Skip to main content

Full text of "Stamering And Cognate Defects Of Speech Vol - Ii"

See other formats


VOCALIZATION AND VOWEL-PRODUCTION    41

pitch tone, and retain it during the whole time of practice.
After such exercises, in the beginning of the treatment, the stut-
terer is dismissed with the direction to keep quiet, and not to
take severe bodily exercise or to forcibly use his vocal organs."

From the second source we have the following:

"Breathe in as before (through the nose and filling the waist),
separate the teeth well and whisper out the following vowels,
each three times: (A-E-I-O-OO-AH). Use about five to ten
seconds in taking the air into the lungs and about the same
time in whispering out the letter. Now breathe in as before
(slowly through the nose), and as the air goes out sound these
same vowels out aloud, each one three or more times. Make
the outgoing sounds at least ten seconds in length if you
can. Later you can sit at the piano or organ and sound
them out in various keys (or pitches of the voice) although
the lower tones are the best for you. Keep the mouth well
open in doing this. This is the reason you should stand
before a mirror until you are sure that you are doing it well.

"Next, breathe in with a little shorter breath and speak
these same six sounds (A-E-I-O-OO-AH) all together in one
outgoing breath, with widely separated teeth and all the
sounds connected together in a talking manner, very much as if
you were counting one-two-three-four-five-six without stopping
and at a moderate rate of speed. Do this several times and
many times a day, whenever you have an opportunity."

Vocal exercises are usually systematized so that
every vowel is produced with every mode of utterance
that the system embraces. The drill-books of some
institutions contain more than a hundred pages
of vocal and similar exercises. It is evident that all
the different vocal drills of the different institutions