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THE MECHANISM
OF THE
HUMAN VOICE.
(CURWEN'S EDITION, 5263.)
BY
EMIL BEHNKE,
_Late Lecturer on Vocal Physiology at the Tonic Sol-fa College,
Teacher of Voice Production._
EDITED, WITH A NEW CHAPTER ON "VOICE FAILURE,"
BY MRS. EMIL BEHNKE.
FIFTEENTH EDITION.
LONDON:
J. CURWEN & SONS LTD., 24 BERNERS STREET, W.
Price 1s. 6d.; CLOTH 2s. 6d.
PREFACE TO THE NINTH EDITION.
PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
CONTENTS.
PLATES.
INDEX.
FOOTNOTES.
TO
MY DEAR WIFE
THIS ESSAY
IS
AFFECTIONATELY
DEDICATED
PREFACE TO THE NINTH EDITION.
A ninth edition of this book having been called for, I take the
opportunity to return my sincere thanks for the many kind expressions
concerning its usefulness which have reached me since the lamented death
of its author, my dear husband.
In carrying on his work, both my daughter and myself have felt the
benefit of the clear and concise instructions the book contains.
We have also proved with our pupils the absolute truth and value of the
BEHNKE SYSTEM OF VOICE TRAINING, by means of which we have obtained
results most gratifying to ourselves, and surprising to the pupils,
whether speakers or singers.
I hope that the new chapter on "Voice Failure," which I have added by
Mr. Curwen's desire, may be of some use in preventing breakdown of
voice, from which so many students suffer.
K. BEHNKE.
18, EARL'S COURT SQUARE, S.W.
PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.
A THIRD edition of this little book has now become necessary, and I must
again express my gratitude for the continued commendations bestowed upon
my work both in the press and in private letters.
In response to many solicitations, I have added to this edition a few
hints on teaching, deduced from physiological facts, which may prove
useful by stimulating the advance of thought in a new direction.
These hints are extracts from a series of articles on "Science and
Singing" which I had the pleasure of writing in the _Edinburgh St.
Cecilia Magazine_; and I am indebted to the Editor, Mr. A. C. Miller,
for kindly permitting me to reproduce them here.
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
The favourable reception and rapid sale of a large first edition has
stimulated me to revise this little book, and without alteration of my
original scheme of practical utility, to somewhat enlarge on one or two
points which appeared to demand further elucidation.
In this, as in the former edition, I have received great assistance from
my friend Mr. Lennox Browne, the eminent throat surgeon, who, by ever
patiently discussing with me debatable points, and by giving me access
to cases, interesting from a physiological point of view, both at the
Central Throat and Ear Hospital, Gray's Inn Road, and in his extensive
private practice, has afforded me opportunities of increasing my
knowledge and experience which would not have arisen otherwise. I feel
it a pleasure as well as a duty publicly to acknowledge my indebtedness
to him, which I have, many times before, expressed in private.
My best thanks are also due to Mr. J. Spencer Curwen, for the help he
has rendered me in many ways.
And finally, it would indeed be ungrateful on my part, if I did not
place on record the obligation under which I consider myself to my
reviewers for the uniformly favourable notice they have so kindly taken
of my first effort, and for several useful hints of which I have duly
taken advantage.
One objection has been made which strikes at the very root of the plan
upon which I have proceeded in my little volume, and to which,
therefore, I beg leave to say a few words in reply. A learned writer in
the _Athenaeum_ finds fault with me for making use of popular instead of
scientific terms, which, he says, may be the cause to the reader of
great confusion if he refers to other works, and he adds that "Back
Ring-Pyramid Muscle" is almost as hard a mouthful as "Crico-Arytenoideus
posticus." I have asked several non-scientific friends of good general
education to read this sentence to me, and they succeeded very well with
"Back Ring-Pyramid Muscle," while they utterly collapsed when coming to
"Crico-Arytenoideus posticus."
This is, however, in my humble opinion, of minor importance. The great
point is, that my terms--which by the way are not inventions, but simply
translations--convey a meaning to the general reader, and the originals
do not. This is a fact which I dared not ignore, because my essay is
intended for the people and not for men of science. As I have taken care
also, for the sake of those who might wish to consult other and more
learned books than mine, to give the terms generally used by
physiologists by the side of my translations, I do not think there is
anything that could ever confuse my readers.
I conscientiously believe that these are good and weighty reasons for
the plan I adopted in the first edition, and trust my reviewers, as well
as my readers, will accept them as a sufficient justification of the
same practice in the present volume.
E. B.
_February, 1881._
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
The number of books bearing more or less directly on the Theory of Voice
Production which have been published during the last few years is very
large, and shows clearly the extraordinary interest taken in this
subject, not only by professional singers and speakers, but also by the
general public. If I am now about to add another contribution to this
already extensive literature, it is simply because amongst all the many
excellent works on the Human Voice there is not one which brings before
the reader the whole subject from beginning to end. The student who
really wishes to get a clear understanding of the matter is obliged to
wade through a variety of scientific books, and to pick up here and
there, by means of very hard reading, such little scraps of information
as, with much labour and waste of time, he can extract from books which
were, in most instances, never written for the purpose for which he
consults them.
