DEEP-BREATHING. BY GISELLE D'UNGER. FIRST PAPER. HERE are three general means THE of expression-vocality, pause, and action; or the different modes of utterance, the expressive use of silence, and the expressive use of the face, hands, body, and limbs. Every word represents an idea, thought, or feeling; but before giving expression vocally, there must be certain preparatory work. This may be termed the act of breathing, which, although voluntary from birth, is too often weakened and held under restraint through lack of culture of the organs upon which depend the health and the strength of the individual. Therefore, the first steps toward becoming a successful reciter lie in the direction of the development of the breathing-organs and of the muscular apparatus acting upon the same. In other words, the nose, nasal cavities, throat, voice-box, palate, mouth - cavity, windpipe, gions may be styled the main muscles acting upon them. To acquire strength, it is important to understand that careful inspiration and expiration should be cultivated. In the normal act of breathing or when the lungs are being inflated, the walls of the chest are drawn up, giving lateral expansion to the lungs slightly upward and backward. During expiration these muscles act reversely. In inspiration the diaphragm contracts downward, the abdominal and the dorsal muscles relax downward and outward, giving lower expansion to the air in the lungs. In expiration the abdominal and the dorsal muscles contract inward and upward, producing a powerful upward pressure against the base of the lungs. For instance, while lying full length, fill the lungs slowly, inhaling and expelling through the nose several times, and a feeling of relaxation will gradually be produced, and the tension is loosened. Insomnia is often averted by this method, which is more efficacious than concentration of mind upon innumerable sheep leaping over a Copyright, 1897, by Edgar S. Werner. All rights reserved. bronchial tubes, and lungs may be called the breathing-organs; and the muscles determining the expansion and the contraction of the chest, diaphragm, abdomen, and dorsal re fence, or the monotonous counting of 100,-two subjects utterly foreign to one's thoughts at that hour and requiring tension upon the mental power. Fine physical development is but the outward expression of that which is within. Hence, to produce an erect, dignified, and commanding carriage, a pleasant and invigorating exercise consists in filling the lungs, retaining the air for ten steps or less, and then expelling it in a sustained manner during another ten steps. This delightful exercise in an hour's walk in a dry, bracing climate is very exhilarating, the air proving an excellent tonic, as the blood is brought to the main breathing-muscles, making them strong and pliable. It is not, however, in a sustained manner alone that we develop our breathing-capacity, but with forcible, abrupt exhalations. There are many things that tend toward imperfect breathing; notably, wrong poise, tight lacing, and muscular tension. We require more air than food, and the greater the supply, the greater the nutrition. We read much of correct poise, a very essential thing in the practice of developing exercises, and a potent factor in grace and in flexibility of movement. To appreciate that the support of the weight of the body lies in the balls of the feet, the shoulder, and the hips, it will be readily seen that the correct position of the feet for grace and for dignity is about forty-five percentage. To cultivate strength of action with strength of lung-power and utterance, the exercises following will be greatly beneficial to the student who will take great care in the bending or torso movements that there is no strain upon the spine, not because it would be injurious for it is too well protected by nature, but that the student may acquire muscular control, which results from careful exercise rather than from overexertion, which will cause the unused or the weakened muscles to become tender and sensitive, thereby demonstrating the great need of culture. It will be noted that in this short series, which will exercise every organ and muscle in the body, only a whispered utterance has been used, but tone or combined physical and vocal culture will follow after these exercises have been acquired, possibly within a month, when the continuity will not be broken. Observe the change in that time, in three months,-good digestion and respiration, brighter color and eyes, an elastic walk, graceful carriage, and above all uplifted mentality. These exercises in deep-breathing are the keystone of a magnificent structure, which will be enriched and adorned with grace as well as strength of action, an appropriate temple for the golden casket which contains the jewels of intelligence and of culture. CHEST, ARM, BODY, AND LOWER LIMB MOVEMENTS. Execute these movements with full inflation, expelling through the mouth the