A half hour’s practice a day, taken in ten or fifteen minute instalments, especially at first, is sufficient to begin with, and if the student should become hoarse before that time is up, he should stop at once or he might forever ruin his chance of becoming a good ventriloquist.

It might be well for the beginner whose voice is changing to defer the practice until later, but if he experiences no special inconvenience at this time and is so strongly attracted toward the art that he is impatient to begin, he should proceed very carefully and discontinue the practice upon the least sign of vocal strain or weariness. In some boys the change from youth to manhood is so gradual as to be hardly perceptible, in which case the voice is not so easily injured; but it is always best to err on the side of extreme care in the use of so delicate and perfect an instrument than to carry vocal exercise of any kind to excess. In my own case, although my voice retained its clearness and strength during this period of change, I did not begin the study of ventrilo­quism until I was at least seventeen, and it was two or three years later before I gained confi­dence enough to give exhibitions in public.

 

Adult students whose voices are already fixed need not be so careful, although even to them the advice about stopping upon the first sign of hoarseness is applicable. Loud conversation, loud reading, immoderate laughter, rapid walk­ing and running causing the breathing to be much accelerated, tend to fatigue the vocal organ and are therefore imprudent actions to any one pursuing a course of training directly dependent upon this organ for its ultimate success, like sing­ing, oratory and ventriloquism.

 

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