(Authors A-M)
Appleman, D. Ralph. The Science of Vocal Pedagogy. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1967
Glendale Brand Library 784.93 APP
Ralph D. Appleman, a well known vocal pedagogue, targets this book for all voice students and their teachers whether it be private study or in a school environment. Appleman’s offers this book for the purpose of teaching aural skills, scientific theories, IPA (The International Phonetic Alphabet, and clarity of text. This thick book is extremely well organized and vast, with 11 chapters, an index, notes on every chapter, an extensive bibliography listed by different headings within each chapter, and an appendix. Appleman has provided many illustrations, which also come with a bibliography, which are detailed and helpful. The unique advantages of this book is that it is accompanied by records or cassettes tapes for audio clarification and demonstration. Another unique feature is that Appleman has included a chapter on dialects from the different regions of America as well as exercises.
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Barbereux-Parry, M. Vocal Resonance. Boston: The Christopher Publishing House, 1941
Glendale Brand Library 784.9 B
M. Barbereux-Parry, who was said to have made a “magnificent contribution to the need of struggling singers” by Clara Clemens Gabrilowitsch, the daughter of Mark Train and he wife of Ossip Gabrilowitsch, world famous conductor and pianist, has compiled this work for singers and teachers as a result of having been a singer herself and then having lost her voice completely, which she explains in detail in the preface. Parry explains her theories in no less than 46 chapters, which include research from studying children’s natural singing voices. Not only is the study of children’s natural voices unique to vocal pedagogy books, but also unique is the study of amplification, in which she describes the problems that singers have adjusting their vocal projection to fit the size and shape of the room.
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Brower, Harriette. Vocal Mastery. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company Publishers, 1920
Glendale Brand Library 784.9 B
Harriette Brower, accompanist and author of books relating to piano pedagogy, has compiled interviews with many famous artists as a resource for singers and their teachers. Brower’s organization is straightforward with no bibliography or index. She does, however, provide 2 contents pages; one with the names of the artists and the other with the illustrations provided of the artists. Both of these pages, however, are listed numerically by page number and not alphabetically by artists’ name, which would have been helpful. What this book offers that no other does is that there are 3 chapters that reference careers in America and its singers. In chapter 8, Antonio Scotti discusses the training of American singers for opera, which includes the topics, “Opportunity for the American Singer”, “Italian Opera in America”, and “American Composers.” In chapter 11, Giovanni Martinelli cries, “Let Us Have Plenty of Opera in America.” In chapter 14, Sophie Braslau provides information for “Making a Career in America.” Overall, Browers efforts are very helpful to singers, as is any book where great artists are interviewed.
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Caruso, Enrico and Luisa Tetrazzini. Caruso and Tetrazzini on the art of singing. New York: Dover Publications, 1975
Glendale Brand Library 784.93 CAR
Luisa Tetrazzini, soprano, and Enrico Caruso, tenor, who are said to be the “two greatest living exponents of the art of singing” by the publishers, offer this book to singers and teachers as a guide to rules approached through common sense because the “country is overrun with inferior teachers of singing”. This relatively short work (71 pages) is divided into 2 parts, the first part being the biography and words of Tetrazinni and the second being the same for Caruso. The structure is that of a novel, with no index or contents page, just Tetrazzini and Caruso. One thing that is unique to other vocal pedagogy discussions is that Caruso discusses the element of superstition to performance.
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Coffin, Dr. Berton. Historical Vocal Pedagogy Classics. New York: Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1989
MT 820 C69 1989
Dr. Berton Coffin (1910-1987), who was former Chairman, Division of Voice, and recipient of the first “Distinguished Faculty” award at the College of Music, aims this book directly at teachers in the hopes that the quality of singing and artistry from performers will increase. Coffin’s explanations and insights of 18 vocal pedagogy books are very informative, well organized, and insightful. In fact, many of his exact comments and information on these 18 books and their authors can be found in other later references and web sites. There a few illustrations of anatomy, sound waves, vowel sounds, etc. which are helpful.