* * * * *
To supply this generally-admitted want I have written these pages, in
which I have endeavoured, to the best of my ability, to place before the
reader in a simple and comprehensive form the Physiology of the Human
Voice. I have, as far as possible, discarded all scientific terms, and
it has been my aim to treat my subject in so simple and direct a manner
as really to enlighten my readers instead of bewildering them. A
treatise like this can, under no circumstances, be light reading; and I
ask those who are truly anxious for information to give me patient
study, accompanied by careful reference to the diagrams. For students
who enter upon a perusal of these pages in such a spirit, this essay is
specially intended; and if I have succeeded in making plain to such as
these a really complicated subject, then my highest ambition will be
satisfied.
E. B.
_April, 1880._
CONTENTS.
PAGES
Introduction 1-7
The vocal organ as a musical instrument 8-61
Differences of the voice-box, or larynx, in children, women, and men 62-68
Movements of the voice-box, or larynx, which can be seen or felt 69-72
The laryngoscope, and how to use it 73-79
The teachings of the laryngoscope 80-105
Appendix--Hints on teaching 106-125
Appendix To The Ninth Edition--Voice Failure 126
Appendix To The Tenth Edition--Does Diaphragmatic
Breathing Apply Equally To Women As To Men? 141
Index 143
Index To "Voice Failure 146
Footnotes.
PLATES.
PAGES
I. General view of vocal organ _facing title_
II. The Lungs 10
III. The Chest 11
IV. Chest capacity--Methods of breathing 16
V. Side view of the Larynx 32
VI. Front view of the Larynx 33
VII. Larynx, Side view showing interior 37
VIII. Larynx, Side view, muscles, &c. 42
IX. Larynx, Side view, interior of left half 43
X. The Glottis in three states 46
XI. Larynx, Section viewed from above 48
XII. Larynx, Section viewed from behind 51
Sketch of Laryngoscope designed by Dr. Foulis 78
XIII. Laryngoscopic Image--Breathing 84
XIV. " " Upper thick register 84
XV. " " Upper thin register 85
XVI. " " Small register 85
Diagram of compass of the registers 93
INTRODUCTION.
We are living in an age which is singularly poor in fine voices, both
male and female, and with regard to the tenors of the present time there
is this additional misfortune, that, as a rule, their voices do not
last, but are often worn out in a very few years; in many instances
while their owners are still under training, and before they have had an
opportunity of making their appearance in public. If we remember that
there was a time when most beautiful and highly cultivated voices were
so plentiful that even in comparatively small towns there were to be
found Opera Companies consisting of excellent singers, we may well ask
ourselves how this remarkable change for the worse has come about.
People have attempted to account for it in various ways. Up to the
middle of the last century women were forbidden by Ecclesiastical Law to
take part in Church music. The voices of boys being available only for a
very short time, means were taken to prevent their voices from breaking,
and thus a class of male soprani and contralti was created, who made
their first appearance in Rome in the beginning of the 17th century, and
to these singers the education of the female voices was soon almost
exclusively entrusted. In the middle of the last century, however, when
women were permitted to participate in Church music, there was no longer
any occasion to procure artificial female voices, and these singers
gradually died out, though there were still some of them living and
teaching in the beginning of the present century. According to Rossini,
who certainly was eminently qualified to give an opinion on the subject,
the decline of vocal art in these latter years is mainly due to the
disappearance of this class of singers, and if it be true that
henceforth the training of female voices was undertaken by tenors, who,
being of course unable to give a true pattern to their pupils, treated
the female organ according to their own very different registers, then
it can easily be understood that many voices must have been ruined by
the process, and the scarcity of distinguished female singers would thus
be satisfactorily accounted for. But I fail to see in what way the
disappearance of male soprani and contralti could possibly have affected
tenors and basses.
Again, it is asserted that the way in which modern composers write vocal
music is the cause of the evil. Certain it is that in the compositions
of the old Italian masters the voice is studied, and nothing introduced
which is hurtful or disadvantageous. Awkward intervals are avoided, no
fatigue is caused, and everything is eminently _singable_; but the music
is not always expressive of the sense of the words, which were clearly
considered to be of minor importance. With our modern (and especially
with the German) composers, it is just the opposite, their chief aim
being thoroughly to enter, not only into the spirit of their text, but
even into the slightest shade, the minutest detail of it, so as to make
the music, as it were, a translation of their words into a higher kind
of language. What, on the other hand, is possible or impossible for the
voice is, since the time of Beethoven, but rarely considered; many
composers, even the most distinguished ones, having evidently little
knowledge of the most beautiful of instruments, for which they are
nevertheless continually writing.
When one of the greatest living masters introduced the harp into his
works, he wrote for it just as though it were a piano--_i.e._, as though
it were to be played upon with the thumb and four fingers. But it so
happens that on that instrument the fourth finger is never used.
