Exercises to Correct a Weak Voice

Exercises to Correct Breathiness

I} in the following pairs of words be sure that you do
not lose any breath when pronouncing the h. The
vowel in the second word should not have more
breathiness than that in the first word. .
Eat - heat it - hit ate - hate arm - harm
all - hall old - hold eye - high air - hair
In the following, form the vowel tones very carefully
and then prolong the vowel sounds:
who, ho, ha, haw, how, home, hunt, hum,
him, hem, he.
Pronounce the following words and sentences carefully
making sure that you do not use too much breath:
sister thistle photograph freshman
statistics sixty-six pamphlets philosophy
time and tide thick and thin tit for tat
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

Exercises to Correct a Weak Voice
When you speak, your words shouldn't squeak like "rats
feet on broken glass." It is tiring and tedious for listeners to
hear a weak and squeaky voice. No matter how you say
what you say, a weak voice often fails to arrest listeners'
attention. Armed with determination you can correct a
weak voice with the following exercises. Please note, while
doing the exercises, you will have to increase the volume,
but not raise your pitch. Keep an open throat and a loose
jaw. A rigid jaw causes unpleasant tones. '
Try to say the sentence, "Please, don't push," to
someone

1} behind you,
2 } out in the hall - (8 feet away),
3 ) across a crowded main street - (80 feet away).

Count from one to twenty increasing the energy and
volume of each number. Reverse the exercise,
beginning with a strong tone and gradually
diminishing the volume.
Practice the following selection in a round, rich voice:
Thou, too, sail on, 0 Ship of State,
Sail en, 8 Union, strong and great.
Humanity with all its fears,
With all the hopes of future years,
Is hanging breathless on thy fate.


Exercises for Variety in Expression
There are a great number of emotions which can be and
are expressed by the voice. Some of the more common are:
sorrow, resignation, despair, impatience, anger,.
distress, agitation, pride, fear, worry, confidence,
affection, determination, awe, respect, joy,
eXcitement, doubt, sarcasm, defiance, disgust, pity,
indifference, relief, weariness, doubt, wofl.der,stress.
Pronounce the following words so that they convey a
number of different emctions. Tell what emotion you
are going to express; then say the word:

He did not recognise me.
I don't know why.
She went only yesterday.
Are you avoiding him?
Oh, she did it.
We are all so excited.
Really. Are you sure?
I found the keys.

Note the various meanings you can get by stressing
each word separately in the following sentences:
He saw me.
Where am I?
Who are you?
Take me away from here.
Don't litter this place.
I'll never trust him again.
Nor yet.her fondness for the cat,
But on our pleasant country strolls
Her dull indifference to holes!
Ah, me! What treasure might be found
In holes that lead to underground!
However vague or small one is,
It sends me into ecstasies;
While she alas! Stands by to scoff,
Or meanly comes to call me off.
Of all the mistresses there are,
Mine is the loveliest by far!
Fain would I wag myself apart
If I could thus reveal my heart.
But on some things, I must conclude,
Mine is the saner attitude.
BURGES JOHNSON

This is both playful and serious. Dramatise the passage
trvinz to contrast the mood of Bassanio with that of Portia.
,Bassanio Sweet pottle If you did know to whom [ gave the : mg, If you did know for whom I gave the Img, And would conceive for what I gave the nng And how unwillingly I left the rmg, When nought would be accepted but the ring, You would abate the strength of your displeasure. (Portia) If you had known the virtue of the ring, Or half her worthiness that gave the ring,

Or your own honour to contain the ring, You would not have parted with the ring. SHAKESPEARE - Merchant of Venice V.i. 5. This is strong pleading. Project the voice and keep the tone strong to match the feeling. They tell us, sir, that we are weak - unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak, if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power ... The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it; it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat, but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged, their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable - and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it corr e!'! H is in vain to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace - but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field. What stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chams and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God; I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!
Express gentleness and softness in the following speech.
The quality of mercy is not strain'd
It droppeth as a gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place .beneath. It is twice blest.
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
. 'Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown;
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway,
.. , It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,
Though justice be thy plea, consider this _
That in the course of justice'none of us
Should see salvation; we do pray for mercy.
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy.
SHAKESPEARE - The Merchant of Venice
7.
Read the following passages, keeping in mind, meter and r.
rhythm.
Pray do not find fault with the man who limps c
Or stumbles along the road,
Unless you have worn the shoe he wears
Or struggled beneath his load,
There may be tacks in his shoes that hurt,
Though hidden away from view,
Or the burden he bears, placed on your back,
Might cause you to stumble too.
Don't sneer at the man who's down today,
Unless you have felt the blow
That caused his fall, or felt the same
That only the fallen know .
You may be strong, but still the blows
That were his, if dealt to you
In the self-same way at the self-same time
Might cause you to stagger too.
Don't be too harsh with the man who sins
Or pelt him with words or stones,
Unless you are sure, yes, doubly sure,
That you have no sins of your own.
For you know, perhaps, if the tempter's voice
Should whisper as soft to you
As it did to him when he went astray,
'Twould cause you to falter too.
ANON
8.
Hear no ill of a friend, nor
speak any of an enemy.
A slip of the foot you may
soon recover,
But a slip of the tongue you
may never get over.
Speak with contempt of none,
from slave to king,
The meanest bee hath, and will
Use, a sting.
Man's tongue is soft and bone
doth lack;
Yet a stroke therewith may
break a man's back.
Tongue double, brings trouble.
Tart words make no friends:
A spoonful of honey will catch
more flies than a gallon of vinegar.
FRANKLIN
9.
Read the following using slight variation for emphasis and
see how the same sentence has almost as many meanings
as it has words.
Did we win the game?
Did we win the game?
Did we win the game?
Did we win the game?

