Hamlet. If it assume my noble father's person,
I'll speak to it, though hell itself should gape
And bid me hold my peace. I pray you all,
If you have hitherto conceal'd this sight,
Let it be tenable in your silence still;
And whatsoever else shall hap to-night,
Give it an understanding, but no tongue,
I will requite your loves. So fare you well;
Upon the platform 'twixt eleven and twelve
I'll visit you.

Hamlet. Your loves, as mine to you; farewell.
My father's spirit in arms! all is not well;

I doubt some foul play; would the night were come!
Till then sit still, my soul; foul deeds will rise,

Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes.

[Exeunt.

[Exit.

Shakespeare.

XXIX. INTERVALS OF PITCH.

ANOTHER element of conversational form which is less often

recognized, but which is very important, is changes of pitch between words or phrases. Intervals are the most variable and free element of delivery, and hence their function or meaning is the most difficult to define.

Probably the first meaning observed is that which has already been found; it simply shows a change or departure of the mind from conception to conception. It shows also animation or exultation of any kind; it reveals, too, a change of feeling, or point of view, or degree of control.

Note, for example, in the following extract how 'bower,' ‘sky,' 'winter,' and the objects of attention are by joyous exultation put in different parts of the voice.

237 SWEET bird! thy bower is ever green, thy sky is ever clear;

Thou hast no sorrow in thy song, no winter in thy year!

Oh! could I fly, I'd fly with thee! we'd make, with joyful wing, Our annual visit o'er the globe, attendants on the spring. "To the Cuckoo."

Logan.

The animation, however, is not always gentle; if we compare this with the next extract, we find that there is here a greater change of pitch, much more abrupt; and the fact that we put 'hills,' 'caves,' and 'rocks' all on different pitches makes the thought far more emphatic. It shows not only the clearness and vividness of the thought, but it shows also the degree of excitement, the intensity and earnestness of the speaker.

238 AWAY to the hills, to the caves, to the rocks -
Ere I own a usurper, I'll couch with the fox;

And tremble, false Whigs, in the midst of your glee,
You have not seen the last of my bonnet and me.

In these lines we find also that changes of pitch have close correspondence to inflections. In the change between 'caves' and rocks,' for example, the intervals may be abrupt or slow, short or long, in fact, they may vary in the same ways as the inflections themselves.

As in case of length of inflection, the extent of the change of pitch and the length of time between the two pitches is a measure of self-control and dignity. Read, for example, an excited passage in two ways, with and without great changes of pitch, and see how dignified it can be made on the one hand, or how degraded on the other; or note the wide extent of pitch which can be introduced into a most dignified passage.

When there is a repetition of a word, as in the next illustration, if it is used merely in a representative way, that is, if it merely stands for sound, there is no change of pitch; but if it stands for a new idea, an increase of intensity in feeling or passion, then there is change of pitch.

239 CLANG, clang! The massive anvils ring.

Clang, clang! A hundred hammers swing.

Again, where the mind is kept sustained upon one idea and in the same emotional state, as in the next illustration, there is definite touch and attack, but there is little change of pitch.

240 MERRILY, merrily, mingle they, "waken, lords and ladies gay."

But where there is a change in the degree of passion or an increase in intensity or excitement, though the same words may be repeated, still the change of pitch is quite marked, as in the following illustration:

241 "To arms! to arms! to arms!" they cry; "grasp the shield and draw the sword; lead us to Philippi's lord; let us conquer him or die!"

Again, in the extract from "Barbara Frietchie," the attention of the mind is on the flag; there is no change of attention with its 'silver stars' or 'crimson bars,' which merely contribute to the sustaining and vivifying of the picture in the mind; hence there is very little change of pitch.

But when we come to 'the

sun at noon looked down,' there is a great change of thought, conceptions, and ideas, and we have more change of pitch.

242 FORTY flags with their silver stars,
Forty flags with their crimson bars,
Flapped in the morning wind; the sun

Of noon looked down, and saw not one.