Consequently, when it came to the point harpists could not play that
gentleman's compositions: they had first to re-write them. Here the
composer, of course, was found out immediately, and he or any other man
would have the same fate if he attempted to write for an instrument the
properties of which he did not fully understand. But with the human
voice the case is different. Every musician believes himself to be
competent to write for it, though he may possibly be wholly unacquainted
with its many peculiarities. It is to be feared, therefore, that modern
composers must be held largely responsible for the sad state of affairs
concerning vocal art at the present time, and well might they learn a
lesson from Mozart, who, in spite of his genius, first carefully studied
the human voice, and then wrote for it.
Another explanation of the decline of singing is this, that the gradual
and very considerable rise of pitch during the last 150 years is at the
bottom of all the mischief, as the vocal organ is unable to bear the
strain to which it is subjected. With regard to tenors, however, the
great evil is, that with very few exceptions, such as the celebrated
Frenchman, Roger, they disregard, or at any rate did disregard for a
considerable period, the falsetto register, singing everything, however
high, in chest voice. I am afraid it cannot be said even that they have
been beguiled into this serious mistake by the imperceptible rise of
pitch just mentioned, but the truth is that they have committed this
fatal blunder knowingly and wilfully, because they saw that it would
pay. In support of this statement I will quote a few lines from the
publication called "The Opera and the Art of Singing," by
Glogg-ner-Castelli:
"In the field of singing a new man arose, who, in spite of great
personal attributes, worked destructively for the future, and whose
influence upon the later manner of singing is seldom truly
recognized. I mean the singer Duprez. Hissed off at first in Paris,
he turned to Italy, where he stayed several years, and then
returned to the French capital. When he came to use his magnificent
vocal resources, as he did in the Fourth Act of _Tell_, where he
brought out the high C in the chest voice with all the might of his
colossal organ, it was all over with the fame of all his
predecessors. Nourrit, till then the favourite of the Parisians, a
distinguished tenor singer, recognized the rival's power. His day
was over, and in despair over his lost and irrecoverable glory, he
flung himself from an upper window upon the pavement, and so made
an end of his life. Duprez may justly be considered one of the
greatest dramatic singers of our time, and the main features of his
method soon spread themselves all over Europe. After hearing of
Duprez, and how the chest register could be cultivated even into
the highest regions of the voice, the public were no longer
contented with the use of the falsetto. Soon it became impossible
to be engaged as an "heroic tenor" without at least possessing the
high B[b] in the chest tone. The singers found it a more thankful
task to humour the taste of the public than to pay extra regard to
the intentions of the composer; for often Meyerbeer himself
indicates, by a _pp_, his design that the falsetto and not the
chest tone should be employed. That every tenor singer, whether
such high pressure suited his natural compass or not, strove to
screw his voice up and 'make effect' was very natural; for art goes
after bread, and a high C with the chest voice often realizes an
income of thousands to its fortunate possessor. Roger has made a
laudable exception; his beautiful use of the falsetto certainly
produces a more agreeable effect than the forced chest tones so
unnatural to the organ of many a singer. How widespread is this
mistaken notion, that the use of the falsetto is entirely contrary
to art, we hear frequently enough in the expressions of individuals
when some unlucky tenor happens to get caught on one of these
tabooed falsetto tones. Thus the school founded by Duprez,
important in itself, has called into life a manner of singing, the
ruinous consequences of which we can see daily."
But whatever may be the true reason or reasons, the fact that we have
very few singers of eminence as compared with former ages, and that
vocal art in general has gone down, is undisputed, and men have set
themselves to remedy the evil by trying to ascertain the actual process
by which the voice is produced, thinking that if they could but find
this out there would be a true scientific basis upon which to found a
way of teaching singing--or as I should rather say, of training
voices--which would be sure and unerring.
* * * * *
The experiments of the great physiologist Johannes Mueller are well
known, and they have been followed up by others. But they were made upon
dissected larynges, and as various teachers of singing started the most
conflicting theories as to how the process shown by Mueller was carried
on in the living subject, and treated the voices of their pupils
accordingly, these investigations have perhaps on the whole done more
harm than good. Science was made responsible for the blunders of those
who attempted to be guided by it. And thus it has happened that when at
a later period further trials were made, but this time upon the living
subject, and in the act of singing, they were received with indifference
and distrust. Only very lately teachers of vocal music have begun to
find out that here are facts put before them which cannot be gainsaid,
and that if these investigations do nothing else, they at any rate make
them acquainted with the exact nature of the vocal organ, and what it
will bear and what it will not bear.
THE VOCAL ORGAN AS A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.
"Physiologists," says Dr. Witkowski,[A] "are quite at issue when they
endeavour to determine what kind of instrument the vocal organ
resembles; indeed, Galien compares it to a flute, Magendie to a hautboy,
Despiney to a trombone, Diday to a hunting-horn, Savart to a
bird-catcher's call, Biot to an organ-pipe, Malgaigne to the little
instrument used by the exhibitors of Punch, and Ferrein to a spinet or
harpsichord. The last-named compared the lips of the glottis to the
strings of a violin; hence was given the name _Vocal Cords_, which they
have since retained. The current of air was the bow, the exertion of the
chest and lungs the hand which carried the bow, the thyroid cartilages
the _points d'appui_, the arytenoids the pegs, and lastly, the muscles
inserted in them the power which tensed or relaxed the cords."
