Reference DVDs and Books for Singers

Benjamin Britten : A Time There Was... A Profile

Review: This musical documentary profiles British composer/conductor Benjamin Britten. Directed by filmmaker Tony Palmer, who also documented opera legend Maria Callas, it mixes biography with excerpts from such famed operas as Death in Venice and Peter Grimes. A special segment shows archival footage of the maestro working his magic behind the scenes in rehearsal. Interviews include a moment with Leonard Bernstein, who touches on the genius and the pain of "a man at odds with the world." With a running time of 102 minutes, this award-winning video hits all the right notes for the classical aficionado.

Songlist: Leonard Bernstein & Cousin Elsie, Britton as Conductor & Pianist, The Sea & Lowestoft, Early Compositions, Music for Films, Journey To America, Peter Grimes, Aldeburgh, Phaedra and Rape of Lucretia, The Aldeburgh Festival - Beginnings, Writing to Commission, The Sea, Travel, The Maltings Concert Hal, The Public Figure, Death in Venice, An Excellent Patient, Last Visit to Venice, "What Will It Be Like - Death?", "I Was Lost on an Infinite Sea"

Benjamin Britten : in Rehearsal and Performance

Review: The acclaimed composer and conductor Benjamin Britten and the CBC Vancouver Chamber Orchestra team up with tenor Peter Pears in a rehearsal and performance of Britten's own "Nocturne for Tenor, 7 Obbligato Instruments & Strings, Op. 60." Britten has been called "The Greatest Musician of the Century" by the New York Times. In Benjamin Britten: In Rehearsal and Performance With Peter Pears, the nocturne, based on works by English poets including Shakespeare, Keats, Wordsworth, and Owen is performed. In this collaboration, Britten and Pears give their musical interpretation of a collection of classic poems

Songlist: Below the Thunders of the Upper Deep, Encinctured With a Twine of Leaves, Midnight's Bell Goes Ting, Ting, Ting, But That Night When on My Bed I Lay, She Sleeps on Soft, Last Breaths, What Is More Gentle Than a Wind in Summe, When Most I Wink, Then Do Mine Eyes Best See, On a Poet's Lips I Slept, Below the Thunders of the Upper Deep, Encinctured With a Twine of Leaves, Midnight's Bell Goes Ting, Ting, Tin, But That Night When on My Bed I Lay, She Sleeps on Soft, Last Breaths, What Is More Gentle Than a Wind in Summer, When Most I Wink, Then Do Mine Eyes Best See, Benjamin Britten Interview

Carol Kimball : Song - A Guide to Art Song Style and Literature

Review: Carol Kimball's comprehensive survey of art song literature has been the principal one-volume American source on the topic. Now back in print after an absence of several years, this newly revised edition includes biographies and discussions of the work of 150 composers of various nationalities, as well as articles on styles of various schools of composition.

Songlist: Acknowledgements, Preface, What is Style?, Components of Style, Melody, Harmony, Rhythm, Accompaniment, Poets - Texts, Secondary Factors of Style, Components of Style Overlap, Developing Style Sheets, Creating Style Sheets for Single Songs, Creating Style Sheets for Individual Composers, Style Sheet Examples for Selected Composers, Literature

Cesare Siepi : Voices of the Opera Series

Review: Italian bass Cesare Siepi (born 1923) is one of the legendary opera singers of the 20th century generally considered to be one of the finest basses of the post-war period. He was a star for decades on the world's great opera stages, including the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala (Milan) and Covent Garden (London). His Met career was extraordinary, with 450 performances spanning 24 consecutive seasons. In 1962, the charismatic Siepi stretched his talents to perform a lead role on Broadway in Bravo Giovanni!, a musical conceived just for him. His professional career was remarkably long, from his debut at age 18 in 1941 until his retirement from the opera stage in the early 1990s. This edition presents 12 signature arias, with Siepi's distinctive interpretations notated in the score and discussed in essays and explanatory notes. A biography of the singer is included.