Thus change of pitch is due to the variation or the movement of the mind from one situation or idea to another. It shows the relation of an idea to another that has already been uttered. We can also see that there is a difference in meaning between intervals and inflection, Change of pitch is more the variation of the thought or situation, while the increase in the length or the abruptness of inflections means greater control of the will over thought and feeling, increased earnestness, or desire to dominate the attention of another mind. Change of pitch is thus the expression of the rational in man. Whenever there is an increase in the intensity of the thinking or the reasoning, change of pitch is present; whenever there is a mere increase of force without any stimulation of the thinking, or a mere repetition of a sound, then there is a tendency to eliminate changes of pitch.

Hence, change of pitch is one of the most dignified of all forms of emphasis. If we take any passage, no matter how excited, and express its meaning by changes of pitch rather than by

loudness or even length or abruptness of inflection, we can, by using this means, at once lift the passage into dignity and nobleness. Besides it is chiefly by change of pitch that range of voice is secured. Inflection is change of pitch in the vowel, but inflection alone may be found with a narrow compass of voice. Too great length of inflection would be deleterious to the dignity of a thought, especially in certain delicate lyrics. But there is no form of composition, however serious, however solemn, however tender and delicate, which is not elevated, ennobled, and intensified by changes of pitch between its ideas. Thus change of pitch is associated with all noble emphasis and with all noble thinking. Inflection without changes of pitch loses its meaning. Inflections and change of pitch should always go together; by their co-operation they give rise to form. The wider the range, the greater the dignity and free play of thought and emotion.

All sorts of pieces and extracts, the most delicate and subtle especially, should be practised with the widest possible range, in order to develop the flexibility of the voice, and to co-ordinate change of pitch with change of ideas.

Problem LVI. Read a simple passage and preserve its character, yet read it so as to be heard by a large number, and increase its intensity by intervals and inflections, but without increase of loudness.

243. AGNES.

I SAW her in childhood a bright gentle thing,

Like the dawn of the morn, or the dews of the spring:
The daisies and hare-bells her playmates all day;

Herself as light-hearted and artless as they.

Fresh glittering with graces of mind and of mien.
Her speech was all music; like moonlight she shone;
The envy of many, the glory of one.

Years, years fleeted over - I stood at her foot:

The bud had grown blossom, the blossom was fruit.

A dignified mother, her infant she bore;

And look'd, I thought, fairer than ever before.

I saw her once more

-'t was the day that she died;

Heaven's light was around her, and God at her side;
No wants to distress her, no fears to appal-

O then, I felt, then she was fairest of all!

H. F. Lyte.

Problem LVII. Contrast words used imitatively or representatively with words in the same line used as the expression of thinking, and note the effect upon the voice.

244 Or old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end.

245... THE Kettle, growing mellow and musical, began to have irrepressible gurglings in its throat, and to indulge in short vocal snorts, which it checked in the bud, as if it hadn't quite made up its mind yet to be good company. Now it was, that after two or three such vain attempts to stifle its convivial sentiments, it threw off all moroseness, all reserve, and burst into a stream of song so cosy and hilarious, as never maudlin nightingale yet formed the least idea of.

And here, if you like, the Cricket DID chime in with a chirrup, chirrup, chirrup, of such magnitude, by way of chorus, -with a voice so astoundingly disproportionate to its size as compared with the Kettle (size! you couldn't see it!)—that if it had then and there burst itself like an overcharged gun, if it had fallen a victim on the spot, and chirruped its little body into fifty pieces, it would have seemed a natural and inevitable consequence, for which it had expressly labored.

Chirp, chirp, chirp!
Kettle making play

There was all the excitement of a race about it. Cricket a mile ahead. Hum, hum, hum-m-m! in the distance, like a great top. Chirp, chirp, chirp! Cricket round the corner. Hum, hum, hum-m-m! Kettle sticking to him in his own way; no idea of giving in. Chirp, chirp, chirp! Cricket fresher than ever. Hum, hum, hum-m-m! Kettle slow and steady. Chirp, chirp, chirp! Cricket going in to finish him. Hum, hum, hum, -m-m! Kettle not to be finished. Until, at last, they got so jumbled together in the hurry-skurry, helter-skelter of the match, that whether the Kettle chirped and the Cricket hummed, or the Cricket chirped and the Kettle hummed, or they both chirped and both hummed, it would have taken a clearer head than yours or mine to decide with anything like certainty.