First Exercise: Close the mouth, draw a full breath into the lungs through the nose, being careful not to “smell” the air in but to take it in noiselessly; then, open the mouth and allow the breath to come into the air, as to blowing upon a pane of glass to form a coating of moisture. The chest must neither rise nor fall when inhaling or exhaling, it should be held up and out all the time, the expansion and contraction taking place at the base of the lungs. In order to obtain this full expansion and complete contraction of the lower lobes of the lungs during respiration, it is necessary to draw the abdominal muscles outward on the inhalation and inward on the exhalation. The outward action of the abdominal muscles will cause the diaphragm to flatten, thus removing the pressure of that muscle from the base of the lungs and permitting the air to enter all the lobes. The inward action of the abdominal muscles will cause the diaphragm to arch, thus pressing on the base of the lungs and forcing out the breath. The main expansion and contraction should take place below and around the diaphragm, that portion of the body from the navel up to the floating ribs and extending all around the body, bringing into play the lower costal and dorsal muscles as well as the abdominal muscles and the diaphragm.
Second Exercise: Inhale as in the first exercise, then exhale through the mouth in the form of a sigh, using a quicker and stronger action of the abdominal muscles in forcing out the breath than was used in the first exercise.
Third Exercise: Inhale as in the previous exercise, then exhale through the mouth in the form of an aspirated cough, being careful, however, not to allow the whispered sound to strike upon the rim of the larynx or to remain back in the pharynx, but bring it forward so as to have it explode in the air and not in the throat or mouth.
Deep breathing should be practiced until it becomes automatic, because the speaker who makes a conscious effort to control the breathing mechanism will be stilted and artificial in his utterance. Breathing must be absolutely subconscious, and these exercises should be practiced until it becomes so. While practicing, a conscious effort must be made to use the breathing muscles properly; but as soon as this has been accomplished, the thought must be taken from the means and the disciplined muscles will then work automatically.
Voice
Voice is produced in the larynx, the voice box, but it must be immediately brought into the mouth, converted into speech, and sent on its way to perform its mission. The breath acting on the vocal cords causes them to vibrate, and this vibration is called voice. In producing voice no more breath should be used than is necessary to produce the desired sound. If too much breath is used, and it escapes through the larynx without being converted into voice, it will drown the voice and breathy tones will be formed. Breath must always be kept back of the voice, it must never be permitted to escape at the sides or around the tone; if it does so escape, the tone cannot be pure, breath will be wasted, the larynx will soon tire, and the speech will be muffled and lack power.
First Exercise: Form the sound of m. This is done by closing the mouth and sending the voice sound into the cavity of the head and then through the nose into the air. Bear in mind that you are to produce the sound of m and not speak the letter m. Prolong the sound on the one pitch for ten seconds, take a full breath, and repeat the sound, practicing in this manner for five minutes at a time.
Second Exercise: Use the voice sound of m as in the previous exercise, but instead of sustaining the one tone, vary it by producing medium, high, and low tones. Hum a tune, keeping the mouth closed, using the one sound of m, and sending the voice through the head passages into the air. This exercise will prove wonderfully beneficial if it is patiently practiced. Any tune may be used for this purpose, but be sure that the voice is brought well forward and comes into the air through the nasal passages.
Third Exercise: Hum the sound of m, then open the mouth and produce the vowel sound of a, gliding from the humming sound into the full open sound of a; as, ma. Exercise on the other four vowels, e, i, o, u, in like manner: as, me, mi, mo, mu.
Fourth Exercise: On the same pitch that you would use in asking an ordinary question, such as “Are you going out today?” repeat the vowels a, e, i, o, u, using a full breath for each sound and sustaining it on the same pitch, and as long as you can conveniently. Then lower the voice to the deepest tone you can produce with ease and repeat the exercise. Then raise the voice as high as you can without straining and repeat the exercise. Practice in such a way as to bring into play all the tones of the voice and gradually to increase its compass. Avoid force in increasing the vocal range. Produce tones only that come with ease.