Songlist: Deh, vieni alla finestra, Ecco il mondo, Ella giammai m'am?, Fin ch'han dal vino, Infelice! e tu credevi, La calunnia ? un venticello, Le veau d'or, O tu, Palermo, terra adorata, Son lo spirito che nega, Vecchia zimarra, senti, Vi ravviso, o luoghi ameni, Vieni, o Levita!... Tu sul labbro de' veggenti

Voicing: Bass
Style: Opera

Enrico Caruso : Voices of the Opera Series

Review: Enrico Caruso rose from a childhood of poverty in Naples to become the first great tenor and superstar of the recorded era. His fearlessly pure, lyric vocalism and heartfelt acting still come through, even on the scratchy old recordings. This collection of arias and songs associated with the tenor includes an interesting biography, an article about his artistry, and notes on the signature Caruso interpretation of each aria, followed by standard vocal/piano editions of all the arias. This collection affords a careful musical consideration of a legendary artist.

Songlist: 'A vucchella (Tosti), Addio, fiorito asil from MADAMA BUTTERFLY (Puccini), Amor ti vieta from FEDORA (Giordano), Celeste Aida from AIDA (Verdi), Che gelida manina from LA BOH?ME (Puccini), Cielo e mar! from LA GIONCONDA (Ponchielli), Core 'ngrato (Cardillo), Dai campi, dai prati from MEFISTOFELE (Boito), E lucevan le stelle from TOSCA (Puccini), Ideale (Tosti), L'alba sep?ra dalla luce l'ombra (Tosti), La donna e mobile from RIGOLETTO (Verdi), Santa Lucia (Cottrau), Una furtiva lagrima from L'ELISIR D'AMORE (Donizetti), Vesti la giubba from I PAGLIACCI (Leoncavallo)

Voicing: Tenor
Style: Opera

Franco Corelli : Voices of the Opera Series

Review: Franco Corelli (8 April 1921 - 29 October 2003) was an Italian tenor who had a major international opera career between 1951 and 1976. Associated in particular with the spinto and dramatic tenor roles of the Italian repertory, he was celebrated universally for his thrilling upper register. Dubbed the "Prince of tenors", Corelli possessed handsome features and a charismatic stage presence which endeared him to audiences. He had a long and fruitful partnership with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City between 1961-1975. He also appeared on the stages of most of the major opera houses in Europe and with opera companies throughout North America. As in the previous volumes in this series, 11 arias from Franco Corelli's signature tenor repertoire is presented with specific interpretive details noted, including melodic variants, breaths, fermatas, and all other nuances. Includes an artist biography, as well as an article about Corelli's unique artistry. In Italian and English.

Songlist: Ah! S?, ben mio...Di quella pira, Come un bel d? di maggio, La fleur que tu m'avais jet?e, La vita ? inferno all'infelice...O tu che in seno agli angeli, Nessun dorma!, Non piangere, Li?!, Se quell guerrier io fossi!...Celeste Aida, Svanir le voci!...Meco all'altar di Venere...Me protegge, S?, fui soldato, Un d? all'azzurro spazio, Una parola sola...Or son sei mesi

Voicing: Tenor
Style: Opera

Frank Pooler : New Choral Notation

Review: Choral music appears to be in a state of transition. Previous periods of transition placed a premium on originality, and often the commonly held melodic-harmonic vocabulary was temporarily abandoned. The same sort of thing is happening now. Today and increasing number of choral composers are more or less inventing their own musical language and the means of notating i. This "new" notation is usually defined, often in a great detail, in a preface to each composition. e have examined a body of this material and extracted the notational symbols which appears with greatest frequency. To clarify some of the illustration we added phonemes where none existed in the original or replaced the composers' phonemic notation with letters from English alphabet. While the symbols included here are only sample of those in current use, we hope that the collection may help bring choral conductors an increased awareness of what is happening in their profession. Young composers may also find it helpful. Hopefully their use of this collection may serve as part of an initial step in the standardization of an expanded choral national system.

