Part 1

Transcriber's note: Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). Text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=).

P S Y C H O V O X

OR

THE EMERSON SYSTEM OF VOICE CULTURE.

BY CHARLES WESLEY EMERSON. _Founder of the Emerson College of Oratory_, BOSTON, MASS.

EMERSON PUBLISHING COMPANY MILLIS, MASS. 1923

COPYRIGHT, 1897. BY CHARLES WESLEY EMERSON.

CONTENTS

Voice, the Natural Reporter of the Individual.

Organs that Produce, Reinforce, and Give Resonant Forms to the Voice.

Relation of the Proper Use of the Voice to Health.

Relation of the Proper Use of the Voice to the Nervous System.

Relation of Pitch to Resonance.

Methods for Cultivating the Voice.

Exercises.

Rhythm.

Quality of Voice.

Vocal Technique.

Index.

“_When a man lives with God, his_ _voice shall be as sweet as the murmur of_ _the brook and the rustle of the corn._”

=PSYCHO VOX.=

=_VOICE, THE NATURAL REPORTER OF THE INDIVIDUAL._=

It is true in nature, in both organic and inorganic matter, that sound reports the quality of substance, that is, the quality of the sound indicates the quality of the object which produces it. This is very apparent in the animal kingdom. The naturalist knows by the tone of the bird’s voice what kind of bird it is. The hunter knows by the voice of a wild animal heard in the distance whether it is carniverous or herbiverous; for in the voice of the former he hears something which is savage, something which tears, while in the latter he hears the softer tones of the milder animal.

In this treatise I shall consider the human voice as the natural reporter of the individual, his character, and his physical and mental states. I am not considering the individual in any narrow sense, but in the sense of his entire being—body and mind.

Modern research shows that the mind affects all parts of the body,—the brain most immediately. I would not be understood, however, to imply that the brain thinks, or that any part of the body thinks; but that the soul uses the body in this world as a medium through which to manifest its thoughts, emotions, and purposes. One of nature’s laws is expression. What is inmost shall be outermost. What is spoken in secret “shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.” This law is never supplanted, never circumscribed, it always was, is, and ever will be constant in its action.

The mind expresses its degree of development through the vocal mechanism. As the individual rises in development, more thought is expressed in his voice. The voice of a baby has little mind in it; it reports little more than physical sensations. If its physical sensations are agreeable, the “coo” tells it more clearly than words could. As the mind continues to develop, one power after another manifests itself in the voice until we hear thought, affection, and choice speaking in unmistakable tones.

The voice is educated through inducing right states of mind while using it. Mont Blanc rises shoulder to shoulder with other mountains; then, towering above them, its brow pierces the clouds. One speaking while inspired with a sense of its sublimity need not be told not to speak on a high pitch, for he will feel no impulse so to do. Education means to draw out; therefore all true education is from within. If there ever was an age of the world in which this needed to be said, it is to-day. Materialism has spread all over the civilized world, influencing men in religion and in education. I admit that man is influenced by environment, but it must be remembered that man is not confined to material environment alone, his immediate environment is Spirit. Man learns not only from without, but from within; not through sense merely, but through soul.

Singing is heart speaking to heart; inward life speaking to inward life. The power of moving the feelings is the power by which the world is governed. A person may possess reason, but reason must speak in the form of feeling before it becomes effective in influencing others. Elementally considered, the singing and the speaking voices are one. Good teaching for the one is good teaching for the other. The first step in educating the voice is to teach the pupil to think in sounds. The voice is capable of expressing every mental activity—intellectual as well as emotional. The voice rarely fails to reveal the lower order of feelings, as physical pleasure or pain; it can also reveal the higher realm of feelings,—benevolence, love of truth for its own sake, love of good, sympathy with all conscious being, hope, faith, and all spiritual perceptions.

The mind must be trained to the perception of beautiful vocal sounds; it must hold these sounds as ideals while practising with the voice. It is at this point that the chief difficulty in vocal culture arises, viz., that of keeping the mind constantly and exclusively concentrated upon its ideals. If a person holds the right ideal steadily before his mind while properly practising, repetition will cause this ideal to take dominating possession of the tones, and thus shape them to itself and become incarnated in them.

