!

To gain a consciousness of the Diaphragm and to secure a sense of relaxation of the muscles of the waist, practice the following panting exercise.

Place the hands lightly at the waist line, with muscles relaxed, pant like a dog when he is tired. This is to be done with the breath. Think to draw in the breath as if astonished or frightened, puff it out as if blowing out a candle. This may be practiced slowly at first then make the action rapidly when it becomes panting. Some find difficulty in the very simplicity of this exercise and fail because of too great effort. Any such may practice the following to help in awakening the muscles used in the breathing exercises. Lie on the back with the clothing loose; place the hand on the waist in front; raise and lower the hand by the inhaling and exhaling of the breath or panting as directed above. In beginning to train the diaphragm take some time, perhaps a week practicing daily the preliminary panting, and make sure of action of proper muscles before attempting other breathing exercises.

Caution Do not let the chest rise and fall in panting, keep it perfectly quiet with the action at the waist. The aim should be for a quiet chest in breathing. Aim also to gain more and more ability to relax the waist muscles and the diaphragm. Practice the panting a little in contrasting ways the first named, with muscles of waist stiff, is wrong. First hold up the chest as high as possible, stiffen the waist, pant forcibly. Second, relax all possible, dropping the chest, pant easily and gently. "Shake the diaphragm down to a jelly." Note the difference between the two ways; beware the first, cultivate the second. Work for a quiet chest, relaxed muscles at the waist, shaking like" jelly " the diaphragm. Breathing is an outgrowth of panting.

Exercise II. Contracting and Expanding.

Place the hands at the waist near the floating ribs, with the chest perfectly quiet. Contract slowly through two · 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

measures

measures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

Expand through two Repeat both Contracting and Expanding. Count silently so the action of the muscles may move slowly and evenly. Aim to bring into action the same muscles and in the same way as in the Panting Exercises, save with slower movements. See page 26.

Exercise III. Hygienic Exercise.

Lie flat on the back- the floor is a suitable placewith the body relaxed and dead still, save the breathing muscles, arms thrown over the head, or if too difficult, the hands may be placed at the waist as in the panting. Now slowly inhale, packing the lungs to their fullest capacity, hold an instant, exhale slowly whispering "one," prolong the breath as long as possible, at the last, contract the muscles tightly as if to squeeze out the last bit of air. Relax slowly and evenly. Repeat the same whispering " two, " and so continue to repeat up to "fifty" when you will be conscious of the fact you have exercised. If too vigorous for one in feeble health, the number of counts may be less but not the energy. Each should exert his full strength.

Practice the same exercise for the voice by substituting the vowels for the counts which may be given in different ways, either whispering, spoken aloud or shouted, as may also the counting. Blowing also may be substituted.

This exercise is positive and immediate aid for indigestion. It immediately quickens the circulation, for it is exercise. The dyspeptic will find it better than medicine, for it brings the blood where it is needed to invigorate and give strength. For voice production train the breathing muscles till like bands of steel; the diaphragm a muscle of resisting power.

Exercise IV. With Breathing Pipe.

Beside the work to develop the breathing muscles and strengthen them there must be practice to gain breath capacity and breath control. These three points are almost concentrated in the following exercise with the Breathing Pipe.

Let us remember that the voice is produced with the outgoing breath; the active part of breathing is this exhaling. Too much breath sent out in making a tone destroys its purity. So work for breath control must advance with the increase in lung capacity. We may cultivate a muscle by training it to move slowly, evenly, with energy through the alternating extremes of relaxation and tension. A quick, jerky movement requires less strength than a slow, even movement. Applying this to the breathing muscles we find in order to control them and to secure slow even action while inhaling and exhaling we may gain much of the desired control by practice with a breathing pipe. A short piece of hollow reed or piece of a clay pipe stem may serve for a breathing pipe. Place this between the lips through which you may inhale and exhale. While this practice is through the mouth it is not to encourage mouth breathing but, more particularly, to train the diaphragm and other breathing muscles to send out a small, even, vigorous flow of breath. When inhaling through the nostrils it is quite impossible for one to take in a small stream of air. When one exhales through the mouth the breath is not easily controlled, before the muscles are trained, but comes with a puff over the vocal cords. In this, aim to inhale and to exhale a small, even, concentrated stream of breath and to train the breath organs that they may attain skill in performing all their work.

To practice this exercise: after panting, place the breathing pipe between the lips; inhale slowly at the same time raise both arms as in Inhaling, Exercise VII. Page 27.

When the arms are lifted as high as possible and the lungs filled, hold an instant,— exhale slowly through the pipe as the arms are lowered. Pant, Inhale,— Hold,— Exhale. Repeat five or six times at a practice time. Practice daily, you may do so to advantage several times a day, in open air. One should be able to inhale from 30 to 45 seconds and to exhale the same length of time. The first efforts will be less than this. The beginner need not be discouraged if his best is only 10 seconds. Should it be so, here is an opportunity to test what persistent effort will accomplish in a short space of time. In whatever stage of practice never try to do more than can be done without straining, lest there be injury instead of growth.

It is more important to prolong the outgoing a little lon. ger than the ingoing breath, for it is on the outgoing breath we send out the speech and song. As the prolonged exhalation is more difficult for some than the inhalation, the exhalation may be prolonged somewhat longer if the inhalation is not prolonged to the full limit of the capacity. Do all gently. Do not force the breath. There should be no sound.

This exercise may be varied giving vigorous exercise for all the breathing muscles,especially the diaphragm, giving it sustaining power. Practice the same as that given above lifting a chair or some weight above the head while inhaling, lowering it while exhaling. The panting should be taken while bending over the back of the chair before the inhaling and lifting it at arm's length overhead. To this drill with the chair may be substituted voice exercises in the place of exhaling through the pipe as the arms are lowered. Remember, in voice production it is not so much how full you are able to fill the lungs with air as how to manage and control it when you come to spend it. Skill comes through repetition, repetition, repetition.

THE VOICE.

"The voice is like an orchestra. It ranges high up, and can shriek like the scream of an eagle; or it is low as a lion's tone; and at every intermediate point is some peculiar quality. It has in it the mother's whisper and the father's command. It has in it warning and alarm. It has in it sweetness. It is full of mirth and full of gaiety. It glitters, though it is not seen with all its sparkling fancies. It ranges high, intermediate or low, in obedience to the will, unconscious to him who uses it; and men listen through the long hour, wondering that it is so short, and quite unaware that they have been bewitched out of their weariness by the charm of a voice, not artifical, not prearranged in man's thought, but by assiduous training made to be his second nature. Such a voice answers the soul, and is its beating." Henry Ward Beecher.

"There is no power of love so hard to get and keep as a kind voice. A kind hand is deaf and dumb. It may be rough in flesh and blood, yet do the work of a soft heart, and do it with a soft touch. But there is no one thing that love so much needs as a sweet voice to tell what it means and feels; and it is hard to get and keep it in the right tone. One must start in youth, and be on the watch night and day, at work and play, to get and keep a voice that shall speak at all times the thoughts of a kind heart. It is often in youth that one gets a voice or a tone that is sharp, and it sticks to him through life, and stirs up ill will and grief, and falls like a drop of gall on the sweet of home. Watch it day by day as a pearl of great price, for it will be worth more to you in days to come than the best pearl hid in the seas. A kind voice is to the heart as light is to the eye. It is a light that sings as well as shines. " Elihu Burritt.