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Coffin, Dr. Berton. Sounds of Singing. Colorado: Pruett Publishing Company, 1976
MT 821 C65
Dr. Berton Coffin (1910-1987), professor, writer, and historian on vocal pedagogy, and past President of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, provides his teaching insights to singers and their teachers. Dedicated to Nicolai Gedda, Coffin’s intent is to show singers and teachers how to acquire better intonation, vibrato, resonance, and dramatic interpretation, all while singing with ease. He bases his writing not only on experience, but he often quotes other teachers of voice, writers of vocal pedagogy and acclaimed singing professionals. He quotes a passage from them then comments on it. Coffin lists the names of those quoted as well as composers referenced in the general index. The style is that of a primitive manual using a traditional typewriter double-spaced at times. There are many handwritten diagrams and vocalises that are relatively clear to read, but some concepts, like the tone charts, are quite complicated and again remind one of a manual of how to assemble an entertainment center or small plane. Coffin was a teacher of physics and a mathematician after that which may explain the complexity and aesthetically challenged appearance of the handwritten charts and the manual like style. Coffin’s focus is mostly with regard to sound, which the title suggests and he provides many illustrations and complete numbered lessons.
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David, Marilee. The New voice Pedagogy. Maryland: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1995
MT 820 D245 1995
Marilee David, who received her Doctor of Music in voice performance from Indiana University at Bloomington and teaches, performs, and has published several articles in the NATS Journal and the Journal of Research in Singing, dedicates her book to singers and their teachers. David provides an extensive table of contents and is well organized with an index, a glossary, and an abundant list of references at the end of the book. Being a relatively short work, it’s quick and informative reading with precise and comprehensive concepts. This book is different than other pedagogy material in that half of the book addresses therapy for dysphonias of singers, the overall health of the singer, and an interesting and rare chapter on the ethics of voice teachers including ideas on if a teacher should tell a student that they have no talent.
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Duey, Philip A. Bel Canto in its Golden Age: A study of its teaching concepts. New York: King’s Crown Press, 1951
Glendale Brand Library 784.9 D
Philip A. Duey, author and voice teacher, presents the problem and solutions for the inadequate quality of singing since the Golden Age of Song. Directed at vocalists and their teachers, Duey asks a simple question in the Introduction Part I: How important can today’s emphasis on the physical science of vocal pedagogy be if the world’s greatest singers were from the 17th and 18th century, when there was no such medical scientific research? Duey provides a comprehensive and well-organized structure including a bibliography, index and contents page. In Part III, where Duey addresses the pedagogy for bel canto, he adds a unique element, notably a chapter on “appearance and poise.” In this chapter he describes good appearance and poise as “dignity and charm” and provides expectations and quotes from different voice teachers.
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Fuchs, Viktor. The Art of Singing and Voice Technique. London: John Calder Publishers, LTD., 1963
MT 280 F93 1963
Viktor Fuchs, voice teacher and author, provides singers and their teachers with a wide variety of advice for their profession. Fuchs offers very unique chapters to the collection of vocal pedagogy material, including, changing fachs, the importance of musical training, having too much versatility, and the differences in personal coaches and conductors. Fuchs lists another section that is unique in this book which is called, “Basic Requirements” in which he lists the different requirements needed for 1) An Opera Singer, 2) A Concert Singer (which includes the “Qualifications of the Genuine Recitalist and Lieder Singer” and “Advantages Over the Opera Singer.”, 3) A Church or Oratorio Singer, 4) A Musical Comedy Singer (Operettas, Musicals), 5) An Operatic Chorister, and 6) A Commercial Singer. Fuchs delivers an important tool to singers and teachers, which is well organized and easy to use.