I once heard a most interesting conversation between two gentlemen, one of whom was a Russian violinist. A young Italian had been entertaining a company by playing upon a violin. The Russian asked to see the instrument, and said to a gentleman sitting near, “This is a very old violin—probably a hundred years old.” The other replied, “I suppose it must be very valuable, then, for we are told that the longer a violin is played upon the better it becomes.” “Ah, my friend,” continued the Russian, “that all depends upon what kind of music has been played upon it. The tone of this violin indicates to my mind that it has deteriorated in value in consequence of its having been compelled to discourse music of an inferior quality.”

What a revelation in nature! The molecules that compose the wood of a violin can be marshalled into harmony by the music played upon it! If in the mind of the violinist there is melody and harmony of a high order, it finds its way through his fingers into the bow that touches the strings, and all the molecules of the resounding wood waltz into harmonious forms. What a spectacle for the eye of reason to see all these molecules begin to form into line and step out to the concord of sweet sounds born of the mind of the musician!

If this principle is true of the violin, is it not pre-eminently true of the vocal organism which was designed by its infinite Creator for the especial purpose of responding to the activities of the mind that inhabits it? As the mind thinks mystery, grandeur, or solemnity, the vocalized breath is shaped into corresponding forms of expression. In the throat is a beautiful instrument, made by Him who made the soul to require such an organ for its expression.

It is a fatal mistake to consider the voice as something separate from the man. The true voice is the soul incarnated in tone.

The mission of the voice is to communicate to others what is in the soul of each. The eyes of no two persons receive the same rays of light. All men know more than one man, because each person has his own individual point from which to view life and the world. If we listen not to the report of others, our lives will contain but little truth. A person with a grand intellect lies as open to the thoughts of others as the placid lake to the stars which it nightly reflects. Narrow minds will entertain only those thoughts which come to them through some channel in favor of which they maintain a prejudice. The receptive mind will “prove all things” by entertaining all things, and then “hold fast that which is good.”

This power to communicate thought through sound is beautiful and mysterious. A person listening to an orchestral composition often finds that the thoughts awakened in him correspond to those which inspired the composer.

I know that Beethoven believed in God’s government on earth, because once while listening to one of his compositions, which no words accompanied, visions arose before my mind. I saw the early condition of this world; I heard a sound as if a thousand wild animals were tearing each other into fragments with snarls, and yells, and fierce cries. The blood was flowing, and their eyes were shooting fire. I next saw men tearing each other as the beasts had done before. I saw the glitter of arms and the coats of mail; I saw the onset and heard the shock of the charge. I saw men fall, and then there went up a groan of agony which finally merged into a cry toward heaven for help. It was a universal prayer of suffering humanity. Then there came a voice to which all heaven seemed to contribute, a voice that was helpful, a voice of forgiveness, a voice that seemed to soothe the cry of agony, and fully answer the prayer. Old things had passed away, and behold, all things had become new. There was a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelt righteousness. Human beings I saw, not as “trees walking,” but as gods crowned with love, glory, and immortality.

It was then I was made to realize what the apostle meant when he said he was caught up into heaven and saw things unlawful to utter,—not against the laws of man, but above the laws of language. The composition of Beethoven made me think what words could not tell.

In the poem, “_Aux Italiens_,” Owen Meredith describes the power exerted upon the minds of others through a composition of Verdi when rendered by Mario.

Of all the operas that Verdi wrote, The best, to my taste, is the Trovatore; And Mario could soothe with a tenor note The souls in purgatory.

The moon on the tower slept soft as snow, And who was not thrilled in the strangest way, As we heard him sing, while the gas burned low, “_Non ti scordar di me!_”

The Emperor there, in his box of state, Looked grave, as if he had just then seen The red flag wave from the city gate, Where his eagles in bronze had been.

There was something in the voice of the singer which caused the Emperor’s mind to see the red flag standing where “his eagles in bronze had been.”

The Empress, too, had a tear in her eye. You’d have said that her fancy had gone back again For one moment under the old blue sky To the old, glad life in Spain.

The tones of Mario caused the Empress to see her early home; and the chief character in the poem to see his first love, and to even smell the flower he had seen her wear.

Meanwhile, I was thinking of my first love, As I had not been thinking of aught for years, Till over my eyes there began to move Something that felt like tears.

. . . . . . . . . .

For I thought of her grave below the hill, Which the sentinel cypress tree stands over, And I thought,—“Were she only living still, How I could forgive her and love her!”

And I swear, as I thought of her thus, in that hour, And of how, after all, old things were best, That I smelt the smell of that jasmin-flower Which she used to wear in her breast.

An orator, by his tones as well as by his words, causes definite mental activities to take possession of his audience, thus influencing them with the action of their own minds. The language of tone is the language of the spheres, it is the language of the invisible world, it is the language of the angels.

