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Pitch has reference to the key of the voice, and its degrees run through the entire compass. Here are some excerpts for you to practice to improve the pitch of your voice:
LOW
1. It thunders! Sons of dust, in reverence bow!
Ancient of days! thou speakest from above: Thy right hand wields the bolt of terror now;
That hand which scatters peace, and joy, and love. Almighty! trembling like a timid child,
I hear thy awful voice,-alarmed, afraid, I see the flashes of thy lightning wild,
And in the very grave would hide my head!
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle 1
Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is beard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
"Macbeth" SHAKESPEARE.
3. In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men, fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. Then a spirit passed before my face, the hair of my flesh stood up; it stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof; an image was before mine eyes; there was silence, and I heard a voice saying, Shall mortal man be more just than God! Shall a man be more pure than his Maker?
VERY LOW
1. '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 bell's deep tones are swelling,-'tis the knell
Of the departed year.
"The Closing Year." GEORGE D. PRENTICE.
2. Night, sable goddess! from her ebon throne,
In rayless majesty, now stretches forth
Her leaden scepter, o'er a slumbering world.
Silence, how dead! and darkness, how profound!
Nor eye, nor listening ear, an object finds;
Creation sleeps. 'Tis as the general pulse
Of life stood still, and nature made a pause;
An awful pause! prophetic of her end.
"Night Thoughts." YOUNG.
3. Now o'er the one half-world
Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse
The curtain'd sleep; witchcraft celebrates
Pale Hecate's offerings, and wither'd murder,
Alarum'd by his sentinel the wolf,
Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace
With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his design
Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set earth,
Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear
Thy very stones prate of my whereabout,
And take the present horror from the time,
Which now suits with it.
"Macbeth." SHAKESPEARE.
4. It must be so-Plato, thou reasonest well!-
Else, whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire,
This longing after immortality?
Or whence this secret dread, and inward horror,
Of falling into nought! Why shrinks the soul
Back on herself, and startles at destruction?
'Tis the divinity that stirs within us;
'Tis heaven itself that points out an hereafter,
And intimates eternity to man.
Eternity! thou pleasing, dreadful thought!
Through what variety of untried being,
Through what new scenes and changes must we pass!
The wide, the unbounded prospect lies before me:
But shadows, clouds, and darkness rest upon it.
"Cato." ADDISOK.
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If you'd like to learn more by watching others speak publicly, search our Calendar of Events to find different speakers presenting on various topics at different locations. If you'd like to try your hand at public speaking, and need a venue, then try searching the Internet using the phrase "public speaking in Tucson ." The results of the search will give you current places that are seeking speakers.
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