The last faint golden beams of day Still glow on cottage panes, And on their lingering homeward way From farmyards, down fair rural glades I could sit here till morning came, (Alas! we have no lark!) We have no leas, no larks, no rooks, No singing milkmaids (save in books) It is the rhyme that fails. Nathan Haskell Dole A change of movement quite abrupt often indicates a parenthetical clause. When a parenthesis is humorous the change of movement may be much more extreme. In the preceding poem by Nathan Haskell Dole, observe the significance of the parentheses at the close of the stanzas. There may be in this a humorous criticism of our custom of writing about larks, philomels, rooks, nightingales and other things that we never saw, and have only read of in books, and neglect of our own bobolinks. The humorous touch here demands a very decided change in movement. THE FATHERLAND Where is the true man's fatherland? As the blue heaven wide and free! Is it alone where freedom is, Where God is God, and man is man? O yes! his fatherland must be Where'er a human heart doth wear There is the true man's birthplace grand, Where'er a single slave doth pine, Where'er one man may help another, James Russell Lowell Have you noticed what the relation of Intensity to Movement means? When you give anything very slowly it must become more intense or it will be tedious. Give these strong ideas of Lowell, realizing as deeply as you can every successive idea and the feeling it awakens, and note how the amount of breath or the control over it and the vigor of the stroke increase. Believe not each accusing tongue, As most weak people do; But still believe that story wrong Believe me, thrift of time will repay you in after life with a usury of profit beyond your most sanguine dreams, and the waste of it will make you dwindle, alike in intellectual and moral stature, beyond your darkest reckonings. And many a day, as beneath it I lay, Has my memory backward drifted To a pleasant lane I may walk not again, Where a maple stood just clear of the wood- Gladstone Charles G. D. Roberts BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He hath loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword: His truth is marching on. I have seen Him in the watch fires of a hundred circling camps; I have read a fiery gospel, writ in burnished rows of steel: He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, Julia Ward Howe Note the vigorous and excited movement of Mrs. Howe's "Battle Hymn of the Republic." The pauses are long, the touches vigorous; there is a suggestion of the drum beat of the march in its spirit, which the sympathy unconsciously realizes and the voice manifests. In every story we tell, in every piece we read or recite, and even in common conversation, we make continual changes in our sympathetic attention and our estimate of things. Read or tell stories and try to introduce as great variety in the life and movement as you can. A GENTLEMAN I knew him for a gentleman By signs that never fail: His coat was rough and rather worn, His cheeks were thin and pale, A lad who had his way to make, With little time to play. I knew him for a gentleman He met his mother on the street; My door was shut; he waited there He took the bundle from my hand; He does not push or crowd along; He stands aside to let you pass; He thinks of you before himself; The manners make the man; Author not known XXXVII. SYMPATHETIC RESPONSIVENESS OF TONE GOD IN THE UNIVERSE All are but parts of one stupendous whole, Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze, Alexander Pope In union with every step taken in Vocal Expression or in the development of right actions of the mind and the corresponding modulation of the voice there should be some work upon the corresponding voice conditions. The condition of voice favorable to response to thinking might be called agility. The condition favorable to the sympathetic vibrations or resonance has been called mellowness. The condition and quality of voice favorable to response to experience is the same as that to the imagination. There is, however, a deeper response. The very texture of the voice changes with dramatic instinct and with great passion. This quality might be called elasticity. How can the voice be made more elastic, more directly responsive to the innumerable variations of experience? What conditions of voice would be favorable to intensity and to variation in movement? Intensity means a deeper control of breath and a more universal response from the whole body, a deeper and more complex response on the part of the secondary vibrations. The response of voice to feeling is very deep and complex. It is not necessary for us to be too analytical. The simplest exercise will be best. As a first exercise practice very decided transitions. Little brook, little brook! you have such a happy look. James Whitcomb Riley Roll on! thou deep and dark blue Ocean, roll! Byron Take a single line and contrast it with some other line as different as possible. Give each genuinely, and then observe what wide contrasts result. It is not necessary to know how the contrasts come. We cannot understand all about these, but if we genuinely feel each situation, the difference will be there. In your mind look at the small brook and admire the gladsome sunlight upon it. You are admiring something delicate, something easily seen. When, however, you turn to the great ocean, your mind stretches out and endeavors to take in more than you can see, a picture transcending not only your power to tell but the power of your mind to conceive. The voice becomes elastic, sympathetic, and suggests the effort of your mind. There are some things that we cannot do, but we can attempt them and the voice will show our endeavor, and others will take the will for the deed, and know that we mean something great, and will themselves create a corresponding idea. This unites us with others, causes us to think and feel in the same rhythm, and that is the highest aim of expression. |