Gage Averill : Four Parts, No Waiting

Review: Four Parts, No Waiting investigates the role that vernacular, barbershop-style close harmony has played in American musical history, in American life, and in the American imagination. Starting with a discussion of the first craze for Austrian four-part close harmony in the 1830s, Averill traces the popularity of this musical form in minstrel shows, black recreational singing, vaudeville, early recordings, and in the barbershop revival of the 1930s. In his exploration of barbershop, Averill uncovers a rich musical tradition--a hybrid of black and white cultural forms, practiced by amateurs, and part of a mythologized vision of small-town American life. Barbershop harmony played a central -- and overlooked -- role in the panorama of American music. Averill demonstrates that the barbershop revival was part of a depression-era neo-Victorian revival, spurred on by insecurities of economic and social change. Contemporary barbershop singing turns this nostalgic vision into lived experience. Arguing that the "old songs" function as repositories of idealized social memory, Averill reveals ideologies of gender, race, and class. This engagingly-written, often funny book critiques the nostalgic myths (especially racial myths) that have surrounded the barbershop revival, but also celebrates the civic-minded, participatory spirit of barbershop harmony. The text is accompanied by an audio CD.

Songlist: A Little Close Harmony: A Medley of Nineteenth-Century Harmony, The Golden Era: Quartets in Show Business and the Music Industry, The Lost Chords: The Early Barbershop Revival, On Main Street, U.S.A., Romancing the Tone: Song, Sound, and Significance in Barbershop Harmony

Jay Warner : American Singing Groups

Review: American Singing Groups: A History 1940 to Today is the definitive history of pop vocal groups, encompassing the doo-wop of Dion & the Belmonts, the Motown hits of the Supremes, the surf sound of the Beach Boys, country-rock of Crosby, Stills & Nash, and the slick pop sounds of 'N Sync. Each entry details the group's career, key members, and its influences. With extensive discographies and rare photos, this one-of-a-kind entertaining reference is filled with musical facts that will fascinate fans and collectors. Updated and freshly revised, American Singing Groups also chronicles the revival of the pop groups in the nineties and the new millennium. This is an essential and comprehensive guide to an evolving and ever-popular art form. New bands in this revision include Backstreet Boys, 'N Sync, Destiny's Child and many more.

Jerome Hines : Great Singers on Great Singing

Review: Jerome Hines has interviewed 40 singers, a speech therapist, and a throat specialist to provide this invaluable collection of advice for all singers. This collection includes the commentary of Licia Albanese, Franco Corelli, Placido Domingo, Nicolai Gedda, Marilyn Horne, Sherrill Milnes, Birgit Nilsson, Luciano Pavarotti, Rose Ponselle, Beverly Sills, Joan Sutherland and many others.

Songlist: Licia Albanese, John Alexander, Martina Arroyo, Kurt Baum, Nico Castel, Morton Cooper, Franco Corelli, Fiorenza Cossotto, Regine Crespin, Gilda Cruz-Romo, Cristina Deutekom, Placido Domingo, Pablo Elvira, Lucia Evangelista, Nicolai, Bonaldo Giaotti, Jerome Hines, Marilyn Horne, Cornell MacNeil, James Mc Cracken, Zinka Milanov, Sherrill Milnes, Anna Moffo, Patrice Munsel, Birgit Nilsson, Magda Olivero, Luciano Pavarotti, Jan Peerce, Roberta Peters, Paul Plishka, and more

Joan Conlon : Wisdom, Wit and Will - Women Choral Conductors on Their Art

Review: Women have had a profound impact on the choral arts. This groundbreaking volume is a celebration and affirmation of this critical role, both through history and looking into the future, written by thirteen of the most significant voices in the choral profession. Wisdom, Wit, and Will is a refreshing perspective on the choral field, rebutting conventional attitudes toward conducting and gender, and including distinctive biographies of some of the pioneering female choral conductors. But even more importantly, this book is of tremendous value to anyone seeking fresh insights into the choral conducting profession. Divided into three sections-Our Music, Our Teaching, and Our Lives-this book is about creating the best possible experiences for choral conducting students and choral singe rs. Among just a few examples, Ann Howard Jones discusses "Analyzing the Choral-Orchestral Score," Doreen Rao focuses on "Feminine Perspectives on Conducting and Teaching Choral Music," and Hilary Apfelstadt enlightens us about "Finding Balance: Professional and Personal." This book also includes concise presentations of the score preparation techniques of Robert Shaw, Margaret Hillis, Nadia Boulanger, and many others. What do women want? They want the same things men want, or should want: exciting musical performances, sensitivity to text, attention to sound learning strategies in rehearsal, solid vocal technique, knowledge of the score, and more. Wisdom, Wit, and Will is a wonderful resource for anyone who aspires to develop his or her role as a professional and artistic choral conductor and teacher.

