There is need for the admonition to open the mouth well.  Many people speak with half-closed teeth, the result being that the quality of voice and correctness of pronunciation are greatly impaired.  Consonants and vowels should be given proper significance.  Muffled speech is almost as objectionable as stammering.

It enhances the pleasure and quality of conversation to speak in deliberate style.  Rapidity of utterance often leads a speaker into such faults as indistinctness, monotony, and incorrect breathing.  Deliberate speaking confers many advantages, not the least of which is increased pleasure to the listener.

Many voices are too thin in quality.  They fail to carry conviction even when the thought is of superior character.  The remedy here is to give special attention to the development of deep tones.  One of the best exercises for this purpose is to practice for a few minutes daily upon the vowel sound “O,” endeavoring to make it full, deep, and melodious.  For all-round vocal development this practice should be done with varied force and inflection, and on high as well as low keys of the voice.

The best remedy for a weak voice is to practice daily upon explosives, expelling the principal vowel sounds, on various keys, using the abdominal muscles throughout.  Another good exercise is to read aloud while walking upstairs or uphill.  As these exercises are somewhat extreme, the student is recommended to practice them prudently.

Correct breathing is fundamental to correct and agreeable speaking.  The breathing apparatus should be brought under control by daily practice upon exercises prescribed in any standard book on elocution.  Pure tone of voice depends upon the ability to convert into tone every particle of breath used.  Aspirated voice, in which some of the breath is allowed to escape unvocalized, is injurious to the throat, and unpleasant to the listening ear.

The speaker, whether in conversation or in public, should try always to speak with an adequate supply of breath.  Deliberate utterance will give the necessary opportunity to replenish the lungs, so that the speaker will not suffer from unnecessary fatigue.  Needless to say, the habit should be formed of breathing through the nose when in repose.

There is a voice of unusual roundness and fulness known as the orotund, which is indispensable to the public speaker.  It is simple, pure tone, rounded out into greater fulness.  It is produced mainly by an increased resonance of the chest and mouth cavities, and a more vigorous action of the abdominal muscles.  It has the character of fulness, but it is not necessarily a loud tone.  It is in no sense artificial, but simply an enlargement of the natural conversational voice.

The use of the orotund voice varies according to the intensity of the thought and feeling being expressed.  It is used in language of great dignity, power, grandeur, and sublimity.  It is appropriate in certain forms of public prayer and Bible reading.  It enables the public speaker to vary from his conversational style.  It gives vastly increased scope and power, by enabling the speaker to bring into play all the resources of vocal force and intensity.