The Cambridge Companion to Singing

Ranging from medieval music to Madonna and beyond, this is the only book to cover in detail so many aspects of the voice. The volume is divided into four broad areas. Popular Traditions begins with an overview of singing traditions in world music and continues with aspects of rock, rap and jazz. The Voice in the Theatre includes both opera singing from the beginnings to the present day and twentieth-century stage and screen entertainers. Choral Music and Song features a history of the art song, essential hints on singing in a larger choir, the English cathedral tradition and a history of the choral movement in the United States. The final substantial section on performance practices ranges from the voice in the Middle Ages and the interpretation of early singing treatises to contemporary vocal techniques, ensemble singing, the teaching of singing, children?s choirs, and a comprehensive exposition of vocal acoustics.

- The only book to provide such a comprehensive coverage of singing of all kinds, classical and popular
- Edited by a member of the world famous vocal group The Hilliard Ensemble
- Contributors are top professionals from the UK, Europe and the US, many of them well-known performers

CONTENIDO:

Part I. Popular Traditions:
1. Introduction: singing at the turn of the century (John Potter);
2. ?Songlines?: vocal traditions in world music (John Schaefer);
3. Rock singing (Richard Middleton);
4. The evolving language of rap (David Toop);
5. Jazz singing: the first hundred years (John Potter);

Part II. The Voice in the Theatre:
6. Stage and screen entertainers in the twentieth century (Stephen Banfield);
7. Song into theatre: the beginnings of opera (John Rosselli);
8. Grand opera: nineteenth-century revolution and twentieth-century tradition (John Rosselli);

Part III. Choral Music and Song:
9. European art song (Stephen Varcoe);
10. English cathedral choirs in the twentieth century (Timothy Day);
11. Sacred choral music in the United States: an overview (Neely Bruce);
12. Some notes on choral singing (Heikki Liimola);

Part IV. Performance Practices:
13. Ensemble singing: a basic guide (John Potter);
14. The voice in the Middle Ages (Joseph Dyer);
15. Renaissance, Baroque and Classical singing treatises (Richard Wistreich);
16. Alternative voices: contemporary singing techniques (Linda Hirst and David Wright);
17. The teaching (and learning) of singing (David Mason);
18. Children?s singing (Felicity Laurence);
19. Where does the sound come from? (Johan Sundberg.)