TABLE NO. 12. VOCAL GYMNASTICS. PITCH, OR INFLECTION. This table is devoted exclusively to pitch, and is designed to educate the ear to distinguish kinds and degrees of inflection. To practice Fig. 1. First produce the given notes of the scale with syllables, si, do, do, si, etc. When this can be done, substitute a vowel sound for the syllables, and produce a smooth, even rise and fall of the voice, to correspond in degree with the notes or characters in the figure. Do not increase nor decrease in volume, and avoid dragging the sound from one character to another. Practice the remaining figures in the same way, observing to continue the sound to the end of each character in the figures, and no farther. In Fig. 1, two notes are united in each character; in Figs. 2 and 3, three notes; in Figs. 4 and 5, four notes are smoothly connected. TABLE NO. 13. VOCAL GYMNASTICS. PITCH AND FORCE COMBINED. This table combines stress and inflection for practice. To practice Fig. 1. Sound the syllables, accenting the first and last in each group, as indicated by the capitals and small letters. When this can be readily done, use a single vowel sound instead of the syllables. Practice the remaining figures in the same manner, applying various vowel sounds to keep up an interest in the exercise. Fig. 5 can be rendered more easily by using a single sound at the outset. TABLE NO. 14. ACCENT. To learn accent, practice the following Table of Accented and Unaccented Sounds. The table may be written on the blackboard, and the class exercised in concert, the leader pointing to the groups of sound in the order and time re quired. POLYSYLLABLES. ã ã ã ã IY YI ã ã ã ã TM TM TM TM ää ää a a a' a ē ē ē ē ୪ ୪ ୪ ୪ I II I I II I ୪ ୪ ୪ ୪ ã ã ã ã O O O O ụ MANUAL OF READING. PART I. ORTHOPHONY. ORTHOPHONY is systematic voice-training. I. HYGIENIC SUGGESTIONS. To attain the highest voice capacity requires health and practice. To insure or perpetuate health, we must have1st. Plain food, regularly taken. 2d. Comfortable clothing, warm, light, and loose. 3d. Exercise and pure air. 4th. Plenty of sleep. FOOD. The most wholesome diet for pupils in voice-training, amateur and professional voice artists, excludes all greasy food, soups, pork in any form, nuts, rich food, as suet or plum puddings, fruit-cake, mince pie, pickles, lobster, hot breads, candy, and all other food that causes indigestion and feverishness, together with all stimulating drinks, including strong tea and coffee. To guard against the imputation of having excluded every thing palatable, a list of dishes, both pleasant and harmless, is added. Fish, fowl, rare-boiled or poached eggs, tripe, rare-roasted or broiled beef, cold breads, toast, crackers, wheat grits, oatmeal mush and cakes, plain puddings and pies, fruit, cold water, milk or weak tea. No food should be taken between meals or late at night. Persons using the least one hour be voice professionally take no food for at fore using the voice, and oftener two or three hours inter vene between dinner and the concert or lecture. But one exception has been given among distinguished singers, and that is Adelaide Patti, who is said to dine between the acts of the opera. Parepa, whose voice is not only wonderful for its power, but for its clearness, dines four hours before concert, taking a light lunch, if needful, just before singing, but nothing afterward, and avoids all voice-smoothers, such as lozenges, lemon, sugar, etc. To avoid a sensation of hunger or faintness, a little toast and weak tea, or, what is better, a raw egg, may be taken just before using the voice. CLOTHING. The clothing should be at all times sufficiently warm for the climate and season. Light, so as to give ease and warmth without weight, and loose in those much-abused parts of the body, viz., the throat, waist, and feet. One thickness of flannel should cover the chest, to avoid the chill of damp cotton or linen garments after exercise. The weight of clothing should rest, as much as possible, upon the shoulders, by means of bands or suspenders, and the feet should be kept at all times dry and warm. EXERCISE AND PURE AIR. Fresh air should be plentiful at all times by means of ventilators, windows, and doors; and this should be not only in halls and churches, but in all business places, school-rooms, and sleeping apartments. This note may seem unnecessary in a teacher's manual; but so little thought is given the subject elsewhere, we would have the children thoroughly taught the necessity as well as comfort of pure air. When about to practice calisthenics or gesture, it is safe to have windows and doors open; but when warm and resting, they should be closed, and all drafts avoided. Upon going into cold or damp air after using the voice, as in reading, lecturing, or singing, the lungs and mouth should be carefully protected, the process of breathing carried on through the nostrils or a thickness of flannel. |