The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-05-01
lTTRAC TO NS| 1.-THE THEATRES
PARK THEATRE

Tetrazzini the noted cantatrice who sings at the Park theatre next Mon day night says;
 s.A singer she writes, ssmust be able to rely on her breath, just as She relies upon the solidity of the ground beneath her feet A shalky, uncon- trolIed breath is like a rickety foun- dation upon which nothing can 3e built
 s.In learning to breath, it is we'll to think of the lungs as empty sacks into which the air is dropping like a, weight. so that you think first of fill- ing the bottom of your lungs. then the middle part. and so on until no more air can be inhaled.
 .-1nhale shcrt breaths through the nose This. of course, is only an exer- else for breath development Now begin to exhaIe from the bottom of the lungs first ExhaIe slowly, and against your chest If you get this sensation later when singing, it will help you very greatly to get control of the breath and to avoid sending tcn much breath through the vocal cords The breath must be sent out in an even steady flow.
 T think one Of the very best ex~ ercises for learning to control the voice. by first getting control of the breath. Is to stand erect in a well
 
 slowly snuff in air through the nos-' tr5ls. inhaIing in little puffs, as if you were filling the very bottom of your lungs and also the back of your lungs When you have the sensa- ton of being full up. to the neck, retain the air for a few seconds, and then very slowly send it ont in little. pufFs again
 -.Thfs is splendid exercises but | want to warn you not to practice any L4- --~ ~--L that you make your heart beat fast or feel like strang1ing-
 -OTer exercising the lungs is as bad as not exercising them enough, and the results are often harmful Like everything else in singing, you want 10 learn this gradually Never neglect ft. because 1t is the very foundation of your art but don't try to develop A dfaphram expansion of five inches fin two weeks, remember it is not the expansion that you are working for have noticed this one peeular1ty an enormous development of the dih- p11ram they think that they should be able to sing no matter what happens Another point--A great many young singers take in an enormous breath stfffeuing every muscle in order to hold the air, thus depriving their muscles of all elasticity. This must be avoided
 They then shut off the throat and let only the smallest fraction Of air escape. just enough to make sound. Too much in-breathing and too vio- lent an effort at inha1ing will rot help the singer at all From the min ute The singer starts to ernftstone the supply of breath must be omitted steadily from the chambe- of air in the lungss it must never be held back once The immediate pressure of the air should be felt more against the chest I know of a grea many sing eSz. who when they come to very diff rcuit passages, put their hands on their chests, focusing their attention on this one part of their mechanism nf singing The audience, of cour SC. thinks the nrina donna's hand is rabs- ed to her heart, when as matter of fact the prsna donna with a diff fculf bit of singing before her, is thinking of her tech1ic and the foun- datlon of that techniQue-breath com troll