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the hand vigorously forward, horizontal and level with the shoulder, backs of hands up; feel the tension of the muscles on upper back and shoulderblades. Keeping the arms extended, turn the wrists up, clench the fists; while turning, bring the arm back and down; now the elbows are at the side, the fist level with the waist and thrown out. The muscles of lower chest and abdomen are developed by this latter movement.

Exercise 5. Knead the chest by putting the hands as far up under the armpits as possible and then squeezing the chest. This loosens the articulations at the sternum and vertebræ, allowing the ribs at the same time to elevate themselves more at a right angle, thus giving greater chest capacity.

Exercise 6. Distend the lungs with deep, full breath; hold breath. Upon the principle that heat expands, the air held in the lungs increases in bulk and distends the lungs, as the air in a bladder when warmed distends the bladder.

The heat of the body at the heart is about 110°. The air when taken in, only about 70° Fahrenheit; when expelled, 97° Fahrenheit, allowing great increase in bulk by expansion. We should begin the exercise by holding ten seconds and increasing gradually. Divers in the South Sea islands can hold their breath for three minutes.

Exercise 7. Prolonged breathing while running and walking. This exercise is said to have been much practised by Demosthenes.

Breath Control. The importance of controlling the breath so that it shall be economically expended, and vocal effort made with as little friction and fatigue as possible, cannot be over-estimated.

Many speakers have the faulty habit of "running out of breath." This should never occur, even in the most impassioned discourse or utterance.

Another faulty habit to be overcome, is the most vicious

one of using only the top part of the lungs, with a rigid muscular exertion. Accompanying this use of the vocal apparatus is the high, narrow tone so disagreeable to the ear. The action in the use of the breath should begin at the diaphragmatic region. The power to propel the voice should come from the expiratory muscles.

Strength of voice and control of breath depend upon the development, contractibility, and elasticity of the muscles of respiration, especially upon the control and development of the expiratory muscles. The diaphragmatic and abdominal muscles contract, forming a solid floor at the base of the chest, that, piston-like, follows up the emptying of the lungs. This solidifies the vocal effort, and is very important.

Exercise 8. Diaphragmatic resistance.

(1.) Place the hands circling the region just below the floating ribs, thumbs toward the back. Now make a con tinuous muscular effort, without breathing, resisting the hands.

(2.) Place the hands in front, the fingers pressing on the region of the diaphragm; make muscular resistance.

(3.) Place the half-fist on the region midway; muscular resistance as above. Practise 1, 2, and 3 with continuous breathing, also with sudden breathing.

Exercise 9. Extend the hands as far over the head as possible, reaching with tips of fingers; now bend body forward, reaching to the floor with palms of hands; knees unbent; let hands fall; bend back; knees bent forward to preserve balance.

Exercise 10. Hands upon the hips for support, thumbs to back, bend body forward, and rotate clear around on the axis of the hip joints.

Exercise 11. Hands hanging; flex to right, to left, without stooping, but stretching while flexing.

Exercise 12. Inhale as slowly as possible; hold the breath (lungs distended) as long as possible; now exhale as slowly

as possible. Time this exercise and witness the increased ability. Avoid prolonging the exercise to discomfort.

Other exercises for breath control during vocal effort will be given farther along.

CHAPTER IV.

THE INSTRUMENT OF VOICE.

DURING expiration, the breath, forced through the chink between the approximated vocal bands, sets them in vibration. Voice is the sound caused by the vibration of these bands. All animals with a larynx are capable of voice.

The voice has been compared to all kinds of musical instruments. It is generally classed among the reed variety, but as it combines so many excellences that others do not possess, it cannot be described by being placed in any category of manufactured instruments.

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Physiology and Anatomy of the Vocal Apparatus. The instrument of voice consists of

I. The lungs.

2. The muscles of respiration, especially the muscles of expiration: (a) the diaphragmatic muscle, (b) the abdominal and the internal intercostal.

3. The trachea.

All these have been previously described.

4. The larynx, containing the vocal bands.

5. The pharynx, the mouth, and nasal cavities.

The larynx is a prominence on the front part of the throat, sometimes called "Adam's apple," and has a framework of nine cartilages, bound together by joints and membranes. Muscles attached move these cartilages in relation to one another.

Quality of voice depends primarily upon the size of the larynx, or in other words, upon the length of the vocal cords. Modification of the voice, as to pitch, depends upon (a) the

approximation and separation and (b) upon the tension of the vocal bands.

Control of the vocal column, of the stroke of the glottis (so called), and of vowel explosion depends upon the function of these bands.

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From "The Human Body," by Dr. Martin.

Fig. The more important cartilages of the larynx from behind: t, thyroid; Cs, its superior, and Ci, its inferior, horn of the right side; ** cricoid cartilage; † Arytenoid cartilage; Pv, the corner to which the posterior end of vocal cord is attached; Pm, corner on which the muscles which approximate or separate the vocal cords are inserted; Co, cartilage of Santorini.

The epiglottis is a cartilage that covers the entrance to the larynx during the act of swallowing.

The vocal bands (ordinarily called vocal cords) are ligaments, elastic, and of a whitish color, about three fourths of an inch long in adult males and about one half of an inch in females.

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