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Synopsis
A world-renowned opera star interviews 40 famous opera singers.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Interviews with many of the top opera singers (mainly the Italian school)of the last 50 years - on the subject of technique.
The various singers describe their own concept of singing technique. Some are obviously intuitive technicians rather than analytical ones - so the ideas vary a lot. But, it at least does serve to prove that there is a lot more to singing technique than "breath control" and it will get you thinking about your own technique and what your teacher is teaching you.
It is a book to dip into from time to time - to see how your understanding and awareness of all the different factors changes as your own technique advances.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If an experienced student/artist, it is a must read. If you are at the beginning of the vocal studies, you have to resist the temptation and put in on your shelf for a while. Otherwise it is a good book. Its author is one of the renaissance characters of our era; had been a chemist before joining the Met and thus, his interviewing style is logical, intelligent and consistent.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This has long been one of my favourite books on singing. I lent my copy to a fellow singer and never saw it again. Fortunately I recently managed to buy a second-hand first edition, and this copy is never going to leave my house. If you are a singer, it is one of those books that you will want to read again and again at various points in your career, gaining more insight from it at each reading and as your experience grows. Jerome Hines interviewed a selection of forty opera singers - including Domingo, Pavarotti, Ponselle and Sutherland (to name four of the best known) - and prompted them to voice their opinions, experiences, impressions, sensations, tricks of the trade and routines on what is so often invisible, intangible and elusive about the art of singing. He sensibly chose, for the most part, singers who were well into their years of prime or nearing the end of their careers rather than young stars who might not have acquired enough experience to be suitably analytical about their art. What is so endlessly fascinating about this book is what has to be inferred rather than what is actually stated. The reader is often left to try to imagine what the interviewee could possibly mean when he (in this case Nicolai Gedda) said in response to a question about what he feels when he sings a high note: "I think it's a double kind of movement ... of working of muscles ... even up a little. It's both." This is the kind of stuff that a singer will ponder for many a year, and one wishes that Hines could have been just a little bit more probing at times. Nevertheless I still give him five stars because it was such an original idea for a book. (A similar kind of book was written in 1998 by Helena Matheopoulos about the current crop of female opera stars, but it is aimed at a wider audience and its focus is more on repertoire and roles and less on the technicalities of vocal production.)
At one level the book is now becoming slightly dated, as many of the forty have passed away. On the other hand, we have recordings of all of them to keep their voices alive, and these interviews will gain in value as they gradually acquire the status of a historical document, especially in the case of those singers who did not write about their art. As good singing is timeless, there is much of interest for serious student of vocal technique, and there is much to glean between the lines. One wonders what other gems Hines might have recorded during those interviews which didn't make it into the book. Sadly, as he died in 2003, we shall probably never know.
Also included are two useful chapters by a speech therapist and a laryngologist.
At one level the book is now becoming slightly dated, as many of the forty have passed away. On the other hand, we have recordings of all of them to keep their voices alive, and these interviews will gain in value as they gradually acquire the status of a historical document, especially in the case of those singers who did not write about their art. As good singing is timeless, there is much of interest for serious student of vocal technique, and there is much to glean between the lines. One wonders what other gems Hines might have recorded during those interviews which didn't make it into the book. Sadly, as he died in 2003, we shall probably never know.
Also included are two useful chapters by a speech therapist and a laryngologist.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Great singers on great singing
This was fascinating. It gave a very good insight into the technique of well known singers and a little "window" into their lives.
Published 10 months ago by Valerie the music teacher
superb
I bought this as a Christmas gift for my singer daughter, and she is finding it superb in every aspect. Read more
Published on 8 Jan 2010 by K. Mavity
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