THE CONGRESS OF WOMEN.

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nasal bones and molar bones and by these with the teeth. When the tone conceived in the brain is correctly emitted from the throat and guided into the nasal bridge, it makes all these bones resound and gives to the original tone by its over and under tones forming a kind of accord, warmth, mellowness, fullness and strength. It must be well comprehended that I am speaking of the nasal bones and not of the nostrils. The tones coming through these would give them a horrible nasal sound, which under all circumstances must be avoided. Finally, to quote Noah Webster in regard to the turbinated bones under the nasal bridge, you will find in his dictionary that he calls “ turbinated or scroll bones the expression bones of speech.” With this you readily understand that they must be also the expression bones for singing, as singing is talk­ing with harmonious tones. The clearness of pronunciation is most essential for a good singer, and the more distinct the syllables are heard, the better appears the voice.

For Breathing.—I must warn singers not to take exaggerated breaths, as harm may be done and nothing gained by this spasmodic breathing. You can not hold an over-amount of air which by its own pressure will leave you with the first note you sing. The so-called abdominal breathing is an erroneous expression, as one can only breathe through the larynx. The sensation by lowering the diaphragm gave rise to this error. The function in breathing on natural principles is this: ' You expand by a. muscular effort the lowest (floating) ribs, in consequence of which the chest-board (sternum) rises also—not the shoulders—at the same time you lower the diaphragm in the abdomen, giving to your lung cells ample space to inflate with the air, rushing through your larynx, thus, according to physical law, “ every vacuum is filled with air.” This air, or breath, will be retained the longest if you don’t let sink in the chest board (sternum) but keep it up until your phrase is through. Specialist physicians call this singing with fixed sternum, which is the right w r ay for good artistic breathing, because it keeps the floating ribs out wdien the diaphragm can go upward to give assistance to the lungs. When arriving from Europe about fourteen years ago,the late Oliver/Ditson asked me to write an article on breathing, which was published in the Boston Record —I remember having given as illustrations two extremes: A lion and a new-born baby. There in a menagerie I saw this big majestic animal sleeping; no motion whatever; one could have believed him dead, or sculptured, or stuffed, if his abdomen did not betray, moving slowly with every respiration, there is life. The same with the new­born baby. In his peaceful sleep it seemed a departed angel, and only the movement of its abdomen betrayed—it belonged still to us. So it came that I called this natural breathing abdominal breathing. It was concise, to the point, and I don’t think I was wrong either. Though once a pupil—from some territory—came to me for lessons. After a while with an anxious face she asked me: “ Madame, will you teach me the dia­phragmatic or abdominal breathing?” “ Yes, certainly!” “ But—you will give me— chloroform?” “ What for?” “ When you are making that hole in my diaphragm for abdominal breathing.” To avoid such misunderstanding I would like to propose to exchange the expression “ abdominal breathing” to “ breathing by the guidance of the abdomen.” It is concise, to the point. With this phonation of the vocal chords on the principle of the yEolian harp, the correct placing of the voice, and breathing on natural principles as above explained, the question, “ When should children begin to sing,” is easily answered. At eight or ten years, or as soon as they can learn the notes. Par­ents and teachers should give their attention to time, rhythm, to the executive skill of singing (technic) runs, trills, sustained phrasing, articulation, pronunciation, etc.; and also of first sight singing, in childhood so easily acquired. After this they can join a chorus choir, in order to learn and appreciate good music, though not to make their voices heard above the other voices; let them sing softly, carefully.

The idea that a powerful voice is not capable of flexibility is also an error. The biggest voice can acquire it, and is, by this elastic tone-production, growing in beauty and power. When entering puberty the boy has to stop singing entirely; the girl may stop too, but this is not always necessary when strong and healthy, though care must be taken not to sing too loud so as not to strain the vocal chords and injure the voice.