It must be admitted that the human voice bears more resemblance to a
reed instrument than to any other; but when the comparison is pushed to
its legitimate consequences it is found to break down. We cannot resist
the conclusion that the vocal organ is infinitely superior to any
instrument made by human hands. Its mechanism is so wonderful as to
excite the profoundest admiration, and the more we continue to study it
the more we marvel at the wisdom of the Divine Maker who planned it. I
shall, therefore, speak of it simply as a wind instrument composed of--
1.--THE BELLOWS.
Represented by the LUNGS. Pl. I (Frontispiece), L.
2.--THE WINDPIPE. Pl. I, w.
3.--THE VOICEBOX OR LARYNX. Pl. I, v.
4.--THE RESONATOR.
Represented by (_a_) THE UPPER PART OF THE THROAT, or PHARYNX, pl.
I, P; (_b_) THE MOUTH, pl. I, M; (_c_) THE NOSE, pl. I, N.
[Illustration: PLATE II.
THE LUNGS
R. RIGHT LUNG. L. LEFT LUNG.
W. WINDPIPE (TRACHEA).
V. VOICEBOX (LARNYX).
The top part of the left Lung is represented as partly cut away in order
to show the ramifications of the Bronchial Tubes.]
[Illustration: PLATE III.
THE CHEST.
B B. BREAST BONE.
C C. COLLAR BONES.
1 TO 11. RIBS. (The twelfth not visible.)
M (curved dotted line). MIDRIFF (DIAPHRAGM).
L L. LUNGS. H. HEART.
W. WINDPIPE (TRACHEA).
]
The Lungs are enclosed in the chest, which they fit exactly, and of
which they occupy by far the largest portion, leaving but a small space
for the heart. They consist of two halves (pl. II, R, L), each roughly
resembling the upper part of a sugar-loaf somewhat flattened and
hollowed out at the bottom. The left shows two and the right three
distinct flaps or lobes. They are only connected by means of the
windpipe (pl. II, W) and its branches.
=The Chest= (pl. III) is an air-tight chamber, which is narrower above
than below. It is formed by the spine at the back, twelve ribs (pl. III,
1 to 11, the twelfth not visible on the drawing), with their inner and
outer muscles on either side, the breast-bone (pl. III, B B) in front,
the root of the neck at the top, and the midriff or diaphragm (pl. I, M)
at the bottom.
=The Midriff= (pl. III, M) is a muscular and movable partition by which
the lungs are separated from the abdomen. It is arched upwards like an
inverted basin, but when its muscular fibres contract it flattens and
descends, thus increasing the capacity of the chest at the expense of
that of the abdomen.
=The Function of the Lungs= is, as everybody knows, respiration, which may
be considered from a mechanical or a chemical point of view. In this
little work we are only concerned with the mechanical part of the
subject. If we examine the lungs of a calf, which are very similar to
those of a human being, we find that they are soft and elastic to the
touch, giving out when pressed a peculiar whizzing sound. We may
increase their volume by blowing into them through the windpipe, so as
to make them double their original size, and then tie up the windpipe.
On re-opening the windpipe the air escapes, and the lungs are gradually
reduced to their former bulk. Now, by drawing a deep breath we produce
the same result in ourselves as by blowing into the lungs of the calf;
by holding the breath we produce the same result as by tying up the
windpipe--that is to say, we keep the lungs in a state of expansion; and
by releasing the breath we are, as it were, untying the windpipe,
leaving the lungs to dwindle down gradually to their former size.
There is one very material point, however, in which the analogy ceases.
It is this: we keep the air in the inflated calf's lungs by tying up the
windpipe, and the corresponding act in ourselves would be to hold our
breath by muscular contraction of the outlet in the throat. This is
precisely what we do in straining, and in lifting heavy weights, &c.;
but it should _never_ be done in breathing for vocal purposes. Here it
must, on the contrary, be our endeavour to train, to the highest
possible degree, the powerful muscles of the chest and of the abdomen,
instead of throwing the labour intended for them upon the comparatively
weak and delicate muscles governing the outlet of the windpipe.
To make the way in which respiration is carried on clearer still, I
quote the following interesting and lucid account from Huxley's
"Elementary Physiology," fourth edition, p. 104. He compares the
breathing apparatus to "a sort of bellows without a valve," in which
the chest and the lungs represent the body of the bellows, while the
windpipe is the pipe; "and the effect of the respiratory movement is
just the same as that of the approximation and separation of the handles
of the bellows, which drive out and draw in the air through the pipe.
There is, however, one difference between the bellows and the
respiratory apparatus, of great importance in the theory of respiration,
though frequently overlooked, and that is, that the sides of the bellows
can be brought close together so as to force out all, or nearly all, the
air which they contain, while the walls of the chest, when approximated
as much as possible, still enclose a very considerable cavity; so that
even after the most violent expiratory effort, a very large quantity of
air is left in the lungs."
=Respiration=, consequently, consists of two acts--namely, inspiration and
expiration. Inspiration may be produced in three different ways--(1) By
pushing the chest forward and flattening the midriff, so as to compel
the lungs to _descend_ and to increase in volume in order to fill the
empty space created by this movement; (2) by extending the ribs
_sideways_; and (3) by _drawing up_ the upper parts of the
chest--namely, the collar bones (pl. III, C C) and the shoulder blades.
