All the peculiarities of female breathing are the results of habits acquired in after life.
Chest and shoulder heaving are vicious and evidence impeded breathing.
The singer who, forgetting the lower thorax, breathes with the upper only is sure to fail.

Therefore breathe from the _lower_ part of the trunk, using the whole muscular system cooerdinately--_from below_ upward.

In other words breathe deeply, and _control deeply_, but with the whole body--from below, not with the upper chest only, or with lateral expansion only, or abdominal expansion only.
Every teacher and pupil should remember that "singing and speaking require wind and muscle," hence the breathing power must be fully developed.

Weak breathing and failure to properly focus the voice are the most frequent causes of singing off the key.

They are much more common and mischievous than lack of "ear." Dr.May tested the breathing of 85 persons, most of them Indians, and found that 79 out of the 85 used abdominal breathing.