w they breathed. Two of them declared that the
best way was not to think about it at all. But when I asked if their
teachers had never told them how they should breathe, the third
answered, after some reflection, "Oh, yes!" and pointed in a general
way to his stomach. The first two were right, in so far as too violent
inhalation of breath is really undesirable, because thereby _too much_
air is drawn in. But such ignorance of the subject is disheartening,
and speaks ill for the conservatories in which the players were
trained, whose performances naturally are likely to give art a black
eye.

Undoubtedly I took in too much air in breathing, and thereby stiffened
various organs, depriving my muscles of their elasticity. Yet, with
all my care and preparation, I often, when I had not given special
thought to it, had too little breath, rather than too much. I felt,
too, after excessive inhalation, as if I must emit a certain amount of
air before I began to sing. Finally I abandoned all superfluous
drawing in of the abdomen and diaphragm, inhaled but little, and began
to pay special attention to emitting the smallest possible amount of
breath, which I found very serviceable.

How do I breathe now?

My diaphragm I scarcely draw in consciously, my abdomen never; I feel
the breath fill my lungs, and my upper ribs expand. Without raising
my chest especially high, I force the breath against it, and hold it
fast there. At the same time I raise my palate high and prevent the
escape of breath through the nose. The diaphragm beneath reacts
against it, and furnishes pressure from the abdomen. Chest, diaphragm,
the closed epiglottis, and the raised palate all form a supply chamber
for the breath.

Only in this way is the breath under the control of the singer,
through the pressure against the chest tension muscles. (_This is very
important._) From now on the breath must be emitted from the supply
chamber very sparingly, but with unceasing uniformity and strength,
without once being held back, to the vocal cords, which will further
regulate it as far as possible. The more directly the breath pressure
is exerted against the chest,--one has the feeling, in this, of
singing the tone against the chest whence it must be _pressed_
out,--the less breath flows through the vocal cords, and the less,
consequently, are these overburdened.

In this way, under control, in the passage formed for it above the
tongue by that organ, it reaches the