whispered utterance of the elements, ä, ē, ō, ũ, in the manner indicated. right arm laterally, counting four, mentally, then the left four times; then both together, making twelve movements, expelling ä in a sustained manner. Repeat these movements in an upward, forward, and downward direction, using the other three elements respectively. Exercise V. Fill the lungs, while standing in correct position, hands placed on hips, and bend slowly forward and backward, expelling ä forcibly with last movement. Again take position and bend the torso to the right, and then to the left, taking ễ with last movement. Again take position and turn the torso slowly, bringing right shoulder under chin, then the left,meanwhile holding head and lower limbs in normal position, and expel ō. Reverse, expelling й. Exercise VI. Assume correct standing-position. Then step as far forward as possible with the right foot and leg twice, bending the knee, the left leg extended; then spring lightly back to position, expelling ä abruptly. Repeat this exercise with left leg, expelling ē. Again take position, fill lungs, extend right foot and leg, bending the knee and keeping the body in that position a short time; then throw it toward the left leg and foot, rocking back and forth a few times and then spring lightly to normal position and expel ō. Reverse, expelling ŭ. Re Each exercise should be repeated before taking up the following one. RELAXATION. Ungoverned nerves play an important part in social and in domestic affairs. It is owing to this nervousness-Americanitis-or the affliction of a disordered physical and mental condition of man or of woman that causes the organ of harmony to resound with discord. Plenty of fresh air, cleanliness, good food, and daily careful use of the breathingorgans will assist in controlling this excess of nervous force, magnetized into being through petty cares, intensity, and excitement, incidental to pleasure, business, or general environment. It is unnecessary to discuss nerves, muscles, or circulation technically, as each one has within himself an innate as well as an acquired knowledge of them. To relax the system is a suggestion patent to all, but how is it to be done? The foregoing exercises in deep breathing, used when sitting, walking, or lying down, will result in perfect self-control. An old adage runs as follows: Never sit when you can lie down, never stand when you can be seated. This is excellent and wise indeed, for an unwise expenditure of vital force is more frequent than we realize as it becomes exhausted before being renewed through natural causes. We have two necks, one above and one below the torso, which should not be bound tightly, but held by bands as light and sweet as those Parthenia wove, thereby assisting rather than repressing those delicate and vital parts of the organization. At night the renewal of the digestive and the circulatory organs advances, and the dreamless sleep proves a bodily delight. Flexibility of body should also be assisted by bathing under favorable conditions of temperature, room, and water, according to the temperament and the physical condition of the student, as relaxation ensues involuntarily. To relax or rest means to cause the con gested muscles to revive or respond to the circulation of blood which is brought into play by the use of gentle exercise, as in continuous deepbreathing. Hard work does not kill people, Sir Andrew Clark contended, but that laziness and inactivity breed disease; that labor is the life of life, especially to the delicate; and that it is necessary, above all to cultivate tranquillity of mind by not grizzling over the past nor prying into the future, but by enjoying to-day. Mental exercise follows a strong will, and this produces that ease, dignity, self-possession or self-control desired by the speaker, orator, singer, or actor, and which tends to preserve the nervous or nerve energy which colors his successes. The mind and the body must act harmoniously and without tension. The laborer, the child, and the animal rest in every fibre of their beings, for each has done what he could. Before dismissing this important thought, relaxation, it might be well to add that after deep-breathing has become habitual, a relaxed condition of the body will result more speedily, and should precede all exercises given for vocal development, in order that the system may be more receptive and the benefit greater. con Many simple exercises are stantly presented, but the relaxation of the head, rolling it from side to side or around like a ball, with the eyelids and the lower jaw lowered, hands and arms loosely placed in position, whether lying down or sitting, may be first considered. With the extremities in repose, the body will shortly sympathize, and in ten or fifteen minutes the student will be refreshed and enabled to continue his work. COMBINED PHYSICAL AND VOCAL Premising that the reader has applied the principles of deep-breathing