II.
As you read the following passage, vary your pitch -
allowing it to glide up or below the normal key.
Selections for Practice
127
Think you a little din can daunt mine ears?
Have I not in my time heard lions roar?
Have I not heard the sea, puffed up with winds
Rage like an angry boar, chafed with sweat?
Have I not heard great ordnance in the field,
And heaven's artillery thunder in the skies?
And do you tell me of a woman's tongue,
That gives not half so great a blow to ear,
As will a chestnut in a farmer's fire?
D
DESCRIPTIVE PASSAGES
The following passages are filled with word pictures.
Determine the mood, the approach, or the feelings expressed
in each selection. Understand the word meaning, word
grouping and figures of speech. The speed with which you
read, the volume, the quality of your voice; all of these will
determine how well you succeed in making pictures come
alive in the listeners' minds. The final test of a good speaker
or reader is one who, after understanding the selection,
interprets the passage using ascending and descending
melody, changes pitch, varies speed and aptly uses
emphasis to achieve total effect the writer intended to
communicate.
1
My uncle, however, though a man accustomed to meet with
strange adventures, apprehended none at the time. He
made several attempts to shut the door, but in vain. Not
that he apprehended anything, for he was too old a traveller
to be daunted by a wild-looking apartment;' but the night,
as I have said, was cold and gusty, something like the
present, and the wind howled about the old turret pretty
much as it does round this old mansion at this moment;
and the breeze from the long dark corridors carne in as
damp and chilly as if from a dungeon. My uncle, therefore,
since he could not close the door, threw a quantity of wood
on the fire, which soon sent up a flame in the great wide-
mouthed chimney that illumined the whole chamber, and
made. the shadow of the tongs on the opposite wall look
like a long-legged giant. My uncle now clambered on top
of the half score of mattresses which form a French bed,
and which stood in a deep recess; then tucking himself
snugly in, and burying himself up to the chin in the
bedclothes, he lay looking at the fire, and listening to the
wind, and chuckling to think how knowingly he had corne
over his friend the marquis for a night's lodging: and so he
fell asleep.
WASHINGTON IRVING - Tales of a Traveler
2.
Our meals were solitary and unsocial. My uncle rarely
spoke; he pointed for whatever he wanted, and the servant
perfectly understood him. Indeed, his man John, or Iron
John, as he was called in the neighbourhood, was a
cr,unterpart of his master. He was tall, bony old fellow,
with a dry wig that seemed made of cow's tail, and a face
as tough as though it had been made of bull's hide. He was
generally clad in 'a long, patched livery coat, taken out of
the wardrobe of the house; and which bagged loosely about
him, "having evidently belonged to some corpulent
predecessor, in the more plenteous days of the mansion.
. Frcpn long habits of taciturnity, the hinges of his jaws
seemed to have grown absolutely rusty, and it cost him as
much effort to set them ajar, and to let out a tolerable
sentence, as it would have done to set open the iron gates
of the park and let out the family carriage that was dropping
to pieces in the coach house.
WHTNGTON IRVING - Tales of a Traveler

3.
Wolfert and his companions shrunk back in dismay. Still
their curiosity would not allow them entirely to withdraw.
A long sheet of lightning now flickered across the waves,
and discovered a boat, filled with men, just under a rocky
point, rising and sinking with the heaving surges, and
swashing the water at every heave. It was with difficulty
they held to the rock by a boat hook, for the current rushed
furiously round the point. The veteran hoisted one end of
the lumbering sea-chest on the gunwale of the boat; he seized
the handle at the other end to lift it in, when the motion
propelled the boat from the shore; the chest slipped off the
gunwale, sunk into the waves, pulled the veteran headlong
after it. A loud shriek was uttered by all on shore and a
volley of execrations by those on board; but boat and man
were hurried away by the rushing swiftness of the tide.
The pitchy darkness succeeded; Wolfert Webber indeed
fancied that he distinguished a cry of help and that he
. beheld a drowning man beckoning for assistance; but when
the lightning again gleamed along the water all was drear
and void. Neither man nor boat was to be seen; nothing
but the dashing and weltering of the waves as they hurried
past. W ASHlNGTON IRVING - Tales of a Traveler
4.
A stag one summer's day carne to drink at a clear spring.
Seeing himself in the water and being pleased with the
prospect, he stood for some time contemplating and
surveying his shape and feature from head to foot. "Ah!"
said he, "what a glorious pair of branching horns are they!
How gracefully do those antlers hang over my forehead
and give an agreeable turn to my whole face! But I am
ashamed of my legs. I find them so unsightly that I would
rather have none at all."
While he was giving himself these airs, he was alarmed