8. "Forward, the Light Brigade! Charge for the guns!" he said. 9. Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable! 10. Ho! sound the tocsin from the tower, 11. And fire the culverin! Bid each retainer arm with speed! Call every vassal in! Rouse, ye Romans! rouse, ye slaves! Have ye brave sons? Look in the next fierce brawl Be answered by the lash! Most of the examples in Repetition are appropriate for practice in high pitch. In giving passages with great force in a high pitch, be sure to drop the jaw so as to keep the mouth and throat well open, and when the voice breaks into a falsetto or into an impure tone of any kind, stop immediately, rest a short time, and then begin again more carefully. Low PITCH. The best way to obtain a good control of the voice in a low key is to practice such exercises as those given under Repetition and High Pitch, until somewhat fatigued with the exertion, then, after resting the lungs and vocal organs for two or three hours, practice in the lowest and deepest tone you can command, upon passages which require the lowest and most prolonged tones. If it be found very laborious and difficult to sustain a full, clear, and resonant tone in a low key, rest a short time occasionally, and then "try again." Back on herself, and startles at destruction? 'Tis Heaven itself that points out an hereafter, And intimates eternity to man. Eternity!-thou pleasing, dreadful thought! Through what new scenes and changes must we pass! 2. Night, sable goddess, from her ebon throne, 3. Now o'er the one half world Whose howl's his watch, thus, with his stealthy pace, Moves like a ghost.--Thou sure and firm-set earth! The very stones prate of my whereabout, And take the present horror from the time, 4. Dark is the night! how dark! no light! no fire! 5. They're gone! they're gone! the glimmering spark hath fled! The wife and child are numbered with the dead! On the cold hearth outstretched, in solemn rest, Dead silence reigned around. The clock struck four. 6. Of comfort no man speak: Let's talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs; Make dust our paper, and with rainy eyes Write sorrow on the bosom of the earth. And then he falls, as I do. 8. Yes, my friends, Death has been among us! He has not entered the humble cottage of some unknown, ignoble peasant; he has knocked audibly at the palace of a nation! His footstep has been heard in the halls of state! He has cloven down his victim in the midst of the councils of a people. He has borne in triumph from among you the gravest, wisest, most reverend head. Ah! he has taken him as a trophy who was once chief over many statesmen, adorned with virtue and learning and truth; he has borne at his chariot-wheels a renowned one of the earth. 9. To be or not to be-that is the question :- MIDDLE PITCH. EXAMPLES. 1. "A certain amount of opposition," says John Neal, “is a great help to a man." Kites rise against and not with the wind. Even a head-wind is better than none. No man ever worked his passage anywhere in a dead calm. Let no man wax pale, therefore, because of opposition. Opposition is what he wants, and must have, to be good for any thing. Hardship is the native soil of manhood and self-reliance. 2. Voyager upon life's sea, To yourself be true; And where'er your lot may be, Paddle your own canoe. Never, though the winds may rave, Falter nor look back, But upon the darkest wave Leave a shining track. 3. It is absolutely necessary for the orator to keep one man in view amidst the multitude that surround him; and, while composing, to address himself to that one man, whose mistakes he laments and whose foibles he discovers. This man is to him as the genius of Socrates, standing continually at his side, and by turns interrogating him, or answering his questions. This is he whom the orator ought never to lose sight of in writing, till he obtain a conquest over his prepossessions. The arguments which will be sufficiently persuasive to overcome his opposition will equally control a large assembly. FORCE. The term force, as applied to the utterance of syllables and words, has a meaning distinct from the term loudness. Force is nearly synonymous with energy. Energy in delivery may not only be given to single syllables, as in accent, and to single words, as in emphasis, but, unlike accent and emphasis, it may be extended to whole sentences, and even to paragraphs. Of all the vocal qualifications important to the effective expression of earnestness, and to the impressive display of strong passion, force is most necessary. The difference in the degrees of force may be named: subdued, moderate, energetic, and impassioned. Feelings which require a high key and intensive slides for their proper expression also require greater degrees of force. Joy, anger, scorn, intense earnestness, and the like, usually, though not always, are expressed in loud sounds. Sometimes deep feeling chokes the voice, and sometimes the most intense feeling controlled by the will, manifests itself in low tones and with great deliberation. Sorrow, pity, love, grief, and the like, express themselves in subdued tones. Cheerfulness, animation, and moderate earnestness are expressed by a moderate degree of force. Exercises in the most intense force, and in subdued force, will, more than any other, result in speedily increasing the command of force. When passages that obtain appropriate expression by impassioned force, and others by subdued force, can be easily and correctly rendered, the student will have no difficulty in giving such as require intermediate degrees of force. Nearly all the examples under high and very high pitch are suitable to exemplify great force, those under low and very low pitch appropriate examples of subdued force, and those under middle pitch suitable examples of moderate force. EXERCISES IN FORCE. First.-Give a number of the vowel sounds, or of words of one syllable with only conversational force; then repeat them, with increasing force, until you reach the highest degree that you can command. Also, practice upon a few short passages, increasing the energy of utterance with each repetition; as, "It is my living sentiment-and by the blessing of God it shall be my dying sentiment-Independence now, and Independence forever.” EXAMPLES OF INTENSE FORCE. 1. I laid me flat along, and cried in thralldom to the furious winds, "Blow on! this is the land of liberty!" 2. Rouse, ye Romans! Rouse, ye slaves! |