SUPERTALKthe head, your voice will be high and delicate. Heavy cords and
a good, strong chest can give deep, mellow, earthy tones.
Pitch, too, is dependent on the vocal cords. We tighten our
cords to raise our pitch and convey a subtext of anger, fear, or
joy. When we are depressed or very tired, our vocal cords lose
their tension, and our pitch is lowered. While a low pitch can
help to transmit confidence and sincerity, it can also convey a
subtext of depression and weariness—and, paradoxically, one of
sexuality. Marlene Dietrich provides a classic example of how
low pitch and a husky register can signal a seductive subtext.THE MELODY LINGERS ON
Another important part of the subtext of speech is a rather elusive
quality called melody, which is the rhythm, music, and harmony
of speech. A friend told me how he used melody to enjoy a season
of rich, classical music. When he was a young man growing up
in Cleveland, he longed to attend the concerts at Severance Hall,
but he couldn't afford the admission fee. He and a friend bought
secondhand tuxedos at a thrift shop and each concert night they
walked to the backstage entrance, talking to each other in agitated
Russian. They would wave aside the bewildered doorman, who
assumed they were foreign members of the orchestra, then go
through the stage door down to the floor and find empty seats.
The point is that neither one could really speak a word of
Russian. "How did you do it?" I asked.
"Well"—my friend shrugged—"the doorman didn't know Rus-
sian either, so we used nonsense words that sounded like Russian,
and we were good mimics, so we were able to catch the melody
of the language."