heard, but whilst exaggerations of any sort, whether of pathos or humour, must be shunned, the possession of a luminous and expressive style is of incalculable value.

As a means of enchaining the attention of the young, and for awaking in them a love for what is best in literature, good reading, which embraces the natural expression of honest sentiment, must always be of immense utility and power.

Necessity of
Practice.

There must be continued

practice if the speaker is to

attain and retain control over

vocal technique. Then, too, the complex mechanism of speech requires the health of each particular organ, and the physical wellbeing of the entire body.

Vocal-hygiene.

Vocal hygiene does not require

excessive care for its realiza

tion, but only a reasonable application of

common sense.

Fresh air in the house and out, by night as well as by day, is a necessity for all voice-users, who should avoid all atmospheric conditions of dust, smoke and closeness, which irritate the throat and lungs.

52

THE DELIVERY OF PROSE AND Verse

When suffering from cold or fatigue, it is well to avoid all public speaking, rest having a special value in accelerating vocal recovery.

It is certain that the voice is vastly improved by building up the bodily strength; for this reason, a good nourishing diet and judicious exercise are both of importance. Whenever a speaker has some big vocal effort to make, he will do well to seek quiet, if not rest, as much as possible, for some hours beforehand.

CHAPTER VII

GESTURE

ALL effective speaking is accompanied by some amount of gesture, from which it gains both force and expression.

Gesture may be compared to the accompaniment of a song, by which the singing is enhanced; even so is delivery by well-chosen and significant action. There must be complete accord, the accent of the voice corresponding to that of the gesture, except when the gesture purposely precedes the voice, with proportionate heightening of effect. In fact, the 'entente cordiale' existing between vocalist and accompanist is imitated by the speaker in his use of voice and action.

How to stand when speaking.

It is a great advantage when speaking to stand well: the feet should be somewhat apart,

and the weight of the body rather upon one

ment.

foot than upon both. By this method the speaker can more easily turn from side to side without attention being attracted to the moveThe head should be erect, the chest free and expanded, the shoulders well back, whilst the arms should not be allowed to touch the sides, as doing so, they would impede the respiratory movements of the chest.

The entire figure,-head, body, arms, hands and feet,must be observed and regulated in order to realize a graceful, easy, varied and expressive bearing.

Calm bearing with deliberate movements.

Avoid any emphasis of word or sentence by head movements, and indeed, doing anything in the use of voice or action which may strike your audience as unnatural, exaggerated, eccentric or peculiar. A calm bearing with deliberate movements is what a speaker should strive to attain: mere restlessness of attitude and redundancy of meaningless gesticulation being most undesirable and inappropriate.

Head erect, eyes towards audience.

In addressing an audience, the eyes should not wander from individual to individual, or res

upon anyone in particular. Neither look downwards or upwards, but rather ahead of you, so that your hearers may be able to read the expressions-the emotions of mind and soul, which should declare themselves in your eyes and countenance.

In reading, cultivate the habit of phrasing shortly, gathering the words in the phrase at a glance, then speak them with the head erect, and the eyes on the audience, and not on the book. This method ensures the voice being heard, instead of being half smothered in the book, as is certain to be the case if the eyes are kept upon the page and the head bent.

Avoidance of cramped gesture.

Any action which appears cramped, rigid, stiff or ungainly, must be discovered

and avoided, hence the value of, at first, practising all gesture before a mirror, and severely criticing one's movements. After a time, familiarity with what is good, and also with that which is evidently bad, will enable us to move with tolerable certainty of effect.

Changes of posi

tions to be effected unobtrusively.

All change of position and of gesture must be effected unobtrusively. By the obser