Another interval can well be given some time after noon; and in the evening practise your songs—as at that time you might annoy other persons with your exercises. They are not calculated to cheer the heart of the listener, especially when imperfectly done, as they will be at first.
PART II.
CHIEFLY ON RESPIRATION.
We will now turn our attention to the different ways of breathing.
In throat or collar-bone breathing (the wrong method) the region of the upper ribs is most strongly distended; the collar-bone, part of the breast-bone, the shoulders, the spine, and in laboured breathing even the head, take part in this mode.
It is fatiguing and injurious, yet it is very general, both in speaking and singing; and in time it would make the voice weak and tremulous. There is little doubt it produces a tendency to sore throat. Some authorities even say that imperfect respiration is one of the causes of consumption, and that practising deep breathing in the proper manner is a preventive.
Most likely if you were told to inhale deeply, you would open your mouth and try to expand the chest from above. This is quite wrong; it is styled collar-bone breathing.
It is a mistake to suppose the upper part of the chest is the chief reservoir of air required for the voice; that is brought into play by nature at times of exhaustion only.
Now for the proper mode: diaphragmatic or abdominal respiration. The diaphragm is a muscular membrane stretching from the front to the back, and in a state of rest is arched upwards towards the lungs, but on inhaling, its sides contract and the arch is flattened, causing the cavity of the chest to become enlarged, and the air rushes in by the windpipe and distends the lungs. When the muscles are relaxed, the elasticity of the lungs squeezes out the air, and the diaphragm is drawn up again to its original form.