the same instant that the last atom of air has entered the lungs, too much air will naturally pour out at the first words, thus rendering them unmetallic and aspirate.

SECTION 5.

INSPIRATION AND EXPIRATION TO BE DONE AS SLOWLY AS POSSIBLE, AND UNIFORMLY.

This condition must be fulfilled whenever the construction of the sentence will permit. Slow breathing will be mainly brought about by right use of the diaphragm and the abdominal muscles, and keeping the ribs raised. (More on this subject in Sections 7 and 9.)

SECTION 6.

EVEN DURING ANY UNUSUAL ACTIVITY OF THE LUNGS, AS IN MOMENTS OF EXCITEMENT OR PASSION, IT IS QUITE NECESSARY TO BREATHE AS SLOWLY AS POS

SIBLE.

It must not be considered impossible to attain this; the activity of the human organs depends undoubtedly, to a certain degree, upon our will, and though this is less the case with the lungs than with the other organs, it is still here also possible to arrive at really wonderful results by regular exercises, interrupted only by necessary rest.

SECTION 7.

ABDOMINAL OR DIAPHRAGMATIC BREAThing.-Rib or SIDE-BREATHING.

We have shown in treating of the respiratory movements, that man can execute inspirations and expirations in three different modes, namely, by shoulder, side or abdominal respiration. We must here urge that singers and orators should make habitual use only of the two latter modes of respiration (side, and especially abdominal respiration), and shoulder-respiration only when the temporary position of the body does not permit of the other two.

The upper part of the thorax is, at the same time, also active in a certain way; when expanded for inspiration, it remains, more or less, in this condition during speaking and singing, so as not to impede inspiration and expiration, which would be the case if the upper ribs should constantly rise and fall.

If we permit the inspired air to escape from the lungs only by means of the upper part of the thoracic wall (shoulder-breathing), as is generally the case with women, the following phenomena will result:

1. The tone will not be quite clear and metallic. 2. It will not be full.

3. It will not be firm or strong.

4. It will not be sufficiently prolonged.

5. The air will not pass from the lungs slowly and uniformly enough; but, on the contrary, in puffs; and

6. The plastic lines of the body will be disturbed by heaving of the bosom and shaking of the shoulders, not to mention the increased exertion required.

The tone produced in such a way will, likewise, always be somewhat heavy, for the movement of the upper chest-muscles causes an involuntary participation of the muscles of the neck and larynx, and thereby disturbs these muscles, so that the tone not unfrequently becomes compressed and trembling and loses its clearness, and especially its fulness, because, the upper part of the air-passages being pressed together, the resonance of the sound is, in consequence, diminished. But by mainly using the lower part of the chest (side and especially abdominal respiration) all these phenomena are absent.

The following comparison may serve to prove this method is the correct one:

that

Imagine a tube, whose walls can be compressed at will, filled with water. We can press the water in it upward in two ways: either we compress the walls of the tube, or we drive the water upward by means of a piston, which we apply to the lower end. In the former case (that is, by compression of the walls),

the stream becomes trembling, irregular, frequently interrupted; in the latter case (that is, pressure by means of a piston), the stream becomes strong, uniform, uninterrupted, as we can see in any enginehose, which is correctly handled.

It is the same with man and his lungs. The back, front and the sides of the chest are the walls of the tube; the diaphragm, lower ribs and abdominal muscles are the piston.

Herein lies the proof of our theory of the diaphragmatic or abdominal respiration.

To dispel any doubt as to the possibility of mastering this mode of respiration, I take the following important example from the world of art:

Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient, the greates dramatic singer, attained a wonderful degree of perfection in respiratory control (through unremitting practice, as she herselt informed me). She sang the most difficult passages without the slightest movement of the upper portion of the chest, and it was she who gave the incitement to the preparation of this work, when, twenty-six years ago, I had the good fortune of attracting the notice of that remarkable lady, an artist who at the age of fifty-two stood unrivaled among dramatic singers.

It is true, all I learned from her was that I breathed in a wrong manner; and on my arguing that I breathed with the full action of the chest, I was answered: "It is with the abdomen that you must breathe, with the abdomen." This was all the explanation I received. And just as the student in Goethe's Faust exclaims:

"I feel as stupid from all you've said,
As if a mill-wheel whirled in my head!"

so it was with me from that moment.

After the lapse of three years (passed in sleepless nights, and in laboriously seeking for the solution of this riddle by means of study and experiment) appeared the first German edition of the present work.

Therefore, in order to avoid the occurrence of the above-mentioned phenomena, it is necessary to empty the lungs, not by causing the sternum and the upper ribs to sink to their normal position; but, while the sternum and the upper part of the chest generally are held raised upward and outward, by the combined action of the diaphragm and the abdominal muscles (abdominal respiration).

Although women make the respiratory movement more with the upper part of the chest, still they must, by exercises and a correct method, learn to use the lower ribs, the diaphragm and the abdominal muscles.

SECTION 8.

THE NECESSITY OF CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE DIAPHRAGM AND THE ABDOMINAL MUSCLES.

"How am I

As I have been met countless times by the question to breathe by means of the diaphragm, when I have not the consciousness of the diaphragm, and do not in the least know by what means the diaphragm and the abdominal muscles are set into motion?" Ido not deem it at all superfluous to set down a special paragraph on this subject.

Exercise I. (For Consciousness of Diaphragm.)*

Lie down on the back, the head somewhat elevated; put the lungs into the "state of readiness" (see Section

*In my first American edition I left out this exercise because I was constantly told, "be brief, be brief to suit the American taste." Now, however, having been reproached by Americans, who know my German "Gymnastics of the Voice," for having left out so many matters, I add, among other things, this section, which occurs n the very first German edition of this work.