A CONTRALTO VOICE.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLI, Issue 255, 28 October 1907, Page 2

A CONTRALTO VOICE.

The interesting assertion has recently been made in print that the feminine voice is descending the scale. High-pitched shrill voices are less common than they used to be among women; It is. supposed that the growing frequency of public speaking among women has given a greater depth and solidity of tone the vogue which it at present enjoys. The "platform" voice of a woman who makes her speeches tell is always even. The speaking voice, like the singing voice, is,largely a matter of training. Good speakers have been taught to use chest notes, and not to speak from the head. The characteristic Sydney accent, which is more acute locally than anywhere in Australia, is truly distressing. Men and women have it alike. The quality of voice is alike in both, sexes, flat and toneless, and the sound is produced apparently at the back of the palate. But the educated voice is one thing, the uneducated drawl quite another. The ." sweet and low " voice which is admired in women means soft and not low in pjrtch. D§ep chest notes1 are sometimes misleading. " It's a man's voice—or a deep contralto," exclaims the suspicious mother in "Sweet Lavender." Whether Clara Butt's deep organ tones are the Eroduct of this century or not would c an interesting addition to the questipn of the lowering of the pitch, of women's voices. ■'