Songlist: Introduction, Analyzing the Choral-Orchestral Score, Must We Sing of Women Only as Men Have Sung?, Building Bridges: Choruses Engaging Communities, Conducting the Choral-Orchestral Work, Passion and Authenticity: A Conversation With Marin Alsop, Women Conductors as Leaders and Mentors, Women, Conductors, and the Tenure Process: What's Up In the Academy, Feminine Perspectives on Conducting and Teaching Choral Music, Teaching Graduate Conductors, Artistry Through Improvisation in the Choral Rehearsal, Finding Balance, Nadia and Me, Biographies of Selected American Women Choral Conductors, Charlene Archibeque, Tamara Brooks, Elaine Brown, Fiora Contino, Margaret Hawkins, Iva Dee Hiatt, Margaret Hillis, Eva Jessye, Colleen Kirk, Alice Parker, Lorna Cooke DeVaron, Jane Hardester

Joel Leach : Music Copyright Basics

Review: What is copyright? This seemingly simple question often causes confusion with its complex answers. In Music Copyright Basics, professor and Expert Copyright Witness Joel Leach answers frequent questions in a straightforward, easy-to-use format. Whether you are searching for a simple answer to a common question or want a general knowledge of the copyright procedure, this book will quickly provide you with the information you want! Music Copyright Basics provides - convenient question-and-answer format - Easy-to-understand answers to all your copyright questions - Coverage of copyright basics - copyright submission process, copyright ownership - copyright and earnings potential, and international copyright - Compact and portable design that keeps information easily at hand.

Songlist: Copyright Basics, Copyright Submission Process, Copyright Ownership, Copyright and Earnings Potential, International Copyright, Glossary, Forms, Circulars, Public Domain Information

John Jacobson : Sign Language For Singers

Review: Music is the universal language, reaching all races and all ages. Now you can enhance this universal language with the beautiful gestures of sign language. With Sign Language for Singers, you will learn over 160 beautiful movements most commonly used by singers. The gestures are alphabetized for ease of use, with easy-to-follow definitions and demonstration photos for further visual reference. The DVD features John Jacobson demonstrating each gesture and with the DVD submenus, you can go directly to the move you desire. Also included are 10 featured songs with John performing the sign language, so you can see first-hand how these beautiful hand movements add meaning and depth to any musical performance. Add another dimension to your performances by incorporating the beautiful art of sign language into your movements with Sign Language for Singers.

Joseph Mussulman : Robert Shaw - Dear People

Review: Few American Musicians have touched more people in more ways than Robert Shaw. In Dear People, Joseph Mussulman deftly places Shaw and his career against the backdrop of developments in American musical history since the 1940s. What emerges most powerfully is the character of Shaw himself. Dear People Chronicles the career of a remarkable man and a gifted musician, whose foremost conviction is that "to be an artist is not the privilege of a few but the necessity of us all."

Songlist: Dear People..., The Fred Waring Glee Club, The Collegiate Chorale: "A Melting Pot That Sings", Choral Renaissance in America, The White-hot Years, The Robert Shaw Chorale, Back to California, Cleveland's Orchestra and Chorus, The RSC in Russia and South America, Recordings and Arrangements, Phoenix in Atlanta, Atlanta and the Cultural Explosion, The Second Battle of Atlanta, "Our Yard of Space - in Our Inch of Time"

Joseph Shaw : The St. Olaf Choir A Narrative

Review: The definitive history of the world-renowned St. Olaf Choir under the direction of F. Melius Christiansen, Olaf Christiansen, Kenneth Jennings, and Anton Armstrong, from its meteoric rise to fame in the late 1920s to its continued leadership as one of America's premier choral ensembles in the world today.

Songlist: The Purple Robes, F. Melius Christiansen, Music At St. Olaf, The Choir Is Born, Tours In The Twenties, Norway And Germany in The 30's, The F. Melius Mode, Olaf C. Christiansen, Transition Years, On Tour With Olaf And Fred, Sing To The Lord With A New Song, Kenneth Jennings, A New Style, European Tours, To The Orient, Anton Armstrong, Focus On The Future, Beautiful Saviour

Linda Lusk / Tom Gerou : The Essential Dictionary of Music Notation

Review: 348 page guide will clearly explain and illustrate notation, for the amateur or professional! This pocket-sized dictionary presents current and correct notation practices in an easy-to-use format. Generously illustrated and concise, this book is essential to any musician looking for a handy reference for the correct notation of music. A most welcome and beneficial source for every musician, whether using a pencil or a computer.