The soul knows what tones to employ for the purpose of communicating its own activities to other souls. The impulse of the soul constructs the form of the tone which communicates its thought to the audience. There is no such thing as true voice which soul has not formed. The proper study of the voice is a study of the manifestations of the soul. Life is rich and valuable if we live from the interior. Life is disappointing, life is the blasting of all highest hopes, life is the shatterer and annihilator of all ideals, if we live not from the soul.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” “All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made.” Think what an estimate the Bible puts upon the “Word!” The Word, which is the fruition of the soul in manifestation, is used as a symbol of the relation of Jesus Christ to the Father. The Word is represented as being the Truth, the Life, the Creative Energy, and the Being of God Himself. Man’s word, when he lives truly, is but an expression, a moving out upon the world, and upon the hearts of others, of the love, the truth, the worship of his soul.

True words, then, are not sounds separate from the spirit; they are the incarnated soul. I would never teach voice, I would never teach oratory, if words were not, in their true nature, Divine things, if they were not forms of the spirit and of the soul!

=_ORGANS THAT PRODUCE, REINFORCE, AND GIVE RESONANT FORMS TO THE VOICE._=

VOICE DEFINED.

The human voice is that sound, caused by the vibration of the vocal cords in the larynx and reinforced by the resonant chambers, which reports the physical and mental states of man.

CAUSE OF VOICE.

Voice is caused by the contraction of the muscles of expiration, which brings sufficient pressure upon the lungs to drive the air from them out between the vocal cords, thus causing their edges to vibrate, thereby throwing the column of breath into such rapid vibration as to produce sound.

ORGANS THAT PRODUCE VOICE.

Larynx, (Including Vocal Cords), Lungs, Muscles of Respiration.

_LARYNX._

The larynx is the principal organ of voice. It is situated in the front of the neck, and forms the prominence sometimes called “Adam’s apple”; it also forms a part of the anterior boundary of the pharynx. At the upper part it has the form of a triangular box, with one angle directly in front. It is composed of nine cartilages moved by muscles, and lined with mucous membrane. Six of its cartilages are in pairs; three are single. The three single cartilages are the thyroid, cricoid, and epiglottis; the three pairs are the arytenoid, cuneiform, and cornicula laryngis. The larynx is sometimes called a music-box; from it proceeds the sound called voice.

VOCAL CORDS.

Across the larynx are stretched the true vocal cords.

Each cord consists of a band of yellow tissue, covered by mucous membrane.

By means of the action of the muscles of the larynx that connect with the cartilages which enter into its structure, the vocal cords are so adjusted that when the muscles of expiration force the air, which is compressed in the lungs, out between these cords, their edges are set in vibration. This is the beginning of the sound which we call voice, but before it is heard in speech or song it is reinforced by the chambers of resonance.[1]

[1] For the function of the false, or superior vocal cords, see pp. 68-71, _Physical Culture_.

PITCH.

The various degrees of pitch in the compass of the voice depend upon the rate of vibration of the vocal cords. This rate of vibration, the pressure of breath being the same, is caused by the different degrees of tension of the vocal cords. If the vocal cords are drawn thin and short, the pitch will be high; as the tension diminishes, the pitch will be lower. The greater the number of vibrations to the second, the higher will be the pitch. A sound consisting of sixteen vibrations to the second produces the lowest pitch that has been recognized by the human ear as sound; while more than 38,000 vibrations per second have not been heard.

The lowest rate of vibration on record of any voice is about forty-four vibrations per second, while the highest rate in any voice on record is a little over nineteen hundred.

LOUDNESS.

Different degrees of loudness of voice are caused by different degrees of amplitude of the waves of vibration.

THE LUNGS.

The two lungs are the essential organs of respiration; the right lung has three lobes, the left, two. The base of each lung rests upon the convex surface of the diaphragm.

The root of each lung is formed by the bronchus and blood-vessels, which enter the lung a little above the middle of its inner surface, and connect it to the heart and trachea. With the exception of the root, the surface of each lung is free and moves in the cavity of the thorax. The bronchus is one of two tubes which arise from the bifurcation of the trachea. It conducts the air from the trachea to either lung. The bronchial tubes are sub-divisions, or ramifications, of the bronchus and terminate in the air-cells.

_MUSCLES OF RESPIRATION._

Inasmuch as voice is vocalized breath, it is important to give attention to respiration.

