held her listeners
entranced. Moreover, she was beautiful and gracious in appearance.

The accent of great dramatic power she did not possess; yet I ascribe
this more to her intellectual indolence than to her lack of ability.

SECTION II

OF THE BREATH

The breath becomes voice through the operation of the will, and the
instrumentality of the vocal organs.

To regulate the breath, to prepare a passage of the proper form
through which it shall flow, circulate, develop itself, and reach the
necessary resonating chambers, must be our chief task.

Concerning the breath and much more besides there is so much that is
excellent in Oscar Guttmann's "Gymnastik der Stimme" that I can do no
better than to refer to it and recommend it strongly to the attention
of all earnest students.

How do I breathe?

Very short of breath by nature, my mother had to keep me as a little
child almost sitting upright in bed. After I had outgrown that and as
a big girl could run around and play well enough, I still had much
trouble with shortness of breath in the beginning of my singing
lessons. For years I practised breathing exercises every day without
singing, and still do so with especial pleasure, now that everything
that relates to the breath and the voice has become clear to me. Soon
I had got so far that I could hold a swelling and diminishing tone
from fifteen to eighteen seconds.

I had learned this: to draw in the abdomen and diaphragm, raise the
chest and hold the breath in it by the aid of the ribs; in letting out
the breath _gradually_ to relax the body and to let the chest fall
slowly. To do everything _thoroughly_ I doubtless exaggerated it all.
But since for twenty-five years I have breathed in this way almost
exclusively, with the utmost care, I have naturally attained great
dexterity in it; and my abdominal and chest muscles and my diaphragm,
have been strengthened to a remarkable degree. Yet I was not
satisfied.

A horn player in Berlin with the power of holding a very long breath,
once told me in answer to a question, that he drew in his abdomen and
diaphragm very strongly, but immediately relaxed his abdomen again as
soon as he began to play. I tried the same thing with the _best
results_. Quite different, and very naive, was the answer I once got
from three German orchestral horn players in America. They looked at
me in entire bewilderment, and appeared not to understand in the least
my questions as to ho