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Fucito, Salvatore and Barnet J. Beyer. Caruso and the Art of Singing. New York: Dover Publications, 1975
Glendale Brand Library 784.93 FUC
Salvatore Fucito, who was a voice coach and accompanist to Enrico Caruso, wrote this book firstly in tribute to the memory of Caruso and secondly to pass down Caruso’s concept of artistry, vocal techniques, and exercises a treasure to singers. This gift includes Caruso’s methods of great breathing power, tone formation, his practicing routine and many exercises. As an added bonus, Fucito and Beyer have included many pictures of Caruso in different roles, which include the famous clown Pagliacci and many caricature self-portraits. Even though it’s a relatively short book, Fucito and Beyer succeed in providing singers and coaches with the great Caruso’s expertise.
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Garcia, Manuel. A Complete Treatise on the Art of Singing: Part One. New York: Da Capo Press, 1975
Glendale Brand Library 784.93 G 1975
Baritone Manuel Garcia (1805-1906), who comes from a family of opera singers and was a famous voice teacher himself, was not only from the bel canto era style of singing, but he also mixed it with science. He was the first person to medically study the larynx in motion during phonation because he was the one who invented the laryngoscope. Garcia’s knowledge was of interest to singers, coaches, and those in the medical profession at that time and one should think it would be of interest to scientific historians at present date. This extremely well organized work provides precise information of the workings of the sound. Because there is relatively no mention of artistry, this truly is a pure pedagogy book of the phonation of sound in a singer. It is helpful to the reader as it discusses and explains topics in depth and provides rare exercises that focus on things like the catch breath.
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Garcia, Manuel. Hints on Singing. California: Summit Publishing Company, 1970
Glendale Brand Library 784.93 G
Baritone Manuel Garcia (1805-1906), who comes from a family of opera singers and was a famous voice teacher himself, wrote this book as an improvement on his previous “L’Art du Chant. He felt that his theories were more of fact, now that technology was getting better in viewing the larynx and would like to offer his findings to the world. To do this, he uses anatomical illustrations of the larynx, lungs, jaw, ribs, and several positions of the glottis. There is no table of content, but there is an index in the back for finding such topics at vocal fatigue, and many scale exercises. Garcia gives students and vocal coaches a precise description of many aspects of sound production, including what happens to the larynx when the soft palate rises and what kind of timbre it will produce. He also gives them helpful guidelines such as never to practice more than 3 hours a day (even if you have the strongest technique in the world) and suggest that three ½ hour lessons spread out through the day are more effective. The oddity that this resource has is that the entire text is set up as an interview with statement beginning with an “A.” proceeded by a question with a “Q.” at its beginning. The entire book is formatted like this. “Hints on Singing” should have been called, “Frequently Asked Questions about Singing.”
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Hahn, Reynaldo. On Singers and Singing. Portland: Amadeus Press, 1990
Glendale Brand Library 784.93 HAH
Reynaldo Hahn (1875-1947), who was a composer, conductor, singer, and appointed director of the Paris Opera, provides this book which is a translation of his Du Chant to singers and their voice teachers. It is a compilation of 9 lectures given by Hahn between the years of 1913-1914. Not only does Hahn provide us with his lectures, but he has also written an epilogue included with more thoughts. William R. Moran has added a discography of Hahn as the finale of the book of Hahn singing and accompanying himself on piano with speaking too. Hahn provides an interesting lecture entitled, “How to Move an Audience” which is a unique subject in the liturgy of training singers and is explained in great detail.
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Henderson, William James. The Art of Singing. New York: Da Capo Press, 1978
Glendale Brand Library 784.9 H 1978
William James Henderson (1855-1937), who was a professional critic, writer and lover of song, desired to provide the rewritten and updated version of The Art of Singing to musicians and music lovers alike. Henderson goes through each topic identifying the importance of every concept. Even though he believes that singers should be concentrating solely on interpreting the text, the book is filled with instructions on breathing, saying that the control of the breath is the first and most important thing a student, and that control of the breath is the basis for agility, messa di voce, everything. One thing that sets this work apart is that it has a chapter on the do’s and don’ts of singing Wagner.
