BREATHING WITH SPECIAL REGARD TO PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS.
The first great requisite for a voice-user is a well-developed chest;
the next, complete control of it, or, to put it otherwise, the art of
breathing, as briefly explained above.
The chest may be large enough, yet not be, in the physiological sense,
developed. The voice-user is a sort of athlete, a specialist whose
chest muscles must be strong and not covered up by very much
superfluous tissue in the form of fat, etc. Whatever the public may
think of the goodly form, the singer must remember that fat is
practically of no use to any one in voice-production, and may prove a
great hindrance, possibly in some cases being a coöperative cause of
that _tremolo_ so fatal to good singing.
[Illustration: FIG. 16. The appearance of a well-developed, healthy
person, with special reference to the chest.]
[Illustration: FIG. 17. The appearance of the chest after undue
compression, as with corsets.]
[Illustration: FIG. 18. In this figure, the dark curved line in the
middle is meant to represent the position, etc., of the diaphragm,
beneath which, and fitting closely to it, are the liver, stomach, and
other abdominal organs, in this case not pressed upon or injured in
any way. This represents the normal human being.]
[Illustration: FIG. 19. A condition the reverse of that represented in
the preceding. The vital organs are pressed upon, with results some of
which are obvious; others equally serious are not such as appear to
the eye.]
The voice-user should eschew ease and take plenty of exercise, but
most of all must he use those forms of exercise which develop the
breathing apparatus and tend to keep it in the best condition.
Walking, running, and hill climbing are all excellent, but do not in
themselves suffice to develop the chest to the utmost.
To the beginner the following exercises are strongly recommended. They
are highly important for all, whether beginners or not, who would
have the best development of the breathing apparatus.
Deep breathing, such a use of the respiratory organs as leads to the
greatest possible expansion of the chest, should be learned and
practised, if not absolutely before vocal exercises are attempted, at
all events as soon after as possible. As in all cases where muscles
are employed, the exercise should be _graduated_. It may be even
harmful to attempt to fill the chest to its utmost capacity at once.
It is better to breathe very moderately for several days. Any such
symptoms as dizziness or headache accompanying or following the
exercises indicate that they have been too vigorous, too long
continued, or carried out under unsuitable conditions. Above all must
the air be pure, and the body absolutely unhampered--most of all, the
chest--by any form of clothing. Last century most ladies and some men
applied to the chest a form of apparatus known as corsets, under the
mistaken belief that they were for women a necessary support and
improved the figure. They no doubt were responsible for much lack of
development, and feeble health, and, as has been proved by examination
of the body after death, led to compression of the liver and other
organs. No voice-user should use such an effective means of preventing
the very thing he should most desire, a full and free use of the
breathing apparatus.
Before carrying out the exercises suggested or others equally good,
the student is recommended to be weighed, and especially to have the
chest carefully _measured_. This can be done with sufficient accuracy
by the use of a tape-measure. It will be well to take the
circumference a few inches above and below a certain point, so that it
may be ascertained that the chest expands in every region. The
measurements should be taken under the following conditions:
1. The chest should be almost or wholly divested of clothing.
2. Its circumference is to be ascertained--(_a_) when the breath has
been allowed to pass out gently, and before a new breath is taken;
(_b_) with the deepest possible inspiration; (_c_) after the deepest
possible expiration, which has been preceded by a similar inspiration.
After about three weeks the individual should be again measured, by
the same person, in exactly the same way, in order to learn whether
there has been development or not, and, if so, how much. It is
important that the measurements should be made at exactly the same
horizontal planes, and with this end in view it is desirable to put a
small mark of some kind on the chest, which may remain till the next
measurements are made.
The method of breathing recommended is as follows:
1. Inhale very slowly through the nostrils, with closed mouth,
counting mentally one, two, three, four, etc., with regularity.
2. Hold the breath thus taken, but only for a short time, counting in
the same manner as before.
3. Exhale slowly, still counting.
After a few moments' rest the exercise may be again carried out in the
same way. These exercises may be in series, several times a day.
The following warnings are especially to be observed:
1. Never continue any exercise when there is a sense of discomfort of
any kind whatever. Such usually indicates that it is being carried out
too vigorously.
2. Increase the depth of the inspirations daily, but not very rapidly.
3. The inspirations and expirations should both be carried out very
slowly at first.
4. Cease the exercise before any sense of fatigue is experienced.
Fatigue is Nature's warning, and should be always obeyed. It indicates
that the waste products which result from the use of the muscles are
accumulating and proving harmful.
