — particularly that of renewing the breath at every pause, and inhaling a little frequently; instead of which, the opposite practice is customary, - that of drawing in a long breath, at distant intervals. In consequence of this neglect, there is not at command the only means of giving out a full and true vocal sound, an adequate supply of air. The voice, accordingly, betrays this fact in feeble and husky sound; and the tender air-cells of the lungs suffer, at the same time, to the great and lasting injury of health. The rule of vocal exertion in reading, is, a little breath at every pause, to keep the aircells of the lungs always full,- never empty or approaching to exhaustion. Reading, without frequent breathing, is, in degree, an unconscious process of self-destruction, by partial deprivation of the great means of life, — air.

Having paid due attention to the use of the vocal organs, in those forms of action which are common to respiration and to speech or reading, it remains that the reader should see to it that the smaller organs of speech be appropriately exerted. We can, by careful practice, gain a great power over these.

Utterance as modified by the Glottis.

At the top of the larynx, the upper portion of the windpipe, is situated its opening, called the glottis. The force and the precision of sound, are greatly dependent on the power to shut and open, forcibly and effectually, this aperture. The acts of opening and closing the glottis, and the mode of these acts, make vocal sounds forcible or feeble, abrupt or gradual, definite or indefinite, high or low. The most useful form of exercise, for securing a perfect command over the glottis, is that of practising, in all degrees of force, from whispering to shouting, from the most abrupt to the most gentle and gradual formation of sound, and on every note from the lowest to the highest, the various sounds of vowels and diphthongs, with perfect exactness of execution,* at the opening and the close, and with perfect purity of vocal sound.

* See the manual on Orthophony. "Radical" and "vanishing" ments," in Enunciation.

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Articulation, as dependent on the Minor Organs.

A course of exercise and discipline should be practised, next, on the various classes of consonants which call into action the minor, or smaller organs of speech, the palate, the tongue, the lips, &c. The requisite elementary exercises for this purpose, are arranged, at full length, in the "Introduction" to this Reader, as well as in the manual on Orthophony. But classes or individuals who have not practised these exercises, will derive much benefit from the custom of daily pronouncing a few lines, from any reading lesson, in inverted order, so as to detach, for the moment, each word from its connection in the sense, and thus more easily and more precisely observe its component sounds. The exercise should be pursued thus: 1st, Begin at the last word in a line, sentence, or paragraph, and pronounce every word loudly, clearly, and distinctly, - by itself;-2d. Enunciate every syllable of each word, apart from another, with perfect precision, and distinctness;-3d, Articulate every letter, that is not properly a silent one, in each syllable or word. — In this way, the common tendency of young readers, to imperfect utterance and defective articulation, may, in a few weeks, be entirely overcome.

“QUALITY” OF THE VOICE.

"Pure Tone."

WHEN the requisite attention has been given to obtaining a control over the organs of voice, and the character of vocal sounds, in enunciation, the next stage of practice is properly that which regards the "quality" of the voice. The term, "quality," in elocution, as in music, signifies, as formerly mentioned, the distinctive quality or property of the voice, which characterizes its sound in individuals,somewhat as the peculiar sound of one species of musical instrument differs from that of another. Hence the poetic and descriptive epithets applied to different human voices, when we speak of agreeable ones being "bell-like," "silver-toned," "flute-like," "flageoletsounding;" and of disagreeable ones being "clarinet-toned,” “ fiddlelike," &c.

The appropriate "quality" of the human voice, is an effect produced by the due and proportioned action of all the organs. It consists in the full, even, and smooth sound, which musicians designate by the terms

"pure tone." This designation implies a figurative resemblance between perfectly formed, undisturbed sound, to the ear, and a perfectly pure or transparent substance to the eye; and the analogy is a very instructive one. The difference suggested to the mind, is that which exists between the water of a perfectly pellucid lake, and that of a muddy pool. As the one delights, and the other offends, the eye; so is it with vocal sound: pure tone soothes and pleases the ear; impure tone jars and grates it.

In perfectly "pure tone," all the vocal organs blend their effect The sound issues directly and freely from the mouth, but carries with it the resonance of the chest and of the head, combined; - the latter predominating: hence, the phrase "head tone," is, in music, sometimes employed as synonymous with "pure tone."

We shall find, on examination, that this property of voice is dependent, to a great extent, on the true position of the body;-the chest expanded and projected, the head erect, the throat and mouth freely opened, — all aided by a full supply of breath inhaled, but a gentle and equable emission of it. These conditions secure to the voice the resonance of the chest, the firmness of the throat, and the clearness and softness of the effect of the head and mouth, — all blending into one pure stream of round, smooth, even sound,; or, to compare the voice to an object of art,- it then becomes a pure, transparent, and crystalline sphere, perfectly free from impurities, projections, and inequalities.

Faults in the "Quality” of the Voice.

The common faults of vocal "quality," in young ladies, are the following, all usually connected with incorrect postures of the body' — 1st, the faint, hollow, murmuring, “pectoral” voice, of feebleness. languor, reluctance, or negligence, — which seems pardonable in a sick student of the other sex; but, —unless in the utterance of deep and solemn emotion, in which case, it becomes a part of appropriate effect in "expression," — it sounds unnatural and disagreeable in a female, and hinders every thing like appropriate effect in utterance. 2d, a hard, dry, barking effect; as if the throat had no pliancy, and the feelings of the individual no suavity; or a false, guttural swell, seeming to issue from the lower instead of the upper part of the windpipe, and causing an effect which is more or less disgusting to the ear. Such modes of utterance belong properly to impassioned

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