BREATHING EXERCISES.
Deep breathing with the lips closed, inhaling as long as possible, and
exhaling slowly, is very beneficial.
Having inflated the lungs to their utmost capacity, form the breath into
the element of long _o_, in its escape through the vocal organs. This
exercise should be frequently repeated, as the voice will be strengthened
thereby, and the capacity of the chest greatly increased. Do not raise the
shoulders or the upper part of the chest alone when you breathe. Breathe as
a healthy child breathes, by the expansion and contraction of abdominal and
intercostal muscles. Such breathing will improve the health, and be of
great assistance in continuous reading or speaking. Great care is necessary
in converting the breath into voice. Do not waste breath; use it
economically, or hoarseness will follow. Much practice on the vocal
elements, with all the varieties of pitch, then the utterance of words,
then of sentences, and finally of whole paragraphs, is necessary in
learning to use the breath, and in acquiring judgment and taste in
vocalizing. _Never speak when the lungs are exhausted. Keep them well
inflated._
SPECIAL DIRECTIONS FOR BREATHING.
1. Place yourself in a perfectly erect but easy posture; the weight of the
body resting on one foot; the feet at a moderate distance, the one in
advance of the other; the arms akimbo; the fingers pressing on the
abdominal muscles, in front, and the thumbs on the dorsal muscles, on each
side of the spine; the chest freely expanded and fully projected; the
shoulders held backward and downward; the head perfectly vertical.
2. Having thus complied with the preliminary conditions of a free and
unembarrassed action of the organs, draw in and give out the breath very
fully and very slowly, about a dozen times in succession.
3. Draw in a very full breath, and send it forth in a prolonged sound of
the letter _h_. In the act of inspiration, take in as much breath as
you can contain. In that of expiration, retain all you can, and give out as
little as possible, merely sufficient to keep the sound of _h_
audible.
4. Draw in a very full breath, as before, and emit it with a lively,
expulsive force, in the sound of _h_, but little prolonged in the
style of a moderate, whispered cough.
5. Draw in the breath, as already directed, and emit it with a sudden and
violent explosion, in a very brief sound of the letter _h_, in the
style of an abrupt and forcible, but whispered cough. The breath is, in
this mode of expiration, thrown out with abrupt _violence_.
6. Inflate the lungs to their utmost capacity and exhale the breath very
slowly, counting rapidly up to ten, as many times as possible with one
breath.
Each of the above exercises should be repeated often, by the student, in
his room, or while walking; and may be given with the gymnastic exercises
previously introduced.