even a whisper remains.

Power and largeness of tone depend first upon the =right use of the
resonant cavities=, and second upon the =volume of breath used under
proper control=.

In producing high tones the breath is delivered in less amount than
for the low tones, but under greater tension. Absolute control of the
breath is necessary to produce the best results of which a voice is
capable. Full control of the breath insures success to a good voice;
without it the best voice is doomed to failure.

When muscular action is fully mastered, and the proper method of
breathing understood and established, the muscles of inspiration and
expiration will act one against the other, so that the act of
breathing may be suspended at any moment, whether the lungs are full,
or partly full, or empty. This is muscular control of the breath.
Correct breathing is health giving and strength giving; it promotes
nutrition, lessens the amount of adipose tissue, and reinforces every
physical requisite essential to speaking and singing.

A CURE FOR NERVOUSNESS

It cannot be too widely advertised that the surest remedy for that
torture of singers and speakers, nervousness, is the great
tranquillizer,--quiet, deep breathing, deeply controlled. The breath
of nervousness is quick, irregular, and shallow, therefore, take a
few, slow, deliberate, deep, and _rhythmic_ inhalations of pure air
through the nostrils, and the panting gasp of agitation will vanish.
As a help toward deepening the breath and overcoming the spasmodic,
clavicular habit, inhale quietly and slowly through the nose, or
slowly sip the air through the nearly closed lips as if you were
sipping the inmost breath of life itself.

NECESSITY OF BREATHING EXERCISES

To acquire control of breathing, proper exercises must be
intelligently and persistently followed. In mankind, nature seems to
have been diverted from her normal course so that we seldom find an
individual who breathes correctly without education in the matter.
What we have said on breathing is based on the premise that
respiration involves cooerdinate action of the body from collar-bone to
the base of the abdomen; that is, expanding and contracting the chest
and abdomen simultaneously. This is called "lateral-abdominal"
breathing; as the chest is the thoracic cavity, "abdomino-thoracic"
has been suggested as brief and more strictly scientific.

Work on any other lines fails to develop the full power and quality