Rhythm is the name of the sense of relationship existing between duration and motion. Without rhythm there can be no real melody. In poetry the rhythm celebrates the exact relationship the thoughts sustain to each other. The rhythm creates a deeper interest, and consequently a deeper feeling, than would be created if this relationship were not celebrated by the regular recurrence of certain pleasing sounds. In prose composition the relationship between the thoughts may be as perfect, but this relationship, although expressed melodically, is not as rhythmically emphasized.
Thought in voice form always manifests itself rhythmically. In sculpture, painting and architecture, that which corresponds to rhythm in music and poetry is called symmetry. Symmetry involves proportion, and gives a feeling of life to these forms of art.
There are certain characteristics of voice which are denominated “qualities.” Among these are: Color, Form and Equilibrium. By color of voice I mean that quality which affects us when we hear it, just as color affects us when we see it; so that color as applied to voice is really the name of the feeling it produces, which is the same as that produced by color received through the sense of sight.
We judge of form of voice as we judge of color of voice, that is, by its effect upon the feelings. There are certain tones which affect us as certain forms do.
When we see objects in equilibrium, we speak of them as being well poised, or centered; they give us the feeling of certainty; right tones affect us in the same way. Other tones which lack center give us the same kind of mental pain which things do when we perceive they are not in equilibrium.
Color appeals to the feelings; form appeals to the intellect; equilibrium appeals to the will, so that color, form and equilibrium appeal to the mind as a unit.
Each form possesses a distinct meaning and expresses definite states of mind.
Force indicates the degree of energy a particular thought arouses in an individual. Pitch includes slide or inflection, and indicates the feeling aroused by the thought. Volume indicates the condition of the will—whether it is perfectly free or struggling against difficulties. Time indicates the value the intellect places upon the thought. All forms of emphasis may be reduced to these four; and these four may be combined in an infinite variety of ways.