Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 October 1901 — A HEALTHY VOICE. [ARTICLE]

A HEALTHY VOICE.

Faithful Practice Will Do Mach to Acqalro It. A strong, sweet, beautiful voice is greatly to be desired by every one, says Health. In some climates, like Italy, for instance, the voices are almost all fine. In other places where it is cold and moist the voices are too often bad. In the country, where the young grow up in an out-of-door life, where they can “holler” and even “yell," the voices are much better and stronger than in the city, where a young person must suppress, himself and always speak In gentle tones. Thin, throaty tones, of those with a nasal intonation are bad enough to the sensitive ear when used in the key |of ordinary conversation. When it is 'needed to expand such voices to the declamatory point, then lack of volume and mellowness is evident. Faithful practice may do much to correct faults of emphasis and inflection, but the most sanguine coach will not undertake to make over a poor voice in a coarse of three or even six weeks’ rehearsals. The possibilities of the speaking voice are beginning to be understood. Parents are discovering that it is a wise plan to cultivate in their children an agreeable voice. Instructors in the art of developing the exquisite mechanism and wonderful capability of the human speaking voice are springing up on every side. It cannot be long before it will be a positive reproach for a woman of education, at least, to speak in shrill, nasal or unplaced tones. The voice is a mirror of the mind. A coarse, harsh, disagreeable voice can best be cured by improving the mind and heart.