Voice Studies Resources: Performer's Guides

This is an excellent reference volume including essays on all aspects of medieval music performance. With forty essays written by experts in the field on everything from repertoire, voices and instruments to basic theory, all aspects of recreation are treated. This guide has already proven indispensable to performers and scholars of medieval music. Chapters on vocal and choral music; various types of ensembles; profiles of specific instruments; instrumentation; performance practice issues; theory; dance; regional profiles of Renaissance music, and guidelines for directors are all treated. It is a comprehensive and authoritative reference by leading performers in the field for a variety of enthusiasts.

The book discusses the musical considerations, vocal production, and kinesthetic feedback inherent to performing persuasively in a variety of styles and idioms, with observations of professional vocalists, instrumentalists, and voice teachers who have successfully crossed over into contrasting idioms.

Revised and expanded since it first appeared in 1991, the guide features two new chapters on ornamentation and rehearsal techniques, as well as updated reference materials, internet resources, and other new material made available only in the last decade. The guide is comprised of focused chapters on performance practice issues such as vocal and choral music; various types of ensembles; profiles of specific instruments; instrumentation; performance practice issues; theory; dance; regional profiles of Renaissance music; and guidelines for directors. The format addresses the widest possible audience for early music, including amateur and professional performers, musicologists, theorists, and educators.

The vocal repertoire of the twentieth century--including works by Schoenberg, Boulez, Berio, Larsen, and Vercoe--presents exciting opportunities for singers to stretch their talents and demonstrate their vocal flexibility. Contemporary composers can be very demanding of vocalists, requiring them to recite, trill, and whisper, or to read non-traditional scores. For singers just beginning to explore the novelties of the contemporary repertoire,Exploring Twentieth-Century Vocal Musicis an ideal guide. Drawing on over thirty years of experience teaching and performing the twentieth century repertoire, Sharon Mabry has written a cogent and insightful book for singers and voice teachers who are just discovering the innovative music of the twentieth century. The book familiarizes readers with the new and unusual notation systems employed by some contemporary composers. It suggests rehearsal techniques and vocal exercises that help singers prepare to tackle the repertoire. And the book offers a list of the most important and interesting works to emerge in the twentieth century, along with suggested recital programs that will introduce audiences as well as singers to this under-explored body of music.

An invaluable resource to pronunciation of historic European languages from approximately 1200 to 1600 for singers, scholars, actors, and readers of early music and literature. Sample texts from Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and other regions are printed in the original language and in transcription in the International Phonetic Alphabet, and recorded on the accompanying CD. A separate chapter for each language addresses a wide range of Latin dialects. Book jacket.

This is a detailed discussion of various aspects of historical performance practice, especially as they relate to liturgical styles of the Renaissance. Issues of timbre, tempo, ensemble, ornamentation, and pitch are among those treated at length in this work intended to broaden the understanding of contemporary choral performers and conductors alike.