McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson Elocution · Part 1: Principles of Elocution
5. Principles of Elocution: The Voice optional
Goal: Your student understands pitch, compass, quantity, quality and movement of the voice, and practices exercises to strengthen it.
You'll need
- The book, or the scan beside this guide
- A notebook and pen
- A mirror is handy, and a phone to record your student reading (optional)
What's in the book
The section on the Voice: pitch and compass with exercises for strengthening the voice, quantity and quality, and movement (the speed of reading), each with examples to practice.
The lesson, step by step
Pitch and compass
Read together:
The natural pitch of the voice is its key-note, or governing note.
The compass is the range above and below it. The book says the voice should rise above or fall below this key-note to avoid monotony, as the sense requires.
Strengthen the voice
Try the book's exercise: say a short sentence at the lowest pitch your student can manage comfortably, then one note higher, and so on to the top, then back down.
If you can, go outside. The book recommends speaking "in the open air, at the very top of the voice."
High pitch examples
Read the high-pitch examples with energy:
Charge Chester, charge! On Stanley, on!
A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!
The book notes that high pitch is not the same as loudness. Try the line high and soft, then low and loud.
Quantity, quality, movement
Skim the sections on quantity, quality and movement together. Movement, the book says, is the rapidity with which the voice moves in reading and speaking. Read one quiet, solemn example slowly and one lively example quickly.
Talk about it
SayWhat is your natural key-note? Hum it.
SayWhy does a whole speech at one pitch put listeners to sleep?
SayWhat kind of passage should be read slowly? What kind quickly?
Afterwards
Use the pitch exercise as a one-minute warm-up before reading aloud.