h the sanction of their medical adviser, who will
limit the practice according to circumstances.

The second breathing exercise is the exact opposite of the first, and
consists in taking a rapid _in_spiration and making the _ex_piration
slow, even, uninterrupted and without jerking or trembling. My musical
readers will at once see the importance of this exercise for the purpose
of singing sustained tones and florid passages; but it would be quite
useless to attempt it before No. 1 has been sufficiently practised.

The third and last breathing exercise consists in taking the
_in_spiration as in No. 1, and the _ex_piration as in No. 2. After the
two preceding ones have been fully mastered this last is easy enough;
and the student who has persevered so far will now have overcome one of
the greatest difficulties of a vocalist, namely, the proper management
of the breath, an accomplishment which seems to become more and more
rare in our go-ahead times of electricity.

I feel that my description of these breathing exercises is far from
complete, and what is worse, that it may lead to misunderstandings, the
results of which will hereafter be laid to my charge. But writing,
however lucid and careful, can never take the place of _viva voce_
instruction; and I wish it to be distinctly understood that the
explanations here given are not by any means intended to supersede the
aid of a competent and painstaking teacher.

I will take leave of this part of my subject by warning my readers
against the mistake, which may be caused by a superficial perusal of
these pages, that it is the chief aim of the above breathing exercises
to enable the singer or speaker to cram as much air as possible into
the lungs. I have pointed out some of the evils which are likely to
arise from exaggerated breathing efforts; yet I wish to say again, most
emphatically, that it is quite possible to _overcrowd_ the lungs with
air. This is a matter of every-day occurrence, which is not, however, on
that account any the less reprehensible; for, as I have already
mentioned, it is sure to lead, sooner or later, to forcing and
inequality of voice, and to congestion of the vessels and tissues of the
throat and of the lungs.

Now we come to the question of the production and cultivation of the
voice, including the nature and the proper treatment of the registers.
In this connection I shall endeavour to explain a series of exercises
based upon physiological facts,