Oral reading & public speaking

Preface

This book is a fundamental treatise covering the whole field of oral expression except dramatics. It is intended as a text-book for high schools, academies, normal schools, and also for elementary college courses. The entire manuscript was completed four years ago. Most of it has stood the class room test for twelve years. Part I deals with oral reading and the technique of expression, Part II treats of the various forms of public speaking, and Part III contains selections for reading and speaking. The text is complete in itself; no supplementary books need be purchased by the student. The book will thus prove invaluable to teachers who do not have access to a large public speaking library.

There is a growing conviction on the part of educators that in most of the preparatory schools our methods of teaching English need revision, and that in all the schools the class-work in English needs vitalizing; that since we speak hundreds of times where we write once, relatively more attention should be given to oral English than has been the case in the past two decades.

In 1913 the Illinois Teachers' Association carried on an experiment which proved that classes in English devoting an hour a week to oral expression were, at the end of the year, not only more proficient in writing English than the parallel classes devoting all their time to written composition, but at the same time acquired the ability to speak effectively before an audience.

To meet this need the present volume has been prepared. It is intended not alone for teachers who are conducting separate classes in public speaking, but for all teachers of English. When used as a text in connection with the reguviii Preface

lar class-work in English, all parts of the book would not necessarily be used by a single teacher with a particular class ; but since the text is a complete treatise, teachers may use it for all the work in oral English that should be incorporated in the regular four years of a high school course in English. The best results are secured when the technique in Part I is assigned simultaneously with the practical speaking as outlined in Part II. When students make extempore speeches they more readily appreciate the value of the drill in technique. When the book is used with separate classes in oral expression, the whole text would naturally be covered in one semester or in a whole year's course.

The author feels very grateful to the many publishers and authors who have so generously given permission to use selections and quotations from their productions. Special acknowledgment is due Houghton, Mifflin Co. {Longfellow, Whittier, Lowell, Emerson, Holmes, Hay, Coolbrith, Taylor, Thaxter) ; Charles Scribners Sons {Lanier, Field, Stevensson, Holland) ; D. Appleton & Co. {Bryant, Halleck) ; P. J. Kennedy & Co. {Ryan) ; Whitaker & Ray-Wiggin Co. {Miller) ; W. B. Conkley Co. {Wilcox); Mitchell Kennerley {Whitman) ; and Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co. {Foss).

The author also wishes to express his indebtedness to the many excellent books on public speaking now on the market ; to Professor E. D. Shurter for his valuable criticism ; to his worthy instructors, including Professors H. B. Gough of DePauw, S. S. Curry, School of Expression, S. H. Clark and F. M. Blanchard of Chicago, I. L. Winter of Harvard, and Miss G. E. Johnson of Wisconsin ; to his many interesting students for valuable suggestions, and to his wife for her encouragement and assistance. J. R. P.

Stillwater^ Oklahoma, Februarv 1, 1918.

Chapter I. General Observations 167

Introduction — General Preparation — Special Preparation — Writing the Speech — Length of the Speech — Stage-fright — Study and Practice.

Chapter II. Essential Elements — The Audience . . . ' . 184 General Characteristics — Kinds — Exercises.

Chapter I Introduction

Definitions. Oral English treats of the science and art of reading and speaking the English language effectively. It formulates the fundamental laws and principles of expressing vocally our thoughts and emotions. It may be possible to express the thoughts of others, but quite impossible to express emotions not our own. The printed page, at best, can record only the ideas and thoughts of the writer. What the author felt is purely conjectural on our part. Sympathetic experience is our best interpreter.

Oral English may be divided into two main divisions : 1. Oral Reading and 2. Public Speaking.

Oral Reading relates to the verbal reproduction and sympathetic expression of the ideas and emotions of another. The ideas and thoughts of an author can be made our own, and these can be reproduced in the exact language of the writer or speaker, but the emotions of another can be only suggested. A reader can interpret the meaning of the printed page and express this meaning to his auditors ; and may to a limited extent feel emotions similar to those of the writer or speaker, and be able to arouse concordant emotions in his audience through proper voice modulations and appropriate physical expression.