After a week of such exercises the following modification of them is
recommended:
1. Inhale with the lips slightly apart.
2. Gradually increase the length of the time the breath is held, but
let it never exceed a few seconds.
3. Through open lips allow the breath to pass out, but with extreme
slowness. The student should try to increase this last, somewhat,
daily, as it is above all what is required in singing, and also in
speaking, though to a somewhat less degree--a slow, regulated
expulsion of the breath.
If when the chest is full of air the subject gently raises the arms
over the head, or directs them backward, he will experience a sense of
pressure on the chest. If this be carefully done, its effect is to
strengthen, and it is especially valuable for those inclined to stoop.
The recommendation to inspire through the open lips applies only when
one is in a room, or in the open air when it is warm enough and free
from dust. But the student should learn to inspire through the
slightly open mouth, as to breathe through the nose in speaking, and
especially in singing, is objectionable for several reasons which can
be better explained later; so that the rule is to _breathe through the
nose when not using the voice, and through the mouth when one does_.
Though all the exercises thus far referred to tend to develop the
diaphragm and abdominal muscles, these may be strengthened by special
exercises. The diaphragm is the soft floor of the chest, and must at
once bear the strain of the air that acts on the approximated vocal
bands, and assist in applying that pressure with just the amount of
force required, and no more; hence it is important that this muscle be
both strong and under perfect control. This large central muscle is
probably not only the most generally effective of all the respiratory
muscles, but has an action more precise and often more delicate, more
nicely controlled, than that of any other. It is possible to make very
powerful movements of this muscle, and an exercise that will cause it
to descend deeply and remain in a tense condition is valuable. To
effect this, one pushes it down as far as possible, and holds it there
for a few seconds, then permits it to relax gradually. The extent to
which this is successful can be inferred from the degree to which the
abdominal wall bulges forward.
The sudden though slight movements required in those forms of
vocalization that bear more or less resemblance to what vocalists term
_staccato_, and which are so effective in dramatic speaking and
singing, can be prepared for by larger but sudden movements of the
diaphragm, as when one taking a full breath imitates coughing
movements, but in a regular and measured way, the throat being used
but little. At the same time, or separately, the abdominal muscles may
be effectively exercised by being drawn in and thrust out with
considerable force.
None of these movements are elegant--they scarcely put one in an
artistic light; but they are highly effective in strengthening parts
every voice-user must employ.
To furnish adequate support for the diaphragm and chest in a very
vigorous use of the voice, as in the most trying passages a tragic
actor has to speak or a vocalist to sing, the abdominal muscles must
remain more or less tense, and to do so effectually they must have
strength beyond that possessed by the corresponding muscles in
ordinary persons; hence the desirability of employing special
exercises to increase their vigor. Hill climbing and bicycling also
tend to this end, but the latter is for many reasons not a form of
exercise to be recommended to one who wishes to attain the highest
results with the voice. Wind, dust, a stooping position, excessive
heat of the body, etc., are all among the many factors of risk for the
delicate vocal mechanism.
As the expiratory blast is so important in voice-production, the
exercises above recommended should be followed by others in which this
principle is specially recognized.
1. Inspire so as to fill the chest to the fullest with considerable
rapidity; then allow the breath-stream to pass out with the utmost
slowness.
2. Fill the chest with special reference to its lower or its upper
part, as desired, and very rapidly, letting the breath flow out
slowly.
SUMMARY.
The primary purpose of respiration in all animals is the same--namely,
to furnish oxygen and remove carbon dioxide (carbonic acid). The
lowest animals, as the amoeba, breathe by the whole surface of the
body. In all vertebrates the anatomical mechanism is essentially the
same: a membrane (covered with flat cells) in which the blood is
distributed in the minutest blood-vessels (capillaries). Respiration
is finally effected in the tissues (cells) of the body. The more
active the animal, or the higher in the scale, the more need of
frequent interchange between the air, the blood, and the tissues.
The respiratory organs in mammals are the mouth, nose, larynx,
trachea, bronchial tubes, and lung-tissue or air-cells proper. The
windpipe is made up of cartilaginous rings completed by membrane,
muscle, etc. (behind). The bronchial tubes are the continuation of the
windpipe, and branch tree-like until they become very fine. The
air-cells are built round these latter. The lung-tissue is highly
elastic. The lungs are made up of an elastic membrane, covered with
flat cells, and very abundantly supplied with a mesh-work of the
finest blood-vessels. The whole of the respiratory tract as far as the
air-cells is lined by mucous membrane.