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Hines, Jerome. Great Singers on Great Singing. New York: Doubleday, 1982
Glendale Brand Library 784.93 HIN
Jerome Hines (1921-), who was a composer, singer with many opera companies including the Metropolitan Opera for years, and who also studied mathematics, physics, and chemistry and the University of California, interviewed 40 of his colleagues in the hopes of answering questions as to how an opera star is born. This work is directed toward everyone who has also had the same burning question -especially singers and coaches. The most interesting thing about this survey is that even though some of these opera singers are on the same level of success, sometimes they have completely different ideas how to get there, which makes this book a valuable resource. One major thing that is of use to all singers and coaches is to learn from reading this material that vocal problems are common to everyone.
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Koster, Ré. Common Sense of Singing. London: Thames Publishing, 1986
MT 820 K67 1986
Mezzo-Soprano, Ré Koster, who Sir Peter Pears describes as a fine and caring teacher, believes that only studying the scientific approach to vocal pedagogy may corrupt young singers. Koster’s self proclaimed goal is to offer a simple guide for a how-to-do list as well as a what-not-to-do list for singing with ease. As a result, there are no pictures of the larynx or diaphragm, but rather an easily understood offering of knowledge. The writing seems directed to the teacher as it discusses the effects of their attitude and verbiage toward the student. Koster supplies the basics of vocal pedagogy in all of the general areas then follows them up with exercises and a chapter on interpretation. She also includes a bibliography, a list of lesser-known art songs and arias as well as an extensive list of repertoire in categories of English, German, French, Italian, and Dutch for study. Then she includes another extensive list for appropriate repertoire for concerts, which adds a category for Spanish. Koster goes further in providing program suggestions with available suitable substitutions.
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Lamperti, Francesco. A Treatise on the Art of Singing. New York: G. Schirmer, 1890
Brand Library Call Number: 784.9L
Francesco Lamperti (1813-1892), who was a much celebrated voice teacher even though he was not a vocalist himself, offers in his book that students were not being trained properly in the Italian Master style. Lamperti’s intended audience is mostly focused on the voice student but includes the voice teacher as well. He advocates three female voice registers: chest voice, mixed voice, and head voice; and the same for males, except for head voice. He also addresses the problems associated with sopranos involving a weak or non-existent mixed register. He also insists on legato singing as the basis of vocal production. Lamperti is one of the most respected authorities on the voice and is mentioned in numerous other author’s pedagogy books. His technique is still considered as consistent today as it was in the 19th century.
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Lamperti, Giovanni Battista. Vocal Wisdom. New York: Taplinger Publishing Company, 1957
MT 845 L256 1957
Giovanni Battista Lamperti (1839-1910), who studied at the Milan conservative, was the last of the great Italian bel canto teachers, and was Francesco Lamperti’s youngest son, provides to voice students and teachers alike his thoughts on singing and it’s decline, as translated by one of his student’s William Earl Brown with editions by Lillian Strongin, one of Brown’s students. Lamperti begins by addressing the problems facing the art of singing and how they came to be. Then, the rest of the book is almost written in proverb style. For each chapter heading, ideas are expressed one after another concerning that particular topic, and then the next chapter is introduced. Lamperti’s work is different than other sources in that some of the chapters address problems that are rarely discussed in other books, such as “Escaping breath” and “Do not yawn!” the latter being in direct opposition to many other pedagogy authors who encourage yawning.
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Lehmann, Lilli. How to Sing, 10th ed. New York: The MacMillan Company, 1960
MT 820 L524 1960
Soprano Lilli Lehman (1848-1929), who taught voice and sang as a soubrette, coloratura then finally a dramatic soprano until well into her 60’s, states in the introduction in no uncertain terms that she has the rare traits necessary to write a book about singing. Originally published in 1902, Lehmann’s book gives a precise overall view addressing vocal problems and artistic challenges with solutions of interest to singers and teachers alike. The introduction provides the reader with Lehmann’s philosophy: using the body’s muscles to produce sound –not the throat muscles. The rest of the book defines this concept with chapters of examples from her own career as a singer and teacher. Lehmann’s writing style is colorful. For example, she addresses the vowel “ah” as evil and says that it is the only vowel that can lead a singer to ruin and should be avoided. She is also amusingly very opinionated (she offers that the technique of those who sing with a wide spread smile is “discussing and wrong”) which makes the material fun to read. Even though it was originally published at the turn of the 20th century and some terms like “chest muscle tension” are out of date, the concepts and technical diagrams are still considered correct today. There is a table of contents, but at the end of the book, there is no index. There is only a note that looks like it was added at the last minute that is a remedy for hoarseness involving inhaling hot steam from a sponge.