in the three modes sustained forcible and abrupt with the whispered utterances-and that he has applied the same to produce a relaxed condition of the throat and the system, and that he has also accepted the ideas as given for vocal development, he can now help himself further by a few simple exercises,— conforming to those already given, combining the physical development with tone, using ä, ē, ō, ú, after inhaling slowly through the nose, and expelling these elements in the three modes of expulsion or exhalation, through the mouth. With the arm-movements, after each exhalation, the right arm should be extended laterally but once, when a prolonged or sustained tone of moderately deep pitch should be expelled, as "one;" then full inflation while the arm is in that position, after which it should be returned to the body, the student expelling the word "two" in a sustained manner; again full inflation and the arm sent forth again from the body, with the word "three," to follow in a sustained tone; again full inflation and then the arm returned to the body simultaneous with the word "four" likewise sustained. With the left arm, full inflation is required for the vowels ā, ē, i, ō, with each movement, using one of the vowels in a forcible manner. By this time a feeling of exhilaration follows, and we are ready for both arms, when we fill the lungs, always slowly, and extend both arms laterally and cry abruptly: "Stand!" Full inflation, the arms return to the body and "Strike!" is said. Again extend them, after full inflation, and command" Halt!" and on their return for the second time, use 66 'Ho!" These arm-movements are to be repeated in an upward, forward, and downward manner, and will prove exceedingly beneficial to the singer as well as to the elocutionist. As for health, every physician will recommend them to you, for they are but gentle gymnastics that bring the blood to the surface, strengthening and making flexible the breathingmuscles, but the tone-utterance being simultaneous with the action, strength of body as well as lung and utterance power is cultivated. The force and the movement are regulated by the pitch, which is slightly raised at the beginning of each series, as, for example, do, mi, sol, do. The exercises for the body and the lower limbs should be developed through the tone-utterance as well, using for each series in the above order, sustained, forcible, and abrupt expulsion, with the first, second, and third movements, but repeating the abrupt phrases with the fourth movement of each series, always keeping in view the value of good inflation for each tone-utterance. Thus combined, physical and vocal culture prepares one for the later exercises of concrete and discrete force which precede melody, but which we will not discuss until we are more familiar with vocality, one of the important modes of expression. It is well for all students to appreciate the great benefits which daily practice of developing exercises brings to to them. Three months of this practice is none too much. [To be continued.] Evils of Mouth-Breathing. BY EDWARD B. WARMAN, A.M. Lecturers, actors, ministers, and THAT mouth creativegy. There singers are, as they should be, very are, however, a few persons who advocate it; but it does not take a wise man to discover that there is something wrong with them, and that their trouble is entirely above their eyes. Such persons argue, or attempt to argue, that the lungs can not be sufficiently supplied through the nostrils; hence, inhalation should be through the lips. Is man's wisdom greater than God's? Or have we so far departed from the original man that God's intent and purposes are insufficient? When God breathed into man the breath of life, He breathed that breath through the nostrils. What a blessing to man that he is not obliged to breathe through the mouth! What a chain of evils are avoided! How many cases of sore throat, swollen tonsils, elongated uvula, bronchial and lung trouble, catarrh--in fact, all diseases of the upper air-chambers-are brought about by neglecting to keep the mouth closed! much concerned about their vocal organs. But are they wise? Are they even thoughtful? Yes, of the outside of the throat, taking special precaution against cold; but all the while neglecting the inside of the sensitive organ, leaving it wholly unprotected. When leaving the warm or the too-often overheated room, they muffle up their throats, and directly after emerging into the cold air, possibly with the mercury below zero, they begin laughing and talking, and thus inflict injury upon both the throat and the lungs by exposing them to the cold air. After using the voice for an extended effort, the throat, bronchial tubes, and lungs are warm and sensitive. If cold air reaches them while in that condition, serious results, such as congestion and irritation, may follow; hence, great care should be taken that the breath passes first through the nostrils, where it will be |