The air consists essentially of 21 parts of oxygen and 79 parts of
nitrogen, with a variable quantity of watery vapor. Only a small
portion of the total oxygen of the air is removed before it is
exhaled. The respiratory act consists of (1) inspiration, and (2)
expiration; the latter is of a little longer duration than the former.
The rate of breathing in man is from 14 to 18 per minute, in the
resting state, or about one respiration to three or four heart-beats.
The quantity of air inspired depends on (1) the size of the thorax,
and (2) the extent of its movements. These are effected solely by
muscular contractions, and give rise to an increase in all the
diameters of the thorax. The lungs are closely applied (but not
attached) to the inside of the chest wall, and remain so under all
circumstances. When the chest cavity is enlarged by inspiration, the
air, pressing down into the elastic lungs, expands them as much as
possible, that is, as much as the chest walls will allow; but the
lungs are never at any time either filled with or emptied of air to
their utmost capacity. At most, the amount of expansion is very
moderate.
_The Quantity of Air in the Lungs._
1. The quantity of air inspired in quiet breathing is about 20-30
cubic inches.
2. The quantity that can be added to this by a deep inspiration is
about 100 cubic inches.
3. The quantity that can be expelled by a forcible expiration is about
100 cubic inches.
4. The quantity that cannot be expelled at all is about 100 cubic
inches.
The above are named: (1) The tidal air; (2) complemental air; (3)
supplemental air; (4) residual air. The quantity that can be expelled
by the most forcible expiration after the most forcible inspiration,
that is, the air that can be moved, indicating the "vital capacity,"
is about 225-250 inches.
The chest is enlarged by the muscles of inspiration, the principal of
which is the diaphragm or midriff. This muscle (tendinous in the
centre) is attached to the spinal column (behind) and to the last six
or seven ribs. When it contracts it becomes less domed upward, and is
pressed down more or less on the contents of the abdomen; hence the
walls of the latter move outward. During ordinary inspiration the
lower ribs are steadied by other muscles, so that no indrawing of
these ribs takes place, but a very forcible expiration makes such
indrawing very noticeable. In addition to the enlargement of the chest
by the descent of the diaphragm, the ribs are elevated and everted by
the muscles attached to them, with the total result that the chest
cavity is enlarged in all its three diameters during inspiration. The
first rib is fixed by muscles from above. During extremely forced
inspiration a large proportion of all the muscles of the body may act.
Ordinary expiration is the result largely of the elastic recoil of the
chest walls, only a few muscles taking part. The diaphragm ascends and
becomes more domed. During forced expiration many other muscles are
called into action. It is of importance for the singer and speaker to
note: (1) That the chest cavity should be increased in all its
directions; (2) that the muscular action should be easy and under
perfect control, but also vigorous when required; (3) that the breath
be taken through the nostrils when the individual is not actually
vocalizing or about to do so; (4) that the breath be kept in or let
out in the proportion required.
Breathing is a reflex or involuntary act. The respiratory centre,
consisting of an expiratory and inspiratory division, is situated in
the bulb, or medulla oblongata, the portion of the brain just above
the spinal cord. All the ingoing nervous impulses affect respiration
through the outgoing impulses that pass along the nerves to the
muscles; that is, the ingoing impulses pass up by the nerves from the
lungs to the centre, and thence along other nerves to the respiratory
muscles. The condition of the blood determines the activity of the
respiratory centre, but the incoming impulses regulate this activity.
The respiratory centre can be approached from every part of the body.
_Hygiene._
Every thing that favors the full and free expansion of the chest in a
pure atmosphere is favorable, and the reverse unfavorable. Corsets are
against the laws of beauty, are unnecessary for support, and may by
compression injure and displace important organs, as the liver,
stomach, etc.; and must interfere with the fullest expansion of the
chest. They have militated against the physical, and indirectly the
moral and mental advancement of the race.
_Practical Exercises._
I. Measurements of the chest.
II. Exercises to strengthen muscles, promote complete expansion,
regulate inflow and outflow of air, etc.
1. (_a_) Inspiring slowly, with counting.
(_b_) Holding.
(_c_) Expiring slowly, with counting.
2. The same, holding longer.
3. The same, with shorter inspiration and longer expiration. Gradually
diminish first and lengthen last.
4. Breathing through open lips.
5. Exercises to strengthen diaphragm.
6. Exercises to improve shape of chest and strengthen muscles.
7. Exercises to strengthen abdominal muscles.