The Canadian Elocutionist. Anna K. Howard
more!
Derzhaver.
TRANSITION.
Transition signifies a sudden change in the force, quality, movement, or pitch of the voice, as from a subdued to a very high tone, from a slow to a rapid rate of utterance, and also the reverse of these movements. It also refers to changes in the style of delivery, as from a persuasive to the declamatory, etc., and to the expression of passion or emotion, as from grief to joy, from fear to courage, etc.
Transition thus forms a very important part in vocal culture, and public speakers often ask the question: "How can I modulate my voice?" for they are well aware that nothing relieves the ear more agreeably than a well regulated transition, for who has not been bored by listening to a speaker whose voice throughout has been pitched in one monotonous tone, either too high or too low? A change of delivery is also necessary when a new train of thought is introduced, for pitch, tone, quality, time, and force should all be changed in conformity with the changes of sentiment. No definite rules can be laid down in relation to the proper management of the voice in transition which would be intelligible without the living teacher to exemplify them. Constant practice must be persevered in to enable the pupil to make the necessary transitions with skill and ease.
[This selection demands the entire range of the speaking voice, in pitch—all qualities, and varied force.]
Hark! the alarm bell, 'mid the wintry storm!
Hear the loud shout! the rattling engines swarm.
Hear that distracted mother's cry to save
Her darling infant from a threatened grave!
That babe who lies in sleep's light pinions bound,
And dreams of heaven, while hell is raging round!
Forth springs the Fireman—stay! nor tempt thy fate!—
He hears not—heeds not—nay, it is too late!
See how the timbers crash beneath his feet!
O, which way now is left for his retreat?
The roaring flames already bar his way,
Like ravenous demons raging for their prey!
He laughs at danger—pauses not for rest,
Till the sweet charge is folded to his breast.
Now, quick, brave youth, retrace your path;—but lo!
A fiery gulf yawns fearfully below!
One desperate leap!—lost! lost!—the flames arise
And paint their triumph on the o'erarching skies!
Not lost! again his tottering form appears!
The applauding shouts of rapturous friends he hears!
The big drops from his manly forehead roll,
And deep emotions thrill his generous soul.
But struggling nature now reluctant yields;
Down drops the arm the infant's face that shields,
To bear the precious burthen all too weak;
When, hark!—the mother's agonising shriek!
Once more he's roused—his eye no longer swims,
And tenfold strength reanimates his limbs;
He nerves his faltering frame for one last bound—
"Your child!" he cries, and sinks upon the ground!
And his reward you ask;—reward he spurns;
For him the father's generous bosom burns—
For him on high the widow's prayer shall go—
For him the orphan's pearly tear-drop flow.
His boon—the richest e'er to mortals given—
Approving conscience, and the smile of Heaven!
CHAPTER IX.
PAUSES.
"A pause is often more eloquent than words." The common pauses necessary to be made, according to the rules of punctuation, are too well known to require any particular notice here, they serve principally for grammatical distinctions, but in public reading or speaking other and somewhat different pauses are required.
The length of the pause in reading must be regulated by the mood and expression and consequently on the movement of the voice, as fast or slow; slow movements being accompanied by long pauses, and livelier movements by shorter ones, the pause often occurring where no points are found—the sense and sentiments of the passage being the best guides.
"How did Garrick speak the soliloquy, last night?"—"Oh! against all rule, my lord, most ungrammatically! Betwixt the substantive and the adjective, which should agree together in number, case, and gender, he made a breach thus——stopping, as if the point wanted settling; and betwixt the nominative case, which, your lordship knows, should govern the verb, he suspended his voice in the epilogue a dozen times, three seconds and three- fifths by a stop-watch, my lord, each time." "Admirable grammarian!—But, in suspending his voice—was the sense suspended?—Did no expression of attitude or countenance fill up the chasm?—Was the eye silent? Did you narrowly look?"—"I looked only at the stopwatch, my lord!"—"Excellent observer!"
Sterne.
A Rhetorical Pause—is one not dependent on the grammatical construction of a sentence, but is a pause made to enable the speaker to direct attention to some particular word or phrase, and is made by suspending the voice either directly before or after the utterance of the important phrase. In humorous speaking the pause is generally before the phrase, as it awakens curiosity and excites expectation; while in serious sentiments it occurs after and carries the mind back to what has already been said.
A pause of greater or less duration is always required whenever an interruption occurs in the progress of a thought, or the uniform construction of a sentence, as in the case of the dash, the exclamation, the parenthesis, etc. In these cases the mind is supposed to be arrested by the sudden change of sentiment or passion. It is necessary in most cases to make a short pause just before the parenthesis, which read more rapidly, and in a more subdued tone; when the parenthesis is concluded, resume your former pitch and tone of voice.
EXAMPLES OF RHETORICAL PAUSES.
(1.) After the subject of a sentence: Wine | is a mocker.
(2.) After the subject-phrase: The fame of Milton | will live forever.
(3.) When the subject is inverted: The best of books | is the Bible.
(4.) Before the prepositional phrase: The boat is sailing | across the river.
(5.) After every emphatic word: William | is an honest boy. William is | an honest boy. William is an honest | boy.
(6.) Whenever an ellipsis occurs: This | friend, that | brother, Friends and brothers all.
(7.) In order to arrest the attention: The cry was | peace, peace!
EMPHASIS.
Emphasis generally may be divided into two classes—Emphasis of sense and Emphasis of feeling. Emphasis relates to the mode of giving expression; properly defined it includes whatever modulation of the voice or expedient the speaker may use, to render what he says significant or expressive of the meaning he desires to convey, for we may, by this means, give very different meanings to our sentences, according to the application of emphasis. For instance, take the sentence—"Thou art a man." When delivered in a cool and deliberate manner, it is a very plain sentence,