The actress Mary Anderson asked the poet Longfellow what she could do to improve

her voice. He replied, "Read aloud daily, joyous, lyric poetry."

 

The joyous tones are the bright tones. Develop them by exercise. Practise your

voice exercises in an attitude of joy. Under the influence of pleasure the body

expands, the tone passages open, the action of heart and lungs is accelerated,

and all the primary conditions for good tone are established.

 

More songs float out from the broken windows of the negro cabins in the South

than from the palatial homes on Fifth Avenue. Henry Ward Beecher said the

happiest days of his life were not when he had become an international

character, but when he was an unknown minister out in Lawrenceville, Ohio,

sweeping his own church, and working as a carpenter to help pay the grocer.

Happiness is largely an attitude of mind, of viewing life from the right angle.

The optimistic attitude can be cultivated, and it will express itself in voice

charm. A telephone company recently placarded this motto in their booths: "The

Voice with the Smile Wins." It does. Try it.

 

Reading joyous prose, or lyric poetry, will help put smile and joy of soul into

your voice. The following selections are excellent for practise.

 

_REMEMBER_ that when you first practise these classics you are to give sole

attention to two things: a joyous attitude of heart and body, and bright tones

of voice. After these ends have been attained to your satisfaction, carefully