In scientific works the first is called diaphragmatic or abdominal,[B]
the second lateral or costal, and the third clavicular or scapular
breathing. As, however, these terms convey no meaning to the general
reader, I prefer to speak of--(1) Midriff Breathing; (2) Rib Breathing;
(3) Collar-bone Breathing. In taking a full, deep inspiration, midriff
breathing and rib breathing take place almost together and assist each
other--that is to say, the midriff contracts and flattens, and
immediately afterwards the ribs extend sideways; with this difference,
however, that in men the action of the midriff takes a larger share in
the work than the ribs, while in woman, on the contrary, the movement of
the ribs is greater than that of the midriff.
By way of illustrating this curious difference of breathing in men
and women, the following anecdote, which has the recommendation of
being strictly true, may perhaps amuse the reader. Some time ago a
troupe of "Female Minstrels," calling themselves, I believe, "The
American Amazons," made a tour through this country. Their faces
were blackened in the orthodox fashion, and they were in male
attire, wearing tight-fitting garments of a peculiar kind. Two
friends, both medical men, went to hear them (or perhaps to see
them, I am not sure which), when Mr. A remarked that two of the
performers were men. Mr. B did not see it, even when the
individuals were pointed out to him, and asked his friend for the
reasons for his opinion. "Why," said Mr. A, "I see it by their
abdominal breathing!" And sure enough Mr. B now saw it too, and
there was no mistake about it; for in the two suspected
individuals the abdomen was evidently moving in respiration, while
in all the others no movement was perceptible excepting that of
their chests.
[Illustration: PLATE IV.
DIAGRAMS ILLUSTRATING THE VARYING CAPACITY OF THE CHEST, ACCORDING TO
THE METHOD IN WHICH THE LUNG IS INFLATED.
From Mr. Lennox Browne's "Medical Hints on the Production and
Management of the Singing Voice," by permission of Messrs Chappell
and Co.
The front outline A of the shaded figure represents the chest after
full expiration; the black continuous line A gives the increase in
size of the chest, and the descent of the diaphragm, indicated by
the curved transverse lines, in full abdominal respiration. The
dotted line C shows the retraction of the diaphragm and of the
abdominal muscles in forced clavicular inspiration. The varying
thickness of the line B indicates the fact of healthy breathing in
a man being more abdominal than in woman. The outlines of forced
inspiration in both sexes are remarkably similar.
]
The combined forms of midriff and rib breathing are the right method of
inspiration, while collar-bone breathing is absolutely wrong, and should
never be made use of. The reasons of this are not far to seek. The lower
part of each lung is large and broad, while the upper part is
cone-shaped, and very much smaller. It is self-evident, therefore, that
by downward and sideways expansion (enlarging the _lower_ part of the
lungs) you will inhale a much greater quantity of air than by drawing up
the collar-bones. This consideration alone should suffice to prove the
utter falseness of collar-bone breathing. Collar-bone breathing has also
the additional disadvantage of causing much fatigue, because all the
parts surrounding the upper region of the lungs are hard and unyielding,
so that a great amount of resistance has to be overcome (the "_lutte
vocale_" of French authors), while the very opposite is the case with
the lower part of the lungs.
Mr. Lennox Browne, who was, I believe, the first to direct the attention
of English readers to this matter, says,[C] "Clavicular [collar-bone]
breathing is a method of respiration totally vicious, and to be avoided.
By it the whole lower part of the chest is flattened and drawn in,
instead of being distended; consequently the lower or larger part of the
lungs is not inflated. It is a method never exercised by nature in a
state of health, but only when, from disease, either the abdominal or
chest muscles cannot act; and it is the method least efficacious in
filling, as it is the one calculated to most fatigue the chest; for it
compresses the vessels and nerves of the throat, and this leads to
engorgement and spasmodic action of the muscles."
We may well pause here and give another moment to the consideration of
this most important subject. The lungs, as we have seen, are the bellows
of our vocal organ; they supply the air which is the motive power on
which the voice depends. Without air no tone can be produced. Nay, more,
life itself must cease without it. Breathing goes on regularly while the
voice is silent; but in speaking and singing both inspiration and
expiration have to be regulated according to the nature of the phrases
to be spoken or sung. If the speaker does not know how to take breath
and how to control the expiration, his delivery will of necessity be
jerky and uncertain. But in the singer it is even more important that he
should be able to fill his lungs well, and, having done this, to have
absolute command over his expiration; because while the speaker can
arrange his sentences, his speed, and his breathing-places very much at
his own pleasure, the singer is bound by the music before him. It must,
therefore, be his aim to cultivate a proper method of breathing with the
object of first getting, with the least possible fatigue, the largest
possible amount of air in the most scrupulously careful manner, so as to
prevent even the smallest fraction of it from being wasted. Yet how
seldom is breathing systematically practised as an indispensable
preliminary to the production of tone! I have no hesitation in saying
that the subject is, in many instances, dismissed with a few general
observations. Pupils, of course, take breath somehow, and teachers are
glad to leave this uninteresting part of the business, and to proceed to
the cultivation of the voice.
