Proper Breathing and Wonderful Voices.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 22 May 1914, Page 2

Proper Breathing and Wonderful Voices.

Very few people, says Signor Agostina Carbone, a noted operatic, singer, know how to breathe properly.- One of the main faults in breathing is that we take too short a breath. The air goes only to the upper lobes of the lungs, and the lower ones are therefore uncared for. Nature tries at times to remedy this by compelling us to take a deep breath, but it is a strain. You can notice this strain

in., breathing often, as it is generally characterised by the seeing of stars, a sudden dizziness or a tingling' sensation in the head.

Short breathing is really bad for the health, as it causes a stagnation iiij the lower part of the lungs, where the disease 'germ, finds a fine breeding ground. Another fault is that of breathing through our mouths. The correct way of breathing is, of course, through the nose, for it is through that organ that nature seeks to protect us from inhaling dust and diseasebreeding microbes, it acting as a fil- | ter. It ,al.so warms the waves and sends them to the delicate passages properly heated. A person with this bad'habit who has been breathing, the ah- ol" a heated room, on going' to the streets fills the lungs with a sudden rush of cold'air, the difference in temperature often being a number of degrees, and the result is a congestion. Should the lungs be in a1 weakened condition the congestion is often likely to produce disorders of the most dangerous kind. / Nose breathing is also demanded by nature, because the amount of air taken in by this route, corres- • ponds to the amount which can normally be sent to the lungs through the air passage in the throat. When you breathe through your mouth you are forcing the air in, as you can notice readily when after a sudden deep breath you get that feeling of "chokiness." The value of proper breathing, our authority tells us, ,is best understood after one has made a careful study of the delicate construction of the breathing apparatus of the human being and how to use it correctly. Many reasons have been given for lack of any great number of good male singing voices, but.. Signor Carbone tells us that from his own personal knowledge he finds that the real reason lies in the fact that men will not take the time to study. There are many men whose voices could be developed into wonderful singing voices, but many of them have not taken the time to discover7 this, and those who know they possess them will not take the time to study. Some of them have referred to the art as "fit for women and foreigners."

If a man has time to study he generally seeks the professional side of life, and the result is a splendid batch of lawyers, physicians and others of various scientific callings. ' Yet few think that much study must be undertaken to develop a good voice.—"Popular Science Siftings."