DOES DIAPHRAGMATIC BREATHING APPLY EQUALLY TO WOMEN AS TO MEN?
In a kind notice of the first edition of this brochure, which appeared in The Medical Press, the editor raises the above question. He says: "The evils attending faulty methods of voice-production are pointed out both from an anatomical and from an artistic point of view, diaphragmatic breathing being especially insisted on in opposition to mere clavicular breathing. This is undoubtedly correct; but we think the advice here embodied would have been even more valuable had the authoress mentioned if from her experience she thought it applied in an equal extent to both sexes, as it is well known that nature, or we may perhaps more correctly say, the art of dress, causes women to breathe in a far more 'clavicular manner' than men."
This is a valuable criticism, and as the point indicated is likely to be of interest to many persons, I append my reply, which appeared in the next number of The Medical Press:—
"To the Editor of the Medical Press and Circular.
"Sir,—I intended the advice on breathing to apply to both sexes, diaphragmatic breathing with perfect control being the foundation of all good voice-production, whether in speaking or in singing, in men and women alike, while clavicular breathing is a potent factor in voice-failure accompanied by throat ailments. From the examination of a large number of cases, I find it exceptional for a woman, when dressed, to breathe diaphragmatically, but when the garments are unfastened, and a few simple directions followed, Nature's mode of breathing commences to re-assert itself, feebly at first, but vigorously after a little practice. Very many men also breathe clavicularly, to the great detriment of their voices, whether in speaking or in singing. I have noticed, however that whereas the majority of women always breathe clavicularly, comparatively few men adopt this pernicious habit unless when using the voice, which is, of course, the worst time for them to employ it. As a rule, men re-acquire the natural manner of breathing more easily and quickly than women; this may be partly accounted for by their greater freedom from constricting garments. After a few weeks' training of the respiratory muscles, the lung capacity frequently exceeds, in women especially, the average given in Hutchinson's tables.
"Thanking you in anticipation for your courtesy in publishing this letter,—I am, sir, yours &c.,
"K. BEHNKE
"18, Earl's Court Square, S.W."
INDEX.
Artificial female voice, Roman teachers, [2]
Back ring pyramid muscles, [46], [48]
Bands uniting shield and tongue-bone, [34]
Belts v. braces for men, [25]
Breast bone, [11]
Breathing, Collar-bone, [17]
——, Curing defective, [23]
—— during sleep, [28]
—— exercises, [106]
——, midriff and rib combined, [17]
——, Mouth v. nostril, [26]
—— neglected by teachers, [19]
——, View of larynx, [84]
Breath, Singers' half-, [26]
Browne, Lennox, on breathing, [18], [22]
Carpenter, Dr., How tone is produced, [39]
Cartilages of Santorini, [51], [54], [80]
—— of Wrisberg, [51], [54], [81]
Catlin on American Indian breathing, [28]
Chest described, [12]
—— voice used for pay, [4]
Chink, Vocal, [45], [81]
Clergymen's sore throat, [22]
Collar-bones, [11]
Composers disregarding voices, [3]
——' ignorance of harp, [3]
——, Modern, wed music and words, [3]
—— to blame for vocal decline, [4]
Cords, Vocal, a misleading term, [38]
——, ——, False, [60]
——, ——, origin of term, [8]
Corsets for gentlemen, [26]
Curwen's names for registers, [87]
Czermak's test in vowel formation, [59]
—— use of the laryngoscope, [75]
Duprez' Chest C, [5]
Eberth's case, voice-box without lid, [35]
Elsberg on nose-breathing, [28]
—— on wedges (posterior nodules), [55]
Eustachian tubes, [58]
Exercises, Ah, legato, scala, [117]