Public Speaking presupposes an audience, and refers to the expression of our own thoughts and emotions. Private conversation and public speaking differ only in the number of auditors. Effective speaking, whether private or public, must be governed in manner and character by the size and nature of the audience.

Value of Oral English. Ruskin says, "If I could have a son or daughter possessed of but one accomplishment in life, it should be that of good reading."

The human race always has had some method of communication. At first only inarticulate sounds and simple signs were used. Man's expression became more varied as his thoughts and emotions became more complex. Mankind has profited from many inventions, but from none other so much as from the invention of articulate language. There is a striking analogy between the development of speech and of the general intelligence in the human race and in the individual. Vocal expression- preceded by many aeons a written language. The child learns to talk many years before he learns to write, and after he has learned to do both, he speaks a thousand words to writing one. In actual practice, the communication of thought and feeling is, for the most part, by word of mouth.

Literary Value. Poetry and song spring spontaneously from the heart. The poem and the lyric, to be appreciated, must be recited and sung. "Literature is not in the book. She has to do with the living speech of men. Her language is that of the lips. Her life is in the song and ballad, the story and the oration, the epic and the drama, as they sound and are heard of men. We, too, no less than the scientist, must get behind the book to that of which the book is but the record and notation, the mere tablet of memory — to enchanted speech. Where there is no enchantment there is no literature," says Percival Chubb. Literature is life. It must not merely be read but lived. It is

Introduction 17

sensuous, and to be appreciated must be heard. Like a bar of music, it must be played and sung before its beauty and melody can thrill the heart.

The great literary masterpieces can never be appreciated fully without being heard. Manifestly this is true of oratorical literature, which is addressed to a hearer and not to a reader ; and it is quite as true of the idealized language of poetry. To Shakespeare, as Professor Corson points out in his little book, Tiie Voice and Spiritual Education, "language was for the ear, not the eye. The written word was to him what it was to Socrates, 'the mere image or phantom of the living and animated word.' Reading must supply all the deficiencies of written or printed language. How comparatively little is addressed to the eye, in print or manuscript, of what has to be addressed to the ear of a reader! There are no indications of tone, quality of voice, inflection, pitch, time, or any other of the vocal functions demanded for a full intellectual and spiritual interpretation. A poem is not truly a poem until it is voiced by an accomplished reader who adequately has assimilated it — in whom it has to some extent, been born again, according to his individual spiritual constitution and experience." %

The art of printing has caused language to be overmuch transferred from its true domain, the sense of hearing, to the sense of sight. Then, too, the multiplication of books, magazines, and newspapers in modern times, has encouraged silent reading. The practice of the olden time, when the family gathered together to hear a book read by some one of their number, gave the family a unit now largely lost. The picture of Longfellow is realized rarely to-day when a member of the household is asked to

. . . read from the treasured volume

The poem of thy choice, And lend to the rhyme of the poet

The beauty of thy voice.

.And the night shall be filled with music, And the cares that infest the day

Shall fold their tents like the Arabs, And as silently steal away.

Emotional Value. From the first year in the primary to the last year in the college, the student daily has opportunities for impression, but few opportunities for expression. The child longs to express his ideas, emotions, his images ; the adult is "cold and moveless as a stone." It is thought that a practical man should not express, but suppress his emotions. The result is that he soon learns that he is wholly incapacitated to enjoy a beautiful painting, good music, fine literature, or a summer sunset. Nature's laws cannot be violated with impunity.