It may be as well to add that what has been said so far about right and
wrong methods of breathing is not by any means mere theory, but that any
one can convince himself of the truth of the rules laid down by making a
few experiments with the spirometer, an instrument for measuring the
breathing power of the chest by indicating on a dial the exact number of
cubic inches of air expelled from the lungs. This breathing power will
be found to vary according to the way in which the inspiration has been
accomplished. In my own case, for instance, the spirometer should
register, according to the table of comparative height and breathing
power compiled by John Hutchinson, 230 cubic inches. Having suffered
from severe attacks of bleeding from the lungs, my maximum with midriff
and rib breathing is only 220, but with collar-bone breathing I barely
reach 180!
During the Summer Session of the Tonic Sol-fa College I carefully tested
the breathing capacity of ten students, and found that there was an
average excess of midriff and rib breathing over collar-bone breathing
to the extent of 25 cubic inches: the least amount of their increased
power was 12 cubic inches, and the greatest was 45! I imagine that these
figures are more eloquent than any words, and I think it superfluous to
make any further comment on them.
I am strongly of opinion that breathing exercises, especially in the
case of intending public singers, should always be carried on with a
spirometer,[D] because that instrument enables us with the greatest
accuracy to check results which otherwise can only be guessed at.
If this suggestion were acted upon we should certainly no longer be
distressed by that intolerable and never-ceasing tremolo which now so
frequently mars many, in other respects, fine voices. It is a curious,
and at first sight unaccountable, circumstance that this great fault is
specially noticeable amongst French singers. But at the Conservatoire de
Musique in Paris students are deliberately taught the wrong method of
inspiration; for, as we gather from the "Methode de Chant du
Conservatoire de Musique," they are told to "flatten [or draw in] the
abdomen" and to "bulge out the chest." Thus the mystery is at once
cleared up, because the tremolo arises almost invariably from a weakness
of the muscles of the midriff or diaphragm, to which attention has
already been called in these pages. Owing to the abdomen being drawn in,
the midriff never properly contracts; the muscles are not sufficiently
exercised, and consequently have not power enough to resist the pressure
that is brought to bear upon them in singing. They tremble, and this
trembling being communicated to the lungs, which are resting upon them,
the stream of air they give forth, loses its evenness and continuity,
with the result I have just stated. It will be seen from the above
explanation that this tremolo, one of the greatest vices besetting
modern singing, and which has hitherto been held by many to be
incurable, may be got rid of completely, though perhaps not very
quickly, by the simple remedy of lung gymnastics on the right principle.
The tremolo may certainly also arise from weakness of some muscles in
the voicebox or larynx, by which the tension of the vocal ligaments is
diminished and increased in rapid alternation. But this is a case for a
medical man, which does not fall within my province to discuss, though I
am justified in saying, on the authority of Mr. Lennox Browne,[E] that
even in many of these cases the effect is clearly attributable to
faulty breathing, since there is seldom any local disease of the larynx;
while exercise on a right method of breathing will cure the spasmodic
action of the laryngeal muscles with but little or no medical treatment.
* * * * *
I need scarcely add that there is yet another kind of tremolo, which,
being absolutely under the control of the performer, is one of the chief
ornaments of song, and to which the observations just made in no way
apply.
* * * * *
In addition to the involuntary tremolo there are a number of other
afflictions, "Clergymen's sore throat" amongst them, which are admitted
by eminent medical authorities to be due to collar-bone breathing, and
which may be entirely cured by proper lung gymnastics, or, in other
words, by breathing exercises on the right principle; that is to say, by
calling into play the muscles of the abdomen and of the lower part of
the chest. This is a subject which is little understood by singers and
public speakers, many of whom would be amazed at the sometimes most
wonderful results produced by such simple means. I will therefore quote
a case in point which came under my notice quite recently, and which
will give the reader an idea of the importance of proper breathing:
Mr. X, a tall thin young man, engaged in evangelistic work, suffered
from a "weakness of voice," which he found a great hindrance to his
success. He therefore consulted Mr. Lennox Browne, who at once told him
that he had no disease of any kind, and sent him to me for a course of
breathing exercises. I found that Mr. X chiefly spoke in a child's
voice, over which, moreover, he had very little control; and when I
requested him to take a deep inspiration, he drew in his abdomen, bulged
out his chest, and raised his collar-bones. The spirometer only
registered 200 cubic inches instead of 260, which, according to
Hutchinson's table, was his mean.
My course was, therefore, plain. I made him stand in an easy natural
position, neither allowing him to bulge out his chest, nor to draw in
the abdomen, and then instructed him how to acquire some control over
his midriff and the lower muscles of the chest. It may be observed here,
in passing, that we can, in a state of health, contract and relax these
muscles at will, just as easily as we can bend a finger, and that this
power, when lost through disuse, can be regained with little difficulty.