Maria Augusta Trapp : The Story of the Trapp Family Singers

Review: With nearly 1,500 Broadway performances, six Tony Awards, more than three million albums sold, and five Academy Awards, The Sound of Music, based on the lives of Maria, the baron, and their singing children, is as familiar to most of us as our own family history. But much about the real-life woman and her family was left untold. Here, Baroness Maria Augusta Trapp tells in her own beautiful, simple words the extraordinary story of her romance with the baron, their escape from Nazi-occupied Austria, and their life in America. Now with photographs from the original edition.

Songlist: The Chapter Before the First, Just Loaned, Glories of the Past, "The Baron Doesn't Want It...", An Austrian Christmas, "God's Will Hath No Why", Feasts in a Family, A Festival Summer and a Baby, Uncle Peter and His Handbook, An Operation, a Turtle, and a Long Distance Call, Aren't We Lucky!, "Never Again", From Hobby to Profession, And the Lord Said to Abram, On the "American Farmer", The First Ten Years Are the Hardest, Getting Settled, Barbara, What Next?, In Sight of the Statue, Learning New Ways, The Miracle, Merion

Marilyn Horne : Voices of the Opera Series

Review: Marilyn Horne (b. January 16, 1934, Bradford, Pennsylvania) is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer who is particularly associated with the music of Rossini and Handel. She began her career as a light lyric soprano; however, as the years progressed, the voice settled and matured into a mezzo-soprano instrument with a full and rich timbre equipped with extreme flexibility and great size. She specialized in roles requiring a large sound, beauty of tone, excellent breath support, and the ability to execute difficult coloratura passages. This collection features celebrated arias as interpreted by the great Marilyn Horne. In addition to a brief biography, each selection, in standard voice and piano format, is followed by notes which indicate the variants, breaths, fermatas, and all of the nuances that Horne employed to turn these arias into masterpieces of interpretation. A wonderful reference tool for vocal coaches, professional singers and voice students.

Songlist: Belt? crudele (Rossini), Cruda sorte! Amor tirrano! from L'ITALIANA IN ALGERI (Rossini), Oh Patria! - Di tanti palpiti from TANCREDI (Rossini), Il risentimento (Rossini), Il trovatore (Rossini), L'invito (Rossini), Mura felici from LA DONNA DEL LAGO (Rossini), Una voce poco fa from IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA (Rossini)

Voicing: Mezzo-Soprano
Style: Opera

Mark McGrain : Berklee Guide to Music Notation

Review: Learn the essentials of music notation, from fundamental pitch and rhythm placement to intricate meter and voicing alignments. This book also covers the correct way to subdivide rhythms and notate complex articulations and dynamics. This guide will teach you how to create professional manuscrpits and is an excellent resource for both written and computer notation software!

Songlist: Sound Envelopes and the Notational Grid, Fundamental Rhythmic Description, Fundamental Pitch Description, The Notational Grid: Conclusion, Time Signatures, Meter, and Tempo, Rhythmic Subdivision of the Pulse, Rhythmic Subdivision of the Pulse: Continued, Rhythmic Subdivision of the PulseL Concluded, Holds, Pauses and Repeats, Chords, Voiceings and Divisi Parts, Dynamics, Articulation, Ornaments, Appendix I: Names of Instruments with Abbreviations, Appendix II: Score Layout, Appendix III: Instrumental Transpositions, Appendix IV: Glossary of European Musical Terms

Michael Kennedy : The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music

Review: When The Oxford Dictionary of Music first appeared, it was hailed by Music and Musicians as "without question the most comprehensive, detailed, reliable one-volume reference work on music now avaiable in the English language." Extensively revised and expanded for this new edition, The Oxford Dictionary of Music, Fourth Edition is a rich mine of information for lovers of music of all periods and styles, providing over 10,000 entries on musical terms, works, composers, librettists, musicians, singers, and orchestras. The dictionary's coverage is exceptional, providing comprehensive work-lists for major composers, detailed entries on living composers and performers, important choral works as well as descriptions of musical instruments and their histories. Written to appeal to general readers, musicians and musicologists alike, this volume is an indispensable addition to the reference shelf of the concert goer, the record buyer or anyone involved in music, whether amateur or professional.

