The
tendency is to locally raise the chest so high that the abdomen is
unnaturally drawn in. This, of course, is the result of local effort, and
is not the intention of the movements. The center of gravity must be at the
hips; and all movement above that must be free, flexible, and uniform.[1]
[Footnote 1: In this connection, see Supplementary Note, page 135.]
Do not give a thought to any wrong thing you may be in the habit of doing
in singing, but place your mind upon freeing the voice, upon the removal of
all restraint through these flexible vitalized movements: think the ideal
tone and sing. When the right begins to come through these movements the
wrong must go. Over and against every wrong there is a right. We remove the
wrong by developing the right. Sing in a free, flexible manner, the natural
power of the voice. Make no effort to suppress the tone or increase its
power. After the movements are understood and all restraint is removed,
then study the tone on all degrees of power, but remember when singing soft
and loud, and especially loud, that the first principle of artistic singing
is the removal of all restraint.
ARTICLE TWO.
THE SECOND PRINCIPLE OF ARTISTIC TONE-PRODUCTION.
The second principle of artistic tone-production is
_Automatic Breathing and Automatic Breath-Control._
_Theory._--The singing breath should be as unconscious,--or, rather,
as sub-conscious,--as involuntary, as the vital or living breath. It should
be the result of flexible action, and never of local muscular effort.
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