Omaha daily bee., 1888-09-16
MORSE eco

adjunct to good tone. writes Henry w.
Giles in the Albany Journal. | say the
escape of breath is the more important
as cOntrasted with the act of drawing
in the breath commonly called inspira-
ton. 1t is true that the method of an
inspiration influences to "a greater or
less extent the character of the inspira-
ton, dependent largely, however, on
the singers culture and ability. The
abdominal muscles and the diaphragm
are the great e~Xpiatory muscles. That
is, they both hold back and force out
the breath, when properly used. The
ordinary expiration occupies two or
three seconds of time. The expiration
in singing consumes from ten to twenty
seconds and even longer. In the breath
ing out for the purposes OF life the sem
sation is of breath going from us. In
breathing out while singing one should
have the sensation of breath coming
toward one; drunk in" as it were. The
proper use of breathing muscles will
cure a husky Tone gutteral or throaty
tone, Il tired throat after singing, wrong
intonation, singing out OF tune, and is OF
great help in the treatment OF nasal
tones.
Advice to beginners land many ad-
vanced pupils) in singing: When
breathing in a perfectly natural and
easy manner and with no restrictions
from clothing or otherwise, shoulders
relaxed and reposing, notice the slight
expansion of the walls of the abdomen
as YOU breathe in. This movement is
caused by the descent of the diaphragm
as it pushes out the abdominal viscera
before it. You will notice that after
taking in a moderate breath in this
manner the tendency will be for h alb
domen to Immediately recover its posi-
tion Of rest and the breath to escape.
| Now, instead of allowing this to take
place in two or three seconds, prolong
it by preserving the expansion of the
abdomen and holding back the breath
so that the expiration occupies five or
six seconds of time. If you are wholly
unused to exercises of this kind you will
notice that after a few inspirations and
expirations the muscles will appear
slightly fatigued, and you will feel like
taking a long breath. You have been
giving them extra labor TO perform;
this will increase the flow Of blood TO
them, which means increased nourish-
ment and strength. After practicing
IN this manner once or twice a day for
a week, you will notice that your IA
tigue diminishes as your strength and
power Of control increases, and this is
the first step in learning to sing. l dc
not say that you may not develop the
control in any other way, as, for in.
| stance, in exercise coupled with tone,
but in one way or another it must be
done.
Do not begin your practice with in,
haling more than q moderate amount
| OF air, as this will be much more diff
cult for you to control and will tend to
remove your efforts from the proper
muscles to interfering muscles. Avoid
raising, the shoulders, as this affects
alphabetically throat muscles that
should be relaxed. After continuing
this practice for a few days and the
muscles become in a manner used to
holding back, the breath tone may be
employed with the syllable "ah" OF
"lah," reserving the breath in the
same manner as in the breathing exer
else, taking care to sing with a mod
crate amount OF tone as being easiel
than one that is too soft or too loud.