The National Fourth Reader

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: PITCH. 35 Section VI.?Modulation. Modulation is the act of varying the voice in reading and speaking. Among its more important divisions are Pitch, Force, Quality, and Kate. Pitch. 1. Pitch refers to the Tcey-noCe, of the voice?its general degree of elevation or depression, in reading and speaking. We mark three general distinctions of PitcJi: High, Moderate, and Low. 2. The High Pitch is that which is heard in calling to a person at a distance. It is used in expressing elevated and joyous feelings; as, Go ring the bells, and fire the guns, And fling the starry banners out; Shout Freedom! till your lisping ones Give back their cradle shout. 3. The Moderate Pitch is that which is heard in common conversation. It is used in expressing ordinary thought and moderate emotion; as, The morning itself, few people, inhabitants of cities, know any thing about. Among all our good people, not one in a thousand sees the sun rise once in a year. They know nothing of the morning. -Tticir idea of it is, that it is that part of the day that comes along after a cup of coffee and a beef-steak, or a piece of toast. 4. The Low Pitch is that which is heard when the voice falls below the common speaking key. It is used in expressing emotions of reverence, awe, and sublimity; as, 'Tis midnight's holy hour, and silence now Is brooding, like a gentle spirit, o'er The still and pulseless world. Hark! on the winds The bells' deep tones are swelling;?'tis the knell Of the departed year. Exercise On Pitch. Select a sentence, and deliver it on as low a key as possible; then repeat it, gradually elevating the pitch, until the top of the voice shall have been reached; when the exercise may be reversed. So valuable is this exercise, that it should be repeated ...