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The children are kept under medical supervision, and, from the reports made by the medical
officers, it is clear that they fill essential and valuable places in the total ameliorative effort which is
being steadily pursued towards the betterment of the physical condition of the school children.
During the year 1919, the Elementary Education sub-committee had under consideration the
question of breathing exercises in the schools.
Breathing
exercises.
Complaints had been received from time to time from hospital authorities, from practitioners
of medicine, and from specialists, to the effect that children have been taught in school to breathe improperly.
In one instance, a list of London schools in which breathing exercises were stated to be
improperly taught was compiled by a specialist and sent to the Board of Education.
On investigation, it became clear that the trouble arose out of the existence in the schools of
two kinds of breathing exercises:—
(1) Breathing exercises prescribed in the handbook of physical exercises issued by the
Board of Education.
(2) Breathing exercises practised as a preparation to singing lessons.
These two sets of exercises involved in some respects contrary instructions. In the view of
the medical authorities above referred to, the breathing exercises in connection with singing tend to
promote or stereotype faulty habits of breathing from which large numbers of children suffer. It
appeared that it is possible for children in the schools to have more of the second kind of breathing
exercises than the first, and when asked by the hospital physician to demonstrate the way in which
they have been taught to breathe in school, the children reproduce those exercises taught in connection
with singing. It was also understood that, in many schools, at any rate, in the infants' departments,
the only sort of breathing exercises the children get are those in connection with singing.
It is thus, of course, inevitable that confusion should result. The question naturally arises
whether the breathing exercises taught in connection with singing are really of so great importance
to the children's welfare as to render it imperative that they should continue to be taught, and whether
the only breathing exercises followed in the schools should not be those contained in the physical
exercises handbook.
As a result of the foregoing considerations, an instruction was given for me to confer with Dr.
Borland, the Council's Organiser of Instruction in Music, with a view to bringing the conflicting instructions
into line one with the other. After consultation, Dr. Borland drew up the following
instructions, wliich were adopted by the sub-committee, in substitution for the previous instructions
in regard to breathing exercises in relation to voice production:—
Breathing.—It is important that all voice training should be based upon efficient breathing.
Breathing is vital, for the oxygenation of the blood, and, in addition, is the motive power in the production
of vocal sound. In the latter capacity, the control of the exit of the breath is of the utmost
importance. The following recommendations should be carefully observed:—
General Points.—The breathing muscles.—True breathing exercises are concerned only with
the muscles which inflate and deflate the lungs. When movements of arms are used simultaneously
with breathing exercises, care must be taken to avoid any stiffening of the abdominal walls.
The breathing passages.—Breathing exercises for children should be preceded by thorough use
of the handkerchief, and it is well for little children to learn to use it with both hands simultaneously.
Breathing through the nostrils (both in and out) should be the rule for daily life, and should be taught
to children in order to correct mouth breathing, and to discover and check obstructions such as adenoid
growths. Each nostril should sometimes be tested singly, closing the other nostril by gentle external
pressure of a forefinger while breathing in and out.
Expansion for breathing.—The maximum expansion should be at the central diameter of the
body, which is a line running round the chest about two finger-breadths below the lower end of the
breast-bone. A full expansion at this level involves a lateral movement of the lower ribs, and also a
descent of the diaphragm, pressing slightly forward the upper part of the abdominal wall, within the
arch of the ribs. At the upper part of the chest, expansion is normally slight, while the lower part
of the abdomen should not be protruded. Therefore, in indicating the desired movement to a class,
the parting of the teacher's hands sideways is better than the raising of a hand which may tend to
suggest the raising of the children's shoulders, or than the lowering of a hand, which may suggest a
low abdominal distension.
Things to be avoided.—(a) By the children. Strain of any kind; lifting the shoulders; stiffening
the abdomen ; facial or other contortions; noisy breathing ; contracting the throat.
(b) By the teacher. Violent hand-signs; loud and sharp orders; instruction to "hold the
breath "—this is useless, and may be harmful. ,
Practical.—(1).—Let the children, standing easily and naturally, realise the expansion at the
central diameter by placing their hands on their lower ribs while making the movement. This may
be varied by letting them sometimes feel the expansion of companions. At times, a tape measure may
be used round the central diameter, as a record of progress.
(2) Let the class adopt this central expansion as a pose or attitude, and then breathe slowly, deeply
and quietly, in and out through the nostrils. The diaphragm and the abdominal muscles will carry on
this work easily, as they do during sleep or pre-occupation, and they will do it with increasing efficiency
when exercised deliberately for singing. This position may be facilitated by causing the children to
clasp their hands behind their heads with the elbows raised, and heads erect. The ribs are then
mechanically prevented from falling, and the breathing is carried on by the diaphragm. A certain
fulness of voice is usually noticeable in consequence.
(3) The teacher should indicate regular rhythmic breathing by counting, or by metronome; or
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