the second syllable of each word struck a discrete third below the first syllable, then a discrete fifth below, and finally an octave below. The last exercise in the downwa.d discrete change expresses command, as in addressing a child or an inferior in rank or age.

125. Under the inspiration of powerful, bold emotion, the voice, moving through the range of its compass, seems to blend together, with its vocality of manly force, something of the deep resonance of the chest, and the clear ring of the head. The peculiar effect thus produced has no name in music; but Dr. Rush, recognizing in its full, round vocality, that quality which the ancients designated by the term rotundity, as contrasted with meagerness or thinness, named it the orotund, a term that has since been adopted into our language, and classified as one of the distinguishing qualities of the voice.

It means that energetic breadth and resonant clearness of voice which properly characterizes deeply earnest, impressive, and expressive speaking, whether in the public hall, the church, the lecture room, or the open air-as distinguished from the vocality of familiar unpremeditated and limited expression in ordinary conversation in the social circle. It derives its name from the Latin phrase, ore rotundo, used by the poet Horace in allusion to the round and full utterance, and flowing eloquence of the Greeks.

"Graecis dedit musa ore rotunda loqui”—“To the Greeks the muse has given to speak with a rounded utterance." The orator, the preacher, the tragedian, and the oratorio singer alike require a great fullness and rotundity in the resonance of the voice, under certain circumstances, to enable them to meet the demands of vocal expression. This fullness of voice is not mere loudness, nor low pitch, as is sometimes erroneously supposed. Rush thus describes this quality:

"By the Orotund Quality is meant that natural or improved manner of uttering the elements, which exhibits them with a fullness, clearness, strength, smoothness, and a ringing or musical quality rarely heard in ordinary speech; and which is never found in its highest excellence, except through long and careful cultivation.

"By Fullness of Voice is meant that grave and hollow volume which approaches hoarseness.

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"By Clearness, a freedom from nasal murmur and aspiration. By Strength, a satisfactory loudness or audibility.

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"By Smoothness, a freedom from all reedy or gutteral harsh

ness.

"By a Ringing Quality of Voice, its distinct resemblance to the resonance of certain musical instruments."

126. There is a mistaken idea that the roundness and fullness of voice required to give clearness and effect to the speaker's utterance in public address, arises merely from the application of greater force and higher pitch to his natural voice; that he must merely elevate his voice, and shout louder than in ordinary discourse, when he desires to be heard and understood by a large audience. This mode of free and easy talking upon a loud and high key, limits the movements of the voice to a scale too small for its most expressive effects, and deprives it of all the deep fullness that is appropriate to serious thought; public speech thus sinks into the less impressive, homely manner

of ordinary conversation, or the familiar style of humorous delineation.

The serious and important subjects of public interests and public duties, and the still more serious ones of a sacred character, naturally impart to the tones of parlia mentary and pulpit address the peculiar and impressive resonance that seems suitable to such oratory; but no true ear can be pleased with a hollow, mechanical, and really unmeaning depth of voice that is sometimes assumed under such circumstances, in the attempt to give solemnity to the voice. The full volume and resonance of the orotund is the symbol of the dignified parts of epic poetry, the more solemn portions of the Scriptures, and the passionative vocal forms of dramatic action.

The orotund is classified as a pure quality, but it admits of different degrees of purity, as an excess of emotion sometimes allows and even demands a waste of breath in the expressive forms of utterance.

127. The act of coughing (see 54 and 58) is produced by a succession of abrupt efforts in expiration. It is also produced by one continued impulse which yields up the whole of the breath. The last form should be practiced in acquiring the orotund quality. This single impulse of coughing is an abrupt utterance of one of the short tonics, followed by a continuation of the mere atonic breathing till the expiration is exhausted. Let this compound function, consisting of the exploded vocality and subjoined aspiration, be changed to an entire continuing the tonic in place of the aspiration. The sound thus produced will, with proper cultivation, make that full and sonorous quality here denominated the orotund.

vocality by

This contrived effort of coughing, when freed from abruptness, is like that voice which accompanies gaping, for this has a hollow and raging vocality very different. from the colloquial utterance of tonic sounds. It may be

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shown conspicuously by uttering the tonic a-we, with the mouth widely extended.

128. Let the reader make an expiration on the interjection hah, in the voice of whisper, using that degree of force which, with some motion of the chest, seems to drive all the air out of it. Now let the whisper in this process be changed to vocality. This vocality will have the hoarse fullness and sonorous quality of the orotund. It is the forcible exertion of this kind of voice which constitutes vociferation; for vociferation is the utmost effort of the natural voice, as the scream or yell is of the falsetto,

129. As a further practice, I quote Dr. Barber's invaluable rules:

"To acquire the orotund quality of voice, the mouth should be opened in the position of a yawn, the tongue retracted and de pressed; with the organs in this position, the vowel elements should be exploded with increasing clearness and strength, and the pitch should be varied as in the natural use of the voice. Orotund voices are often husky and indistinct; that is to say, there is a want of brilliancy in some of the sounds, and consequently of distinct audibility in the elements. Under these circumstances, many of the words spoken on the stage and elsewhere, under this modification of voice, are lost to the ear. Experiments will show that if the vibrations are confined to the parts described, and the anterior parts of the mouth (the roof especially) are made a mere passage for the orotund, force and sonorous clearness are very apt to be deficient. The voice will be deep, grave and dignified, but often inaudible. There will be more or less of aspiration and huskiness. But, if in the condition of organs set forth above, the vowel elements are uttered as before described, and are made, in the way to the external air, to vibrate against the center of the bony arch of the palate, stretching an extensive and reverberating vaulted cavity immediately over the passage of sound, the voice will at once be heard clear, full, and sonorous.

"The properties of clearness and musical resonance will be in proportion to the force of vibration made against the palatial part of the mouth. The resisting part of the palate is, I believe, the

peculiar seat of the musical properties of the voice, by which I mean that clear resonance which is heard on well made musical instruments. Forcible compression of the air against the superior and hard parts of the mouth, as if it were to be driven through the center of the head in its passage, increases that compression, and contributes to the result.

"Let each of the vowel elements be expelled from the most posterior part of the throat with as much opening force and abruptness as possible, and the long ones with extended quantity, with the condition of the organs first described, and let the effort be so made to exhaust as much as possible the air contained in the chest upon each element. At first, endeavor to make the sounds as grave and hollow as possible. This method of sounding the elements will be apt to produce giddiness and hoarseness at first, and must therefore be prosecuted with care. By practice, these inconveniences will cease, and as soon as they do, the elements should be daily sounded for sometime in the manner described."

By closely following the above directions, the student will understand that the orotund is the voice that reverberates in the pharynx and chest, and rings through the nasal passages and the head.

130. Practice should bring out and perfect the fullness, clearness, strength, smoothness, and subsonorous, ringing vocality which constitute the orotund. The method of acquiring this quality of voice is similar to our instinctive progress through the successive periods of speech. The cries of infants are made on the continued stream of vocality. The first utterance of the infant, after this prolonged cry, is by an apportionment of a single syllable to a breath. By a preparatory exercise in the interrupted jets of crying and laughter, the command over expiration and the habit of perfect speech is gained. See Rush, page 152.

The elements should be practiced, as in Chapter VII, on the concrete movement through all the intervals and