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Marchesi, Mathilde. Bel Canto: A Theoretical & Practical Vocal Method. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1970
MT 835 M312 op. 31 1970
Mathilde Marchesi (1821-1913), who was a vocalist, teacher, and a student of many great teachers including Manuel Garcia (she eventually took over his classes), provides vocal principles for elementary and advanced teacher and vocalists. Marchesi’s purpose is to contribute to her other written works by having this book be the final addition of sharing her knowledge of 42 years of teaching. Most of the book is written vocalises for voice lessons. Part I addresses exercises to assist the development of the singers technique and begins with the bare basics of posture, vowel formation, breathing, vocal fold principles, etc. Part II provides more vocalises addressing various concepts such as alternating major and minor scales and the chromatic and diatonic scales to tune the ear of the singer. This is a follow up to Part I where Marchesi provided a section on the importance of the student breaking down and analyzing the music’s chord structure.
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Marchesi, Mathilde. Ten Singing Lessons. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1901
MT 820 M316 1901
Mathilde Marchesi (1821-1913), who only taught women and was said to be the most prominent teacher of her time by W. J. Henderson, provides 10 chapters for voice students and/or their teachers. It is unique in that is written almost in a style that one would write in a diary dating each chapter and beginning with personal items. It is almost as if one is having tea at Marchesi’s home as she directs her comments to “my friendly readers.” It is very easy reading, as if one were reading a novel instead of instructions on the art of singing. It is also different in that there are no diagrams, no charts, and no lessons outlined on staff paper. There is only Marchesi’s words explaining how to sing while adding personal notes.
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McClosky, David Blair. Your Voice at its Best, 2nd ed. Boston: The Boston Music Company, 1972
Glendale Brand Library 784.93 M
David Blair McClosky, voice therapist, researcher, and teacher, provides his study of voice to teachers, singers, and public speakers in the hopes that they will understand the concept of vocal production that is healthy and long lasting. McClosky includes a lengthy forward and introduction where he states his purpose clearly and provides a bit of his research history. This wonderfully well organized book also contains a table of contents, list of illustrations, bibliography, and an appendix with illustrations. McClosky provides a unique chapter to vocal pedagogy books in that not only does he have a chapter entitled, “Principal Disorders of the Voice and Some Case Histories”, but as if that weren’t enough, it is followed by the chapter, “Some Unusual Case Histories”, in which he cites interesting cases that involved extraordinary circumstances. Since a voice therapist writes this book, it provides a different twist on vocal pedagogy that is always welcomed.
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Miller, Richard. On the Art of Singing. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996
MT 820 M599 1996
Richard Miller (1926-), performer and teacher, attempts to provide information to teachers of voice and vocalists that is directly related to the art of performance. It includes a wide and varied range of performance topics including singing legato, fach, and a very funny chapter called, “How to Really Bomb a Master Class.” Followed by the even more humorous, “Suggestions for the Master Teacher.” Miller does not list a bibliography, but he does reference other prominent writers of vocal pedagogy and lists their names in the general index.
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Miller, Richard. The Structure of Singing. New York: Schirmer Books, 1986
MT 825 M646 1986
Richard Miller (1926-), performer and teacher, offers techniques of singing that are more efficiently and easily accessible in performance though science and psychology to vocalists and their teachers. Miller presents a well constructed and organized compilation of ideals from science as well as from personal experience and the experience of others proven by a whopping 50 page bibliography. Miller guides the reader by listing a section at the beginning entitled, “How To Use This Book” Miller provides numerous illustrations including detailed pictures of the vocal folds in action and extraordinary illustrations of the Vocal Tract Resonator System.
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