In Mr. X's case this process was particularly speedy, with the result of
increasing his breathing power in two lessons by 60 cubic inches. In one
additional week I could dismiss him with a full sonorous man's voice, in
place of the uncertain child's squeak with which he came to me. It is no
exaggeration to say that this young man left me with a _new_ voice, and
if people had heard him when he first came to me, behind a screen, and
again after the last lesson, they would certainly not have believed that
they were listening to the same person. What Mr. X and his friends think
of his case may be seen from the following letter which he wrote me on
July 6th, 1880:--"Now that a week has passed since the last lesson I had
from you, I write to bear testimony to the wonderful benefit to my voice
obtained through the very short course I took. My friends are quite
astonished at the marked difference, and I beg you will accept my most
sincere thanks," &c.
Many similar cases might be mentioned, but the one just quoted is
sufficient, and I will sum the matter up with a few remarks which Mr.
Lennox Browne made as chairman at my lecture at the Aldersgate Street
Literary Institution, on October 9th, 1880. He then said that, in his
medical experience, he found that persons who suffered from their voices
generally owed their ailments to bad habits of using the voice, and not
to any defect in the larynx or resonance chamber. In several cases
lately he had sent such patients to Herr Behnke, who had given them
lessons in correct breathing, and who had thereby, and without any
medicine, galvanism, or other aid, restored their voices in a remarkably
short time.
From what has been said above about midriff and rib breathing _versus_
collar-bone breathing, the folly of tight-lacing, or, indeed, of in any
way interfering with the freedom of the waist, will be at once apparent.
We pride ourselves upon our civilization; we make a boast of living in
the age of science; physiology is now taught, or at least talked of, in
almost every school; the laws of health are proclaimed in lectures and
lessons innumerable all over the country, and we laugh at barbarous
customs of other nations, such, for instance, as that of Chinese women
preventing the growth of their feet by forcing them into boots of only
half their proper size. And yet our ladies wear instruments of torture
called corsets, altering the shape of their bodies, and positively
driving the lower ribs _into the lungs_! Now which folly is the
greater--that of doubling up the toes, or of crippling the body in its
most vital parts? Let ladies answer the question, and let them further
most solemnly consider that the girls of to-day are the mothers of
to-morrow, and that upon the measure of their own health and strength
depends the well-being of coming generations.
It is only fair to add, that if the practice of interfering with the
freedom of the waist is reprehensible in the case of ladies, it is, in
one sense, still more so in the case of the male sex, because, as has
been shown before, men depend more for their breathing upon the action
of the abdominal muscle than women. They should, therefore, neither wear
tight-fitting vests, nor suspend their pantaloons by means of
waistbands, belts, or buckles. Loose garments and braces are the proper
thing, though the latter are commonly, but erroneously, considered to be
injurious. _Abdominal_ belts may be worn with advantage by persons of
either sex requiring their support; but these are very different from
stays or waist-bands. I find that an enterprising firm is advertising
corsets for gentlemen (!), and a woodcut may be seen in some papers
representing a young Adonis laced up in regular ladies' fashion, so
that, if it were not for his luxurious moustache, one would certainly
take the drawing to be meant for a woman. It is almost impossible to
imagine that a man could ever make such a fool of himself; on the other
hand, it is clear that these advertisements would not continue to appear
if they did not bring customers. But these poor creatures do not deserve
to be called men, and I am sincerely sorry for them.
With regard to the question whether inspiration should take place
through the mouth or through the nostrils, I must enter my most decided
protest against making it a practice to inhale through the mouth. There
are, of course, occasions when this is unavoidable, as, for instance,
where the singer has rapidly to take what is called a "half breath." But
complete inflation, or, "full breath," is not the work of a moment; it
takes time, and must be done gradually, steadily, and without the
slightest interruption. This should _always_ be done through the
nostrils. The mouth was never intended for breathing, while the nose is
specially and admirably adapted for this purpose. Not only can the lungs
be well and quickly filled through this channel, but it is so cunningly
devised that it acts at the same time as a "respirator," both purifying
and warming the air before it touches the more delicate parts of the
vocal organ. On the other hand, when inhaled through the mouth, the air
carries with it, sometimes right into the voicebox, dust and other
impurities, and its temperature is not materially altered. The
consequence is that the throat and voicebox, when heated by singing or
talking, or by hot rooms, are often exposed to cold, raw, and foggy
winter air, and serious derangements of the respiratory organs are the
natural consequence. If, moreover, this pernicious habit of breathing be
once contracted, we shall soon also sleep with open mouths, thus
parching our throats, and sowing the seeds of many a serious disorder.
On this point I quote a few lines from Dr. Louis Elsberg,[F] professor
of laryngology in the University of New York: "The natural mode of quiet
breathing is through the nose; mouth-breathing is an acquirement. A
new-born infant would choke to death if you closed its nose; it does not
immediately know how to get air into the lungs through the mouth until
after, by depressing the tongue, you have once made a passage for it."