——, Breathing, [106]
——, Controlling tongue, [124]
——, glottis, check and glide, [112]
—— for tone quality, [119], [121]
—— in changing registers, [118]
——, Mixed-voice, [119]
—— on koo, [124]
—— on vowels, [116]
——, Opening mouth, [125]
——, Resonator, [119]
——, Soft palate, [121]
—— to govern pitch, [115]
——, Voice production, [110]
Experiment, calf's lungs, [12]
——, Czermak on vowels, [59]
——, defects in breathing, [23]
——, feeling ring-shield aperture, [72], [100]
—— in telling male and female registers, [90]
Experiments, Marshall on animals, [39]
——, Müller on dissected larynges, [7], [96]
——, pressing shield to test pitch, [71]
——, Spirometer, [20]
——, Violin tone, [57]
——, whisper and feel voice-box, [70]
—— with laryngoscope, [76], [92]
—— with mirror, for nasal tone, [60]
Falsetto register neglected, [4], [6]
Female and male minstrels, [15]
—— voice spoilt by tenor pattern, [2]
Foulis' laryngoscope, [78]
French singers subject to tremolo, [20]
Garcia and the laryngoscope, [74]
—— on forced registers, [96]
Garrett, error in describing glottis, [45]
—— on a blackbird's larynx, [40]
—— on differences in larynges, [64]
Glogg-ner-Castelli on chest voice, [5]
Glottis, Chink of the, [45], [81]
——, Defects to avoid, [112]
—— in producing sound, [46]
—— in repose, [46]
—— in respiration, [46]
——, Shock of the, [83]
——, sphincter muscle, [44]
Heart, [11]
Helmholtz on whispered vowels, [70]
Horns, Upper and lower, [34], [37], [42]
Human voice, four parts, [9]
—— voice, incomparable, [9]
Huxley's description of respiration, [14]
Illingworth, Rumney, on falsetto, [39], [52]
Inspiration and expiration, [14]
—— of men and women, [15]
——, Three ways of, [14]
—— through the mouth, [26]
Isenschmid's throat apparatus, [77]
Italian composers studying voices, [3]
Lacing, Tight, [25]
Laryngo-Phantom, Isenschmid's, [77]
Laryngoscope described, [73]
——, Errors in using, [79]
——, How to use, [73]
——, What is seen, [80]
Laryngoscopic images, [84], [85]
Larynx generally described, [31]
—— (see Voice-box)
Levers of the Pyramids, [36]
Lid and its function, [32], [35], [80]
Ligaments, Pocket, [50], [81]
——, ——, not tone producers, [52]
——, ——, their functions, [53], [83]
——, Vocal, described, [36], [81], [94]
——, ——, how produce tone, [32], [81]
——, ——, how stretched, [47]
——, ——, in S.C.T.B. voices, [66]
——, ——, size, movement, [41]
——, ——, Three actions of, [83]
——, ——, View of, [37]
Lung gymnastics, [21]
Lungs described, [9]
——, Experiment with calf's, [12]
——, their function, [12]
Lunn on "Coup de glotte", [83]
—— on differences in larynges, [64], [89]
—— on laryngoscopic views, [82]
Luschka, and term "vocal chink", [45]
——, how tone is produced, [40]
Luschka's measurements of larynges, [64]
Male contralti, [2]
—— soprani, [1]
Malrespiration, [28]
Marshall, experiments on animals, [39]
Merkel on male and female larynges, [90]
—— on pyramids and registers, [99]
—— on tension of ligaments, [67]
Merkel's terms for registers, [90]
Meyerbeer and the falsetto, [5]
Midriff, [11]
—— described, [12]
Mixed voice, defined, [119]
Mouth, its part in singing, [59]
——, when to keep it shut, [29]
Mozart studied voice before composing, [4]
Mucous membrane, [61], [80]
Müller's experiments on larynges [7], [96]
Muscles, back ring pyramid, [46], [48]
—— governing pitch, [113]
——, How to strengthen, [113]
——, ligament tension theory, [67]
——, Pyramid, [49]
Muscles, Ring-shield, [41]
——, ——, how change registers, [97]
——, Shield-pyramid, [41]
——, Shield-pyramid, how change registers, [97]
——, Side ring-pyramid, [48]
——, Summary of uses of, [49]
Nasal tone, various theories, [60]
Nose cavities, [59]
Nostrils best adapted for breathing, [27]
Nourrit and Duprez, [5]
Novello, Sabilla, how tone is produced, [39]
Palate, Soft, exercising, [121]
