The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1909-02-26

the breath and its perfect accomplish
mcnt means the complete mastery Of
the greatest difficulty In learning to
sing.
think one of the best exercises for
learning to control the voice by first
getting control OF the breath Is to
stand erect in n well ventilated room
or out of doors and slowly snuff In air
through the nostrils, inhaling in little
puffs, as II you were smelling some
thing
Take Just little bit Of air at time
and feel as II you were filling the very
bottom Of your lungs and also the
back Of your lungs.
When you have the sensation Of be-
ing full up to the neck retain the air
for few seconds and then very slow
ly send 1t out in little puffs again.
This is a splendid exercise but l
want to warn you not to practice any
breathing exercise to such an extent
that you make your heart beat fast or
feel like strangling.
OvereXerCising the lungs is as bad
as not exercising them enough, and
the results are often harmful
Like everything else in singing, you
want to learn this gradually. Never
neglect it, because it is the very foun-
dation Of your art But don't try to
develop a diaphragm expansion of five
inches in two weeks.
Indeed, 1t is not the expansion that
you are working for.
| have noticed this one popularity
about young singers-if they have an
enormous development of the dia-
phragm they think they should be able
to sing, no matter what happens. A
girl came to see me once whose figure
was really entirely out of proportion,
the lower part of the lungs having
been pressed out quite beyond even ar
tistic lines.
You see, madam" she exclaimed 81
have studied breathing. Why, | have
such strong diaphragm | can move
the piano with it, And she did go
/ right up to my piano and pushing on
this strong diaphragm of hers moved
the piano fraction of an inch from
| its place
| was quite aghast. | had never met
| such an athletic singer. When | asked
! her to let me hear her voice, however,
tiny stream of cOntralto sound is
sued from those powerful lungs.
She had developed her breathing ca
! pacity, but when she sang she held
her breath back.
! have noticed that a great many
people do this and it is one of the
things that must be overcome in the
very beginning of the study of singing
Certain young singers take in an
enormous breath, stifening every mus
Gle in order to hold the air, thus de-
| priving their muscles of all elasticity.
They will then shut off the throat
and let only the smallest fraction of
air escape, just enough to make
sound Too much inbreathing and too
violent an effort at inhaling will not
help the singer at all
People have said that they cannot
see when | breathe. Well, they GER
tainly cannot say that | am ever short
IF breath even if | do try to breathe
mvisiby. When | breathe | scarcely
draw my diaphragm in at all, but
feel the air fill my lungs, and | feel
my upper ribs expand.
In singing | always feel as if were
forcing my breath against my chest.
and, just as in the exercises according
to Delsarte you will find the chest
leads in all physical movements, so in
singing you should feel this firm sup
] ri Of hn Of n
as the lowest notes.
have seen pupils trying to master
the art of breathing holding them.
selves as rigidly as drum majors.
Now, this rigidity of the spinal col
umn will in no way help you in the
emission of tone. nor will it increase
the breath control. In fact, | don't
even think it would help you to stand
up straight, although 1t would certain
| ly give one a stiff appearance and one
far removed from grace.
a singer should stand freely and
easily and should feel as If the chest
were leading, but should not feel con-
strained or stiff in any part of the ribs
or lungs.
From the minute the singer starts to
emit tone the supply of breath must
be emitted steadily from the chamber
Of air in the lungs, 1t must never be
held back once.
The immediate pressure of the air
should be felt more against the chest.
| know Of great many singers who
when they come to very difficult pas.
sages put their hands on their chests,
focusing their attention on this one
part Of the mechanism Of singing.
The audience of course thinks the
prima donna's hand Is raised to her
heart when, It's a matter of fact, the
prima donna, with a difficult bit Of
singing before her. is thinking of her
technique and the foundation of that
technique-breath control.
This feeling of singing against the
chest with tie weight of air pressing
up against it is known as breath sup
port and in Italian we have even a
better word, "apOggio," which is breath
prop The diaphragm in English may
be called the bellows of the lungs, bur
/ the aDOggiO is the deem braath rapu