Proper emotions should be developed, cultivated. The man who is merely a "thinking machine" is only half a man. As we learn to sing by singing, we learn to smile by smiling. We learn to be happy by making others happy; we learn to love by loving. We must express what is within us. Who has not been thrilled through and through by a beautiful song, by a selection well read? Actors are frequently moved to tears by the sound of their own voices. We must express our iaeas, our thoughts, our ideals, or they will suffocate within. Says Professor S. H. Clark, "I believe there is no better way to inculcate the love of litera T ture than by having the pupil read it aloud. We talk glibly of the sonorous rhythm of Milton's verse, but cannot quote a line. We talk of the fertile imagination and sublime passion of Shakespeare, but how many of us ever pick him up for an hour's reading? We talk of the tenderness, of the homeliness of the lyrics of Burns, but never read them."

Cultural Value. Jane Addams says, "The person of the highest culture is the one who is able to put himself in the place of the greatest number of other persons." Self iden-

Introduction 19

tification with the characters in a drama, or the personification of the monologue develops the highest instincts and the noblest motives in a child. The boy and girl must be permitted to live their ideals found in literature. The ability to see, feel, and will as our associates ; to appreciate the beauties in life through the eyes and ears of the masters, is the acme of culture. Beauty and pleasure must be shared. No life can develop without expression.

Professor Edward Dowden, in his New Studies in Literature, says, "Few persons now-a-days seem to realise how powerful an instrument of culture may be found in modern^ intelligent, and sympathetic reading aloud. The reciter and the elocutionist of late have done much to rob us of this which is one of the finest of the fine arts. A mongrel something which, at least with the inferior adepts, is neither good reading nor yet veritable acting, but which sets agape the half-educated with the wonder of its airs and attitudinizing, its pseudo-heroics and pseudo-pathos, has usurped the place of the art of true reading aloud, and has made the word 'recitation' a terror to quiet folk who are content with intelligence and refinement."

Social Value. "Education is social efficiency." "No man liveth unto himself alone." Our joys magnify many fold, when told, our sorrows decrease when poured into a sympathetic ear. The ability to converse fluently, agreeably, accurately, with a well modulated voice is the outward sign of a cultured mind. The voice is the thermometer of the soul. Again, could not a long lonely hour be shortened by reading a poem, a story to a sick friend? Why is not this done more frequently? We are ashamed of letting others know how poorly we read !

Educational Value. Not long ago one of the world's greatest athletes died at the age of thirty. Large external muscles do not insure longevity. Strong internal muscles are of greater importance — muscles of respiration and assimilation — muscles of life. A knowledge of their development is of vital interest to every boy and girl.

Our memory is quickened by using the sense of hearing and the kinesthetic sense as well as that of sight. Selections read aloud are retained in memory longer than those read silently.

Confidence in your ability to express yourself in good, pure, forceful English will encourage you to undertake tasks that you would otherwise hesitate in attempting.

The student who can express well what is within him usually stands at the head in every branch in school.

Vocational Value. Recently a Wall Street business man said to a group of college students : "Unless you acquire in your college course the ability to write and speak effectively, it will not be worth the time and money spent upon it." Every applicant for a business position must stand a satisfactory test in the use of correct oral English. Who wants a teacher with a rasping, throaty, shrill, irritating voice ; a stammering, hesitating, mumbling clerk ; bashful, forceless, lisping salesman; or a weak-voiced, ineffective, "throaty" preacher or lawyer?

Thousands of men and women have put themselves on record as saying, "Oh, if I could only make a good speech to-day! the occasion is the opportunity of my life."

The ability to express effectively one's own thoughts and to interpret vocally the thoughts of others is an inestimable asset in the struggle for supremacy in the economic world. To be able to speak to a purpose, clearly, distinctly, gracefully and forcefully is an open sesame to leadership.

Who Needs Orae English? Only those who expect to live a Robinson Crusoe life can afford to omit a knowledge of the theory and practice of the art of reading and speaking. If you expect to communicate with your associates, you need a pleasing conversation ; if you intend to convince

Introduction 21

them, you need a logical and forceful address ; if you desire to persuade them, you need an effective delivery; briefly, -if you wish to be a man among men, take the advice of Martin Luther, "He who speaks well is a man"

How May the Ability to Read and Speak Well be Acquired? By following the laws and principles of vocal expression patiently and intelligently; by persistently practicing under competent criticism. Practice alone does not make perfect; but practice under criticism. Be your own critic to a large degree. Heed well the suggestions made by your instructor. Remember that what is worth doing at all is worth doing well. One of the Swabodian principles of muscular development demands that when you exercise or lift a weight you must lift all you can if you desire to grow strong physically. Exercise with light weights may be sufficient to retain your health, but it will not develop your muscle. So it is with reading and speaking. Every time you speak or read do your very best; otherwise you may hold your own, but you will not become more efficient.

