If speech instructors are to teach students to recreate for an audience an author's intellectual and emotional meanings, they must teach them to use human voice effectively. Seven essential elements of effective vocal production that often pose problems for oral interpretation students should be central to any speech training program: (1) relaxation--the muscles involved in voice production must be ready for effective manipulation of vocal quality, volume, pitch, and rate; (2) respiration--breath vibrated between the vocal folds is the basis for voice production, and inefficient breathing habits or inadequate breath control can be partially responsible for almost all voice quality defects; (3) controlled exhalation--the phases of inhalation and exhalation will not be equal in length, and exhalation must be controlled to match the phrases uttered in the speech; (4) breath emission--interpreters must learn to emit the outgoing stream smoothly and evenly, and not in erratic bursts; (5) vibration--control of the vibration of the vocal folds can initiate a softer or harder tone without harsh glotal stops and without damaging and distracting glotalizing; (6) articulation--essential for intelligibility as well as for good oral resonance; and (7) duration--poets choose words for the sounds they contain, and proper sound duration is essential for achieving the intended effect. (HTH)