Musicians Institute - Dallan Beck : Musicians Guide To Recording Vocals

Review: In this one-on-one lesson, Recording Institute of Technology instructor Dallan Beck presents a well thought-out tutorial on recording vocals that all musicians and recording engineers can learn from. He explains microphones, mic placement, compression, equalization, tracking vocals, effects and more in a detailed, yet easy-to-understand way. The accompanying CD contains 80 helpful demonstration tracks.

Songlist: Introductionq, General Advice, Microphones, Mic Placement, Compression, Equalization, Tracking Vocals Effects, Closing & Acknowledgments, CD Index, Answers to Quiz Questions

Nick Strimple : Choral Music in the Twentieth Century

Review: Nick Strimple's all-encompassing survey ranges from 19th-century masters, such as Elgar, to contemporary composers, such as Tan Dun and Paul McCartney. Repertory of every style and level of complexity is critically surveyed and described. This book is an essential resource for choral conductors and a valuable guide for choral singers and other music lovers.

Songlist: A Brief Overview, Austria And Germany, France, Switzerland, and The Low Countries, British Isles, Czech Republic Slovakia, Hungary, And Poland, Russia And Other Former Soviet Republics, Scandinavia And The Baltics, Greece And The Balkans, Italy And The Iberian Peninsula, Africa And The Middle East, Mexico, The Caribbean, Central America, And South America, United States, Canada, Pacific Rim, At Century's End

Scott Yanow : The Jazz Singers Ultimate Guide

Review: The Jazz Singers is an overview of the great vocalists who have sung jazz. By drawing on original interviews conducted exclusively for this book, along with Scott Yanow's extensive knowledge, The Jazz Singers offers fresh and insightful information in its 521 main entries. Other features include a historical overview, a section on jazz vocal groups, and a comprehensive survey of jazz singers in film.

Songlist: The 521 Great Jazz Singers, 198 Jazz Singers of Today, 55 Others Who Have Also Sung Jazz, 30 Jazz Vocal Groups, The Best of Jazz Singers on Film

Varbara Harlow : How To Get Your Choral Composition Published

Review: This is a terrifically valuable book for aspiring choral composers! Barbara Harlow offers very practical approaches and useful informaiton converning both the creative process involved in choral composition and guidelines to the process of publication.

Songlist: Prepare to Compose, Test-Poetry-The Words of a Composition, Creative Decisions, Pitfalls to Avoid - Guideleines to Follow, The Submission, Interacting with a Publisher, Business-like Organization, The Composer's Place in the Business of Music, Appendix

Various Artists : Countertenors

Review: An LWT South Bank Show, presented by Melvyn Bragg, exploring the phenomenon of countertenor singing With its unique, soaring beauty, the high male voice is today enjoying a huge resurgence in popularity. Heirs to the celebrated castrati of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, today's countertenors produce their voices by wholly natural means. In this program international stars Michael Chance, Andreas Scholl and James Bowman, as well as pop star Jimmy Somerville, shed light on the appeal of the male falsetto. Meanwhile, experts such as Michael White place today's countertenors in their historical context. What emerges is a compelling portrayal of an unmistakable vocal style, rooted in church and operatic tradition, yet completely up-to-date, resonating louder today than at any time in the last two hundred years. Following the South Bank Show is a 70-minute program of specially recorded performance material, showcasing the extraordinary talents of today's most popular countertenors.

Songlist: Never Weather-Beaten Saile, Sorrow Stay: Can She Excuse My Wrongs?, Flow My Tears, Since I First Saw Your Face, Sound The Trumpet; O Dive Custos, Strike the Viol; Evening Hymn, Ode on the Death of Henry Purcell, Cantata BWV 170, Cum Dederit, Stabat Mater, Ombra Mai Fu (Xerxes), Dove Sei; Civi Tiranno (Rodelinda), When I Was One-and-Twenty, Is My Team Ploughing?

