Any of the voices already mentioned may be merged into one another, thus enabling the man on the roof to climb down, the man in the closet to go away on a level, and the man in the cellar to ascend to warmer and more comfortable quarters.

The roof voice, you remember, is pitched high and exploded against the hard palate. To make it have the effect of gradually descending, you so project it against the top and back of the mouth that it merges by successive steps into the or­dinary unreverberated drone at the back of the throat, when it will seem to be on the same level as the performer. By commencing with "Ah" reverberated against the palate, and from that location rolling it gradually backward and down­ward until you sound the drone, you will find that you have a diapason of from five notes to an octave, ranging usually from high "d" of the treble clef down to low "d," though rarely more than fivenotes are satisfactory, say from "d" to "g." Of course the range may be a note or two either one side or the other of that given, accord­ing to the natural character of the voice possessed by the ventriloquist.

After you have practiced on the scale exercise for a while, you may try actual speech, beginning with a simple dialogue like the following:

Vent. I say, Jack, are you up there?
Jack. Hullo! (Roof voice.) Yes, I'm here.
Vent. When are you coming down?
Jack. "When I get good and ready.
Vent. Well, please get ready now, I want to talk to you.
Jack. Oh, you do. All right, I'm ready.
Vent. Very good.    Come along.
Jack. Say guv'nor, the ladder's gone.
Vent., (impatiently). Look around you, you can find it.
Jack. All right, keep your hair on; I've got it.
Vent. Now then, look what you're about.
Jack. I'm lookin'.
Vent. And step lively.
Jack. Lively it is.
Vent. Have you started ?
Jack. Yes, I'm coming down now (louder and reverberated).
Vent. That's right, come nearer still.
Jack. Sure, I'm comin'. (Louder.)
Vent. Make it even closer.
Jack. Closer it is. (Still louder.)
Vent. How near are you now?
Jack. Why, I be down now. (Drone.)
Vent. Very good, that is where I want you.

As a rule be more loquacious in your natural voice than in the ventriloquial voice. This will cause you less fatigue and the audience appreci­ates most that which it gets the least.

When you have got the man down from the roof you may send him away on a level by com­pressing the vocal cords and throwing the voice backward, as it were, speaking neither against the palate nor down the throat. "Good-night" are the best words for this effect, "Good-morn­ing," "Good-evening" or "Good-bye" being impracticable. Close your dialogue in some such manner as follows:

Vent. That is all I want of you, and you may go now. Good-night.
Jack. Good-night. (A little fainter.)
Vent. Good-night. (Loud natural.)
Jack. Good-night. (Still fainter)
Vent. Good-night. (Almost shouting.)
Jack. Good-night, ha, ha, ha! (Very faint indeed.)

As your own voice becomes louder and the ventriloquial voice fainter, the pauses between the salutations are longer, as would naturally happen were you really calling to a departing caller or workman when, after the last faint, far-away cry you would yell and the answer would be inau­dible. Besides giving, by contrast, greater effectiveness to the ventriloquial voice in this manner, it is necessary in order to fully carry out the deception, as it must be made to appear that the man could not hear your own calls unless you uttered them in an increasingly louder voice as he went away.

If instead of apparently going away on a level, you desire to have Jack descend to the cel­lar, you simply compress the larynx still more and force the sound downward instead of back­ward. If you cannot, while facing the audience when entertaining in public, easily change the position of the vocal organs to get the effect of the man down-stairs, you can cover the effort by suitable business at a door or window, if you are giving your exhibition near one in a private house, or by turning and walking to the back part of the stage, on some pretense or other, if you are performing in a hall or theatre.  

In using any of these voices, do not attempt to articulate the consonant sounds plainly; to be particular in this regard would very likely cause the disarrangement of the lips and cavity of the mouth. This caution is especially to be observed where the ventriloquist faces his audience, as of course he should do, at least most of the time. It sometimes happens, however, that it is unnec-essary to face the audience, as when you are talk­ing to some one outside a window with your back to the people in a room. On such occasions you can move the lips without interfering with the illusion and thus articulate any word distinctly.

Sometimes ventriloquists have a heavy mous­tache to screen the lips so that slight movements cannot be detected, but it matters little to a good performer whether his mouth be covered or not, and it always creates a better impression not to rely upon such aids to hide movements which might, with a little additional practice, be pre­vented.

Frequent reference has been made to the fal­setto voice, but it should be understood that this voice in ventriloquism is somewhat different from the falsetto voice in singing. The singer pro­duces it by contracting the larynx; the more this is contracted the shriller the note. The ven­triloquist not only contracts the larynx, but di­rects the sound to that part of the mouth which communicates with the nose.

In Shakespeare's play, "The Tempest," there is an excellent dialogue for ventriloquial study, in the second scene of Act III. For such a hate­ful character as Caliban the guttural voice, which is the natural vocal expression of malignity and hate, should be used; while the "Thou liest!" and other short phrases of the "invisible Ariel" can be given with great effect in the ventriloquial falsetto voice.