THS-15-15. Simple Exercises in Voice Development

15. Simple Exercises in Voice Development A few simple exercises, diligently and constantly practiced, will do much to help in developing the quality of the voice, and in avoiding the most common faults in speech.

1. To avoid throat strain. The voice must be trained to come from the hard palate, near the front upper teeth, and not from the soft palate, back near the throat. Some sounds naturally come off the hard palate, OO for instance. Other sounds are not easily kept out of the throat, AH particularly. You cannot constrict the throat when you say OO, but you can very easily when you say AH. Try them. You can, if you try, hurt your throat in saying words like Heart, Guard, Father. It is almost impossible to do so in uttering Booth, Root, Two. The problem is to learn to sound all vowels off the hard palate. For an exercise, sound OO-OH-AH. Shape the lips into a small round aperture for OO, a little larger but still round for OH, and open the mouth for AH. But that AH must be made to come from the hard palate, as does OO. Practice a number of times, on different pitches, and listen carefully every time that AH never becomes throaty. It is worse than useless if not done correctly.

Another exercise for the same purpose is the constant use of the word LET. You cannot pronounce it except on the hard palate, where all sounds should be produced. Sing LET at different pitches, with upward and downward inflection, and with different degrees of force. Then repeat some words, listening carefully to note that they are correctly placed on the hard palate.

Here is the exercise:

LET LET LET LET LET LET LE-E-E-T, etc.

"Tell me not in mournful numbers Life is but an empty dream."

LET LET, etc.

2. To develop resonance. Hum and pronounce the sound MAW. Hold the lips lightly, but completely closed for a prolonged hum, and open out on the word. Force the breath into the air passages of the head and face during the humming. Practice sentences like "The thUNDer RUMbled aMONG the HILLS," aiming for resonance on the N, and M sounds.

3. To develop the abdominal muscles. One must be able to do this if he is to speak with power and effective modulation.

Note that the waist muscles are used in all natural exercises involving violent expulsion of breath, as in coughing, laughing, and yawning. The same muscles are required for powerful speaking.

(a) Contract and expand the waist muscles by muscular effort, apart from using the breath.

(b) Contract the waist muscles as you say HA, HA, HA; HUR-RAH.

(c) Shout HELP, expelling the sound with a violent action of the waist muscles.

Persistent long continued practice will be necessary if this action of the abdominal muscles has not previously been developed. The muscular action, without sound, can be practiced anywhere, while standing, walking, etc. The co-ordination of the muscular movement with the utterances of the syllables must be mastered. Practice the following sentence, using the violent contraction of the muscles on the accented syllables:

"ARM! ARM! it IS, it IS the CANnon’s OPening ROAR."

4. For Purity of tone.

Pronounce E, A, AW, AH, OH, OO.

Pronounce same with rising and falling inflexion.

Sing LE, LA, LAW, LAH, LOH, LOO. The abdominal muscles should be used lightly on these exercises.

5. For enunciation. Read passages in syllables, as: When pub-lic bod-ies are to be ad-dressed on mo-men-tous o-cca-sions, when great in-ter-ests are at stake and strong pa-ssions ex-cit-ed, noth-ing is val-u-a-ble in speech, fur-ther than as it is con-nect-ed with high in-tell-ec-tu-al and mor-al en-dow-ments. Do not run any of these syllables together in any way. After reading it aloud thus two or three times, read it naturally. A short regular exercise each day (choose your own selections) will greatly increase your consciousness of syllables, and improve your general enunciation. You will not then say "Through this the well-beloved Brutus tabbed" when it should be "Brutus stabbed"; nor will you say "His beer descending" when you should say "His beard descending."

6. Always allow the lower jaw to work freely. Open the mouth well on each syllable in the following: "Say there! What do you say? Pale ale fails to regale."

Voice culture is as essential to good speaking as it is to good singing. "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed."