The American Union SpeakerPhilbrick, John D. (John Dudley)
General
The American Union Speaker
Philbrick, John D. (John Dudley)
Recitations
singing are constantly sending abroad those great instances of vocal
wonder, who draw forth the intelligent curiosity and produce the crowning
delight and approbation of the prince and the sage."
This eminent writer's great work on the Philosophy of the Human Voice has
done much to correct the evil which he so graphically described. There are
now some schools and colleges to be found in which elocution is taught with
much skill and success. Among the disciples of Dr. Rush who have most
successfully cultivated the art of elocution in America, the foremost place
belongs to Professor William Russell, whose valuable and protracted labors
in this department of education, both as an author and a practical
instructor, merit the highest commendation.
As the first of my recommendations, I would, at the outset, strenuously
insist on the importance of systematic vocal culture, which implies the
training of the ear to perceive the various qualities and modifications of
vocal expression, and the training of the voice to produce them. All the
different functions of the voice employed in speech should be analytically
exemplified by the teacher, and practised by the pupil, in the reading or
recitation of short passages in which they are well illustrated, such as
may be found in any good manual of elocution. This kind of teaching is to
elocution what practice upon the scale is to music, and what the practice
of the eye upon the harmony and contrast of colors is to painting.
This course of training naturally divides itself into two
departments:--first that which is mechanical; and, secondly, that which
relates to the expression of thought and emotion.
I. THAT WHICH IS MECHANICAL.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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