——, ——, its movements, [59]
Paris Conservatoire method of inspiration, [20]
Pharynx, [58]
Pitch, Mechanism affecting, [72]
——, Rise of, strains voice, [4]
Pronunciation for Singers, Ellis's, [120]
Pyramids, how act in registers, [99]
——, Levers of the, [36], [46]
——, side view, [37]
——, their shape and motion, [36], [82], [94]
Register, Mechanism of thick, [94]
——, Thick, described, [94]
——, Thin, ", [98]
Registers, Compass of the, [93]
——, Teachers' Manual on, [87]
——, definition, [86]
——, described by Mme. Seiler, [94]
——, distinguishing sex, [90]
——, Evil of straining, [101]
——, How ligaments act in, [86]
——, how small is formed, [101]
——, how upper thick formed, [95], [97]
——, Images of, [84], [85]
——, Laryngoscope and sub-division of, [91]
——, "Mixed voice", [118]
——, optional tones, [118]
——, places of break, [87], [96]
——, Straining of, [95]
——, Three female voice, [88]
——, to equalise, not expose, [116]
——, Two male voice, [138]
——, Upper and lower thick, [96]
——, —— —— —— thin, [100]
——, what laryngoscope teaches, [104]
Resonator changes by vowel, [70]
——, effect of formation, [58]
——, its parts, [9], [56]
Respiration described, [13]
Ribs, [11]
Ring cartilage, [31], [32]
Ring-shield muscles, [41], [70]
Roger, the French tenor's style, [4], [6]
Rossini on decline of vocal art, [2]
Seiler, description of the registers, [92]
——, Madame, on "wedges", [54]
—— on action of vocal ligaments, [100]
Shield and ring, Motion of, [34], [71]
Shield cartilage, [34]
Shield plates, [33], [71]
Shield-pyramid muscles, [41]
Singable music, [3]
Singing v. speaking, [18]
Snoring and keeping mouth open, [30]
Sphincter muscle of the glottis, [44]
Spirometer tests recommended, [19]
Teaching, Hints on, [106]
Tenors as teachers of female voice, [2]
——, Short vocal life of, [1]
—— sing octave lower than written, [87]
Tobold, how tone is produced, [40]
Tone, how produced, [56]
——, loudness, [56]
——, pitch, [56]
——, quality, [56]
——, Three ways of producing, [83]
Tongue-bone, [34]
——, Exercises to control, [124]
Tonic Sol-fa College, Experiments, [20]
Tremolo, Controlled artistic, [22]
——, Involuntary, [21]
—— mars fine voices, [20]
——, Origin of, [21]
Violin, Experiments for tone on a, [57]
Vocal gymnastics, [114]
Voce mista, [118]
Voice-box, Attempts to see the, [74]
—— compared with instruments, [8]
——, differences in size, [62]
——, dissecting, [7], [44], [57]
——, its parts specified, [31]
—— measurements, [64]
—— movements, teaching of, [70], [72]
——, visible movements, [69]
Voice-breaking, Cause of, [63]
Voice, Cause of high or low, [65]
—— cultivation exercises, [110]
——, female, Wrong use of, [95]
Voice, period of change in youth, [63]
——, quality of, exercises, [119]
——, poverty of the age, [1]
—— sufferers, Cure of, [24]
Vowel scale, Order of the, [116]
——, Use of palate in forming, [59]
Wedges, Action in small register, [103]
——, or cuneiform cartilages, [51], [54], [81]
Whispering, Voice-box movements in, [70]
When to keep the mouth shut, [29]
Wilson, Erasmus, on cuneiform cartilages, [54]
Windpipe described, [31], [81]
Witkowski on "the wedges", [55]
—— on views of specialists, [8]
Women in church music, [2]
Words ignored by composers, [3]
INDEX TO "VOICE FAILURE."
Breathing, Evils of clavicular, [128]
Breathing, Lamperti on, [129]
Breathing, Wrong, [127], [128]
Forcing, [128]
Forcing, Acquiring top notes, [137]
Intonation affected by resonance, [134]
Laryngoscope, Its lessons, [137], [138]
Lung capacity, [128]
Pronunciation, [136]
Registers, Forcing, [128], [136]
Resonators, Neglect, [128], [132]
Shouting, [128]
Singing, Loud, [128],, [131]
Stammering, [130]
Symptoms of faulty voice use, [139]
Throat, Inflammation of, [137]
Timbre, [133]
Tone, Squeezing, [132]
Vowels, Shaping mouth for, [134]
Vowels, Scale of nature, [135]