George Catlin, the celebrated traveller among American Indians, became
so thoroughly convinced that the difference between the healthy
condition and physical perfection of these people in their primitive
state, especially their sound teeth and good lungs, and the deplorable
mortality, the numerous diseases and deformities in _civilized_
communities, is mainly due to the habit, common among the latter, of
breathing through the mouth, especially during sleep, that he wrote a
book entitled "Malrespiration and its Effects upon the Enjoyment and
Life of Man." In this book he says, "If I were to endeavour to bequeath
to posterity the most important motto which human language can convey,
it should be in three words, 'Shut your mouth.' In the social
transactions of life this might have its beneficial results as the most
friendly cautionary advice, or be received as the grossest of insults;
but where I would print and engrave it, in every nursery and on every
bedpost in the universe, its meaning could not be mistaken, and obeyed,
its importance would soon be realized."
He also says, "It is one of the misfortunes of civilization that it has
too many amusing and exciting things for the mouth to say, and too many
delicious things for it to taste, to allow of its being closed during
the day. The mouth therefore has too little reserve for the protection
of its natural purity of expression, and too much exposure for the
protection of its garniture; but, _do keep your mouth shut_ when you
_read_, when you _write_, when you _listen_, when you _are in pain_,
when you are _walking_, when you are _running_, when you are _riding_,
and _by all means when you are angry_! There is _no person_ but who will
find and acknowledge _improvement_ in _health_ and _enjoyment_ from even
a temporary attention to this advice."
Again he says, "There is a proverb, as old and unchangeable as their
hills, amongst North American Indians, 'My son, if thou wouldst be wise,
open first thy eyes; thy ears next, and last of all thy mouth, that thy
words may be words of wisdom, and give no advantage to thine adversary.'
This might be adopted with good effect in _civilized_ life; he who would
_strictly adhere_ to it would be sure to reap its benefits in his
_waking_ hours, and would _soon find_ the habit running into his hours
of _rest_, into which he would _calmly_ enter; dismissing the nervous
anxieties of the day, as he firmly closed his teeth and his lips, only
to be opened _after_ his eyes and his ears in the morning, the rest of
_such_ sleep would bear him daily and hourly proof of its value."
Catlin regards the habit of sleeping with the mouth open the most
pernicious of _all bad habits_. The horrors of nightmare and snoring
are, according to him, but the _least_ of its evil effects. He thinks
"for the greater portion of the thousands and tens of thousands of
persons suffering with weakness of lungs, with bronchitis, asthma,
indigestion, and other affections of the digestive and respiratory
organs," the correction of this habit is a _panacea_ for their ills!
He insists that "_mothers_ should be looked to as the first and
principal _correctors_ of this most destructive of human habits; ... and
the united and simultaneous efforts of the civilized world should be
exerted in the overthrow of a monster so destructive to the good looks
and life of man. Every physician should advise his patients, and every
boarding-school in existence and every hospital should have its surgeon
or matron, and every regiment its officer, to make their nightly and
hourly 'rounds,' to force a _stop_ to so unnatural, disgusting, and
dangerous a habit! Under the working of such a system, mothers guarding
and helping the helpless, schoolmasters their scholars, hospital
surgeons their patients, generals their soldiers, and the rest of the
world protecting themselves, a few years would show the glorious results
in the bills of mortality, and the next generation would be a
_regeneration_ of the human race."
=The Windpipe= (pl. I, W).--Having examined the bellows of our vocal
organ, we next notice the windpipe, by means of which the air is carried
into and out of the lungs. It is an elastic tube kept open by 18 or 20
rings which do not quite meet at the back. It enters the lungs by means
of two smaller tubes, which in their turn branch out very much like the
roots of a tree, until their ramifications end in the microscopic cells
of the lungs. The windpipe is capable of being slightly elongated or
shortened, and narrowed or widened, and its interior is covered with a
mucous membrane, which, as its name implies, is continually kept in a
moist state.
=The Voicebox, or Larynx= (pl. V) may be described as resembling a funnel,
the upper part of which has been bent into a triangular shape. Its front
corner (pl. V, 1) may be both seen and felt in the throat, and the
general position of the voicebox is thereby at once indicated. The
framework of the voicebox consists of five parts. 1st. The Ring
cartilage (pl. V, 2) is so named on account of its general resemblance
to a signet ring. It is narrow in front, and has the part corresponding
to the seal behind; the upper border (pl. V, 8, 4) rises very
considerably towards the back, where it is about an inch high. 2nd.
Riding upon this, as it were, with its hollow part towards the back,
is the Shield cartilage (pl. V, 5), which consists of two plates united
in front at an angle which forms the prominence referred to just now as
that corner of the triangular funnel (pl. V, 1) which may be both seen
and felt in the throat, and which is commonly called the Adam's Apple.
It protects the interior and more delicate parts of the voice apparatus,
from which circumstance it derives its name of shield cartilage. The
plates of the shield have each at the back two horns, the upper and the
lower. With the upper horns (pl. VI, 1, 2) the shield cartilage is
attached by means of bands (pl. VI, 6, 7) to the corresponding
projections (pl. VI, 4, 5) of the tongue-bone (pl. VI, 3), which has the
shape of a horseshoe. With the lower horns (pl. V, 8), of which on our
diagram we can only see one, it moves upon the ring cartilage as upon a
hinge (pl. V, 9).
[Illustration: PLATE V.
SIDE VIEW OF THE VOICEBOX, OR LARYNX.
1. FRONT CORNER OF THE VOICEBOX (LARYNX).