The principal muscles used in the ordinary movements of inspiration are:—

I. Diaphragm. II. Levatores costarum. III. External intercostals.

The principal muscles used in expiration are:—

I. Internal intercostals with the infracostals.

II. Triangularis sterni.

{ Transversalis. III. Abdominal muscles { Rectus. { Internal oblique. { External oblique.

There are many accessory muscles which aid in violent respiratory movements, both inspiratory and expiratory. All the muscles which elevate the scapula may act through it upon the ribs; the three scalene muscles act directly upon the first rib.

The principal muscles of inspiration may be assisted by the

I. Serratus posticus superior. II. Serratus magnus. III. Pectoralis major. IV. Pectoralis minor.

The principal muscles of expiration may be aided by the following muscles:—

I. Serratus posticus inferior, II. Longissimus dorsi, III. Sacro lumbalis,

and all the muscles which tend to depress the ribs.

DIAPHRAGM.

The diaphragm separates the cavity of the thorax from the cavity of the abdomen, and constitutes the floor for the heart and lungs to rest upon, and also a close-fitting cover for the contents of the abdomen. Therefore it is evident that the moving of the diaphragm moves the organs which are immediately above and those below it. In reposeful breathing the enlargement of the cavity of the chest is chiefly accomplished by the contraction of the diaphragm. As it contracts it presses upon the abdominal viscera. The abdominal muscles antagonize the diaphragm by pressing back the abdominal viscera, thus causing its ascent as soon as the diaphragm has become relaxed.

As the diaphragm contracts, the air rushes through the nostrils or mouth to fill the lungs. By lifting the ribs the thorax can be sufficiently enlarged to meet ordinary demands for breath; therefore the lungs would not immediately suffer if the diaphragm was not contracted. The principal sufferers in such a case would be the stomach, liver, and intestines, for without this exercise which the contraction of the diaphragm gives them they would not as vigorously perform their functions.

It is taught in many works on physiology that men inhale by means of the contraction of the diaphragm chiefly, while in adult women the diaphragm is exercised little, if any, during respiration. This statement was first given in early physiologies without due warrant from close observation. This idea, having once found its way into a standard work, has continued in successive works until now. This theory is of such vital interest to all that the authority for it should be carefully examined. It is a fact that more women than men breathe wholly by means of elevating and lowering the ribs; it is also a well-observed fact that the healthiest women and the healthiest men breathe alike, with no movement of the upper part of the chest during reposeful respiration. It is only when an unusual amount of air is required that the healthiest men and women ever move the upper part of the chest during respiration; then the diaphragm is exercised vigorously, and the movements of the ribs take place only for the purpose of enlarging the cavity of the thorax beyond what it is possible for the diaphragm alone to accomplish. During the last twenty-five years I have cured hundreds of people, both men and women, of dyspepsia and its attendant weaknesses by teaching them how to exercise the diaphragm in respiration, and in the production of tone. To say nothing of the incorrect way in which women breathe, I find that a majority of men breathe improperly.

The shape of the diaphragm, when it is relaxed, resembles an open umbrella. When the diaphragm is flattened by contraction it no longer retains its dome-like shape, and thus gives greater depth to the thorax.

DIFFERENCE IN THE ACTION OF THE DIAPHRAGM DURING EXPIRATION OF THE BREATH AND DURING THE PRODUCTION OF TONE.

During expiration of breath the diaphragm is fully relaxed, while during the production of tone it should be somewhat contracted. In the proper adjustment of the diaphragm and abdominal muscles during voice production, the diaphragm by its contraction resists, to some extent, the pressure caused by the contraction of the abdominal muscles, and thus only gradually yields to the force brought against it by the contraction of these muscles, in consequence of which a firm and steady support is given to the voice.

BREATHING THROUGH THE NOSE.

The question is often asked, “Should one breathe through the nose or through the mouth?” Nature has so constructed the organs of respiration and determined their action that a person in health breathes through the nose, while a person in ill health often breathes through the mouth. By “breathing through the nose,” of course, is meant reposeful breathing. In extraordinary breathing some persons are obliged to breathe through the mouth, but this is always an indication of exhaustion or weakness. Every person should, if possible, maintain the habit of breathing through the nose.

_ORGANS WHICH REINFORCE VOICE._

The organs that reinforce voice are its resonant chambers, viz.:—

Nares, Mouth, Pharynx, Trachea.

Resonance means resounding or sounding again, and is caused by means of the air conveying the vibrations of one substance to another substance. This is familiarly illustrated in the echo.