Product Description

With new chapters, fully updated and revised, Choral