Virginia Waring : Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians

Review: Famous American, chorus leader, showman, glee club pioneer, golf tournament host, and entrepreneur--the man who taught America how to sing! Fred Waring was all of these and more, an enigma who held together a major musical organization for sixty-seven years, a man at ease on stage but loathe to sit through meetings, a man so earnest in his patriotism that by the 1980s he was considered almost an endangered species. Virginia Waring, his wife of thirty years, chronicles both his many achievements and his shortcomings with candor and affection in Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians. Her gracefully written biography traces Waring's childhood in Tyrone, Pennsylvania, his rise to fame as a bandleader, development and promotion of the Waring Blendor, leadership of Shawnee Press, concert tours, radio and television programs, and his legacy of the highest possible standards in music as in life.This intimate portrait of an American legend is accompanied by a compact disc with twenty-eight selections recorded by the Pennsylvanians over a forty-year period. They range from Adam Geibel and Tom Waring's "Sleep," recorded in 1928, through Cole Porter's "Love for Sale," Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach's "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," the traditional "Sometimes I Feel like a Motherless Child" and "Dry Bones," to Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson's "September Song" and Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein's "Some Enchanted Evening." A native Californian, Virginia Waring is a concert pianist who studied in Paris with Robert Casadesus and toured for ten years as the Morley half of the famed duo-pianists Morley and Gearhart. She was married to Fred Waring from 1954 until his death in 1984.

Songlist: Prologue: The Man Who Taught America How To Sing, The Victorian Warings, Entrepenuer, Penn State, The Brash Kid from Tyrone, Milk Trains, Stairway to Fame, Paris, Fred Loses His Shirt, Ballet, Classics, and the Roxyettes, Radio Days, Henry Ford & Co., The Legalities of Interpretation, The Waring Blendor, Burgeoning Empire, Hollywood, "A Cigarette, Sweet Music, and You", My Debut, For The Sake of One Singer, Music Worship, Television, The Anti-Semitic Rumor, Life with Fred, Golf, "On The Road Again", Ike and the Famous, Crucible of Professionals, Stroke, Timing, Phaetons, Zephyrs, and Model A Fords, and more

Weston Noble : Creating the Special World: A Collection of Lectures

Review: Creating the Special World is a collection of lectures that epitomize the teachings of Weston Noble, on of the most influential leaders in choral music of the past 55 years. His enthusiasm emanates from the pages, providing insight into his artistry.

Songlist: The Special World Of Choral Music, Choral Pedgogy, Stylistic Awareness, Choral Music: A Retrospective

Will Friedwald : Jazz Singing: America's Great Voices From Bessie Smith To Bebop And Beyond

Review: This comprehensive study of jazz singing is a revelation to anyone who owns at least one jazz recording and a must for the serious jazz enthusiast. Friedwald traces the growth and development of jazz, discusses performers who have never been thought of as jazz singers, and looks at contemporary artists who have incorporated jazz into their music. 16-page insert. "It's not often that a critic manages to redefine a field, but that's just what Will Friedwald accomplishes. There is simply no better guide to the art of jazz singing."- Entertainment Weekly. "Jazz Singing, indispensable as a reference source, is also a highly readable account of the dazzling phenomenon of an American popular song tradition of the past seven decades. Refreshing, offbeat - and it swings." - Boston Globe

Songlist: Preface: Definitions, Forebears: The Birth and The Blues, Mr. Satch and Mr. Cros: Louis Armstrong and Bing Crosby, The First Generation: The Late Twenties and Early Thirties, Cult of the White Goddess: Mildred Bailey, Connee Boswell, and Lee Wiley, Sing Me A Swing Song! - Canaries of the Hellenic Era, Lady Day and Lady Time: Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, Brothers and Sisters: The Early Hot Vocal Groups, The Conquest of the Crooners: Pop Singing in the Postwar Era, Modernism I: Sing A Song of Bebop, Modernism 2: Ballads, Baritones, and B., Modernism 3: Torme, O'day, and the Vo-Cool School, Sinatra! - And Other Swingin' Lovers, Singing Horns: Jack Teagarden to Chet Baker, Revolt of the Philistines: Problems and Answers in the Sixties, Present Tense: The Past Predicted, the Future Re-Created, Selected Discography: Further Definitions, Aknowledgements: "Additions to Further Definitions", Index