A little consideration of
what is involved in the full development of the power of slide should show
us that while the key-note of speech fundamentally may not vary widely,
the suggestive music of the voice in long slides often does cover a great
number of notes. A little experiment will demonstrate this. Take any
selection containing variety in idea colored by feeling and try making
the long lines of inflection, keeping the proportion good and modulating
into a very shadow of sound, yet wholly appreciable. That which the
student of expression calls length of line is very largely expressed in
range of inflection as well as in the extension of time and modulation
of volume. The range of tone in every voice should cover as many degrees
of pitch as possible, as these are needed in word painting no less than
in dramatic expression.
It is claimed by singers that the practice of speech as an elocutionary
exercise is sure to lower the pitch of the voice so as to depress the
so-called higher register. This is doubtless true to a large extent, as
manifest in the conditions common, but it is by no means a certainty that
a sufficient balance of practice upon the delicate, esthetic lines of the
voice in high pitch and in such selections as Shelley's "Ode to a Skylark"
may not counterbalance the overemphasis upon low tones which is ordinarily
practised by students of the speech arts.
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