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There is nothing in the nature of man more intimately connected with his happiness than the human voice. it we may manifest our desires and feelings, hold communication with our friends and convey to them words of cheer hope and encouragement. By the aid of the voice we obtain instruction, and by its aid we may impart it to others. In business life, in public life, in the home circle the voice is daily employed; should we bestow on it a passing thought we would find it is of tenfold the importance we had ever once given it.

"There is no one thing in man that he has in perfection till he has it by culture. "

"The Voice in rudimentary state, is like an image leaving the mould; a canvas with the design, without the embroidery; the mere outline of an instrument; a body without a soul.

FIRST STEPS IN VOICE CULTURE.

The first steps in Voice Culture are quite the same as the first steps toward purchasing a grand piano. Do not misunderstand— purchasing a piano. Not having it given, but having to personally earn the means for it. Having no instrument, no money, no capital save a desire to own so great a treasure. If the desire be genuine and strong the other difficulties soon vanish. So the first steps in voice culture must be a high ideal to awaken a DESIRE. This must be more than a burst of schoolgirl enthusiasm, but a deep, settled longing after an inborn ideal, strong enough to cost sacrifice and make one willing to do genuine hard work. Voice Culture cannot be given only as the learner is able to take. Begin this study then with lofty ideals, for we must ever remember: water never rises higher than its As the study advances, it charms and grows ideals Second in our study comes a knowledge of the instrument.

source,

ORGANS OF VOICE.

While the human voice has been compared to an orchestra, yet when we consider the instrument, it is like an organ with its bellows, its vibrating tongues, its body to modify

the tone.

Briefly stated: voice is produced by the air from the lungs passing over the vocal cords, being modified by the cavities of the mouth and nose.

THE VOCAL CORDS are in structure, a bundle of elastic tissues, covered with mucus membrane, in color a pearly white. They are capable of wonderful rapidity of motion. Average length in man a little more than inch, in woman some less. As in the violin, the more the cords are tightened the higher the tone; the more the cords are slackened the lower the tone.

THE GLOTTIS is the opening between the vocal cords. The high tones with tense cords make the chink of the glottis narrow. The low tones with the cords relaxed give wide opening of the glottis. The medium tones make the medium opening of the chink of the glottis.

THE LARYNX is the expanded upper end of the trachea or windpipe. The Larynx may be depressed to produce a low tone for the deepest tone it may be depressed inch. For the highest tones the larynx may rise

inch.

RESONANCE of the voice depends on the cavities of the mouth, nose and chest, making a secondary vibration with the vocal cords. The vibration of the vocal cords is modified and mellowed by these resonators as the violin body is made to vibrate with the strings, or the box of the piano with its strings. The resonance modifying the first tone may also be illustrated by a tuning fork, Ring it, listen; hold it against the table. Ring it again, hold it against a glass; again, now against a silver bell; against different

objects and note how the same tone from this tuning fork is changed in quality by the article it touches. Note also how hard substance gives a clearer ring than soft substance. Ring the tuning fork once more, place it against a silver bell; again, now against a rubber ball. Let us remember for our profit this simple fact: hard substance modifies the tone giving a clear ringing sound while soft substance gives a muffled, deadened sound. In taking advantage of this self evident, simple fact and right use of the breath lie the secrets of voice development. Think again how the voice is formed the breath passing over the vocal cords giving a sound like the tuning fork but what we hear in the voice is modified by the mouth cavity, nose and chest. Let us examine some of these modifiers and find out what kind of substance they are made of. We find in the front of the roof of the mouth a hard, firm bone, in the back of the mouth quite the opposite, soft yielding substance. We may naturally decide that it makes quite a difference which of the two vibrates with the vocal cords, the front or the back of the mouth, for the difference in substance is as the silver bell compared with the rubber ball. Let us learn to use this bone in the front of the mouth, called the nares, as the resonator instead of the back of the mouth, for it is the hardest, firmest bone in the body. Let us think of the nares as the center of the voice. The voice being allowed to fall back into the throat for resonance accounts for the cause of so many poor voices and for the cause of many forms of throat disorders. Throat diseases of a chronic character are relieved and cured by training the resonance of the voice to focus in the hard bone in the front of the mouth. This fact concerning the resonance in the front of the mouth is no longer kept a guarded secret, being bequeathed as a legacy and sold for fabulous prices, but its value is still unchanged and here it is revealed, free for your profit.

Rule,- Front tones are human; back tones are animal. Tone made to vibrate in the front of the mouth may be made" clear as a silver bell," with wonderful carrying power, because it is musical. The tones formed in the throat are dull and rasping, harsh noises, requiring far greater exertion and, consequently, soon cause fatigue. The front tones are produced with perfect ease and like the rare old violin, grow sweeter with age. We can well afford to give careful study to this point of resonance.

There are three essentials in producing tone, either with a musical instrument or the human voice, a motive element,- a vibratory element,- a resonant element. In the organ the power that operates the bellows is the motor element. The reeds or little tongues are the vibrant element. The body of the organ, with certain parts, specially arranged for that purpose is the resonant element.

In the violin the hand that wields the bow is the motor, the strings the vibrant, the body of the violin the resonant.

In the piano the motor element is in the fingers that strike the keys causing little hammers to strike the strings, which are the vibratory element. The vibrations of the strings are modified by the body of the piano and the space within it, making it mellow and resonant. The quality of the tone may be changed by lifting the top of the piano.

The human voice is much like the organ. The Motor element is the diaphragm,—the Vibrant element, the vocal cords; the mouth and nasal cavities, the chest and other parts of the body are the Resonant element.

The organ builder gives careful and patient attention to adjusting all parts, that the bellows may be ample in size and just strong enough for the work it is to do that the power that furnishes the air works evenly and vigorously that the vibrating tongues or reeds have free playthat nothing obstructs the sound after it is once produced.