modulation

They are groping for some modulation, some way to translate complicated moral intuitions into rules a society can live by.

He sat up in bed; the sound was tragical by distance, and the modulation appealed to his ear like human speech.

It is wonderful to hear the infinite variety of modulation which a Swede gives to these two insignificant syllables.

This is their modulation to the dominant, their awakening to life.

I succeeded in the recitative; it was well accented, full of energy and excellent modulation.

He speaks it, too, with such melody and modulation as he can; “in homely rustic jingle;” but it is his own, and genuine.