Who Can Become a Good Reader and Speaker? Every person with an ordinary intelligence and a normal physique. Perhaps, you should possess a few other qualities. A desire — a will — strong enough to overcome your vocal defects if you have any; confidence in yourself and faith in your purpose in life, and enough perseverance to conquer as others have, who have gone this way before you.

A friend who lived on a farm adjoining that of Byron King relates an incident connected with the latter's early life. One day Dr. King came over to borrow a wheelbarrow. It took him one-half hour to make known his errand. Dr. King inherited about all the vocal defects in the catalog. Through the wise teaching of a friend and by persistent and heroic effort, he overcame them all. Dr. Byron King is now president of the King School of Oratory and a

22 Oral Readvng and Public Speaking

reader and speaker of unusual power and eloquence. The old story of Demosthenes has had many modern parallels. Certainly the masters of the art of speech, both ancient and modern, did not become masters without laborious and long-continued training. Such training was the lifelong work of the Greek and Roman orators. Curran, the celebrated Irish orator, was so handicapped in his youth that he was called "stuttering Jack Curran." He said of himself, "My friends despaired of my ever making a speaker, but I would not give it up." Says one of his friends, "He turned his shrill and stumbling brogue into a flexible, sustained, and finely modulated voice; his action became free and forcible; and he acquired perfect readiness in thinking on his legs." With reference both to matter and manner, Webster said of himself: "When I was a young man, and for several years after I had acquired a respectable degree of eminence in my profession, my style was bombastic in the extreme. Some kind friend was good enough to point out that fact to me, and I determined to correct it, if labor could do it. Whether it has been corrected or not, no small part of my life has been spent in the attempt."

Chapter II Phonology

Definitions. Phonology is the science of vocal sound. It treats of the physical laws involved in the production of sound, and the physiological laws governing all the organs of speech.

Sound is the auditory sensation produced by the vibrations of air or some other media. These vibrations in the media are the result of the vibration of some object. For example, a violin string is touched. The string moves to and fro causing condensations and rarefactions in the air ; these waves set in motion the ear-drum, and it, in turn, communicates these vibrations to the inner ear where very small delicate cords are set in sympathetic vibration. This is communicated to the brain by the auditory nerve.

Each string of a violin is said to have a certain pitch. Pitch depends on the number of vibrations per second. The number of vibrations depends on the length, thickness, and tension of the string. The volume, or loudness, of the sound depends on the amplitude or distance the string vibrates, which in turn is caused by the force of the blow given the string. The quality, or character of the sound is dependent on the overtones, the texture of the string, and the resonance of the frame work of the violin.

However, the violin is too simple in construction to serve as a basis of explanation of the human voice. There is no instrument made in exact imitation of the human speech apparatus. The single reed-pipe of a church organ is a near approach in principle, and serves well as an illustration of its general structure. Again, the cornet serves very well

M when the lips are made to represent the vocal cords.

Before making this comparison, however, it will be necessary to explain briefly the technique of the voice.

Technique of the Voice. In order to understand how the voice is produced it will be important to sketch briefly the anatomy of the vocal apparatus.

Frontal cavity

Hard palate Soft palate

Tongue

'Root" of tongue Base of tongue

Hyoid bone

Sphenoidal cavity Nasal cavities

Uvula

Throat chamber

Larynx Vocal cords Cricoid cartilage

Median section of the head and neck, giving general side view of the organs of speech and the resonators above the larynx.

The larynx, the most important organ in voice production, consists of cartilages, muscles, vocal bands, true and false mucous membrane, ligaments, etc. It is situated between the hyoid bone above and the trachea below. For a complete description see any standard text on physiology.

With reference to the voice, the most important part of the larynx is the vocal bands. They are the chief sound producers. The false vocal cords lie above the true cords. They fold over the latter in coughing, swallowing, etc. The vocal cords are attached to the arytenoid cartilages which move freely on their base, swivel-Jike, and the movements and tension of the vocal cords are produced by adjustments of these cartilages. The hyoid bone is at the top Gf the larynx. It has no definite function in sound production except as it affords attachment for the muscles of the tongue.

The glottis is the chink or opening between the true vocal cords.

The tongue is a very important organ in phonation and articulation. Its wonderful ability of adjustments in shape and position in the mouth cavity determines the greater number of modifications of tone resonance.

The uvula is the small curtain which closes the back of the mouth. It and the soft palate determine the direction the breath takes when it comes from the pharynx. If dropped, the air goes partly through the nose, as in sounding the letter "m." If raised, very little passes through the nose. Snoring is caused by the vibration of this curtain.

The teeth, hard and soft palates, and the lips modify the resonance and aid materially in phonation.

In comparing the voice to a single reed-pipe of a church organ, three general analogies are noted : I. A box or wind-chest into which the air is forced by the bellows ; II. A reed or vibrator which is the source of the sound; and III. A resonator, or resonance chamber, aiding in modifying the volume and quality of the sound.

The air is pumped into the wind-chest of the organ and as it meets resistance, it is under considerable pressure. The only outlet is through the narrow slit between the edges of the vibrator or "reed." The air, in passing between" the free edges of the vibrator, causes these edges to oscillate in such a manner that they open and close this narrow slit at regular intervals ; thus transmitting to the surrounding air a series of sound waves of the same frequency. The air chamber or resonator above the "reed," by virtue of its resonating property, favors those vibrations that are adaptable to the size of the hollow interior. Those vibrations that are favored are re-enforced; those that are not, are suppressed. Each pipe of the organ is so constructed as to favor, or harmonize the vibrations of its own "reed."

In the human body the lungs act as the wind-chest. Air is drawn into them and placed under pressure. It can escape only through the narrow slit between two elastic tissue membranes — the vocal cords — which form the "reed" of our vocal machinery. The free elastic edges of these cords vibrate and communicate these waves to the air chamber above them in the same manner as the "reed" of the organ transmits the sound to the resonator. The resonator of the voice is the throat, mouth, and nose.

So far there is a great similarity between the single reed-pipe of the organ and the human voice mechanism. Some of the differences must now be noted: 1. The vibrator in the organ always produces the same vibrations ; the vocal cords can be regulated at will to perform the function of many organ "reeds." 2. The resonator of the organ is as unchangeable as its vibrator. The resonating chamber in the human voice is adjustable and with proper care may be made to re-enforce, modify and harmonize the sound waves of all the minute shades of tones produced by the vocal cords, normally ranging through two octaves.

The human voice may be compared, in effect, to the entire church organ. Though the range of pitch is not so great, the voice is capable of an infinitely greater variety of vibrations and character of tone within its limited range. It is claimed that Madame Mara, within her range of three octaves, could produce 2100 changes of pitch,' which would represent a successive change in the length of the vocal bands of approximately 1/17000 of an inch.

Control of the Voice. The production and control of vocal sound is a very complex process. The ability to co-ordinate this complicated apparatus, more delicate than any instrument ever manufactured, capable of producing incalculable modulations ; so attuned that it responds automatically and unconsciously to* our mental perception, — demands our utmost care and attention.

First of all, it must be observed that this complex machinery is co-ordinated by the nervous system. Parts are under direct control of the will and parts are involuntary. This complex machinery must be made to respond to our mental percepts, that is, to the ideas we have to be expressed. Without a definite, conscious effort this complex mechanism must respond to our wishes. Hence, (1) definite mental images and proper sound-perceptions develop; (2) the capacity and conscious control of the breath; and (3) control of the vocal cords, resonance mechanism and other organs of articulation; and (4) the harmonious involuntary adjustment of all these processes.

Breathing. Voice is vocalized breath. In ordinary breathing we inhale and exhale the breath with approximate regularity. In reading or speaking, however, we inhale quickly and exhale slowly, converting the exhalations into vocal sounds. Now, as a fundamental prerequisite in the use of the voice, we must learn to perform properly this inhaling and exhaling process. How often do we hear people who gasp for breath while talking, or who "get out of breath" before finishing a clause or sentence. There is lacking either sufficient breath-quantity, or breath-control, or both. The proper management of the vocal organs requires that the voice have due support and control. This involves the necessity of deep breathing.

There are three ways of breathing whereby the chest capacity is enlarged and the lungs filled with air: Clavicular, or collar-bone breathing; costal, or rib breathing; and diaphragmatic, or abdominal breathing.

In clavicular breathing, the upper ribs are raised, the breastbone is thrust forward, and the shoulders and collar-bones are elevated. By this method, only the upper part of the lungs is inflated; but the exclusive use of this method (which may sometimes be required temporarily by disease and permanently by tight lacing), is as bad for the voice as it is for the health. In the first place, proper vocal support is lacking. The lungs in this kind of breathing can be filled only partially, and hence there is not sufficient reserve supply of air to produce a sustained tone. Secondly, it prevents vocal control. As the shoulders and collar-bones are forced upward, they press against the vocal organs, causing a constriction of the throat; this necessitates an attempt to control the breath in the throat, which was never intended for such purpose; and this, in turn, causes the breath to come in spurts, making the voice trembly, jerky, wheezy, or "throaty." It rasps the vocal cords, and often results in a huskiness known as "clergyman's sore throat."

In costal, or rib brea tiling the lower or floating ribs are distended sideways, employing the middle portion of the lungs in breathing. This method provides a larger cavity than does clavicular breathing, and thus makes it possible to produce a fuller, rounded, and more sustained tone. It should be employed in connection with the lower portion of the lungs, or deep breathing.

In diaphragmatic or abdominal breathing, the diaphragm contracts, moves downward, while at the same time the abdominal muscles expand the lower chest laterally, thus creating a large cavity for the air to enter. This is the method of breathing that the singer or speaker must adopt. Deep breathing is absolutely essential for a strong, pure, resonant, sustained tone. It furnishes a reserve supply of air for a sustained tone. It allows the throat freedom for proper relaxation and control. It permits one to control the voice from the diaphragm, and this is frequently necessary, as in ringing, dynamic utterance.

Physicians and writers on hygiene have shown, from statistics carefully compiled, that comparatively few persons breathe correctly; that is, so manipulate the diaphragm that the breathing apparatus is used in the way best suited to physical development.

Do you use the lower part of your lungs in breathing? If not, you should learn to do so, for the muscles controlling respiration are both involuntary and voluntary, that is, we can by conscious attention acquire the habit of deep breathing. In forming this habit, give primary attention to the diaphragm, and the rib breathing will take care of itself; think of filling the lower part of the lungs. Place the hands above the hips, press firmly as you inhale, and you can soon discover whether or not you are using the diaphragm in breathing.

Respiratory Co-ordination. The delicate adjustment of mental-perception, breath-control, and the voice mechanism, must not be overlooked in cultivating a good speaking or singing voice. Mental attitude has much to do with this adjustment.

The amount of air which can be forced into the lungs is estimated ordinarily as 330 cubic inches. The quantity used in quiet respiration is about 30 cubic inches. This is called tidal air. The quantity that can be added to this by taking a deep breath is about 100 cubic inches. This is called complemental air. The quantity that can be expelled by a forceful expiration is about 100 cubic inches. This is called supplemental air. The quantity that cannot be expelled at all is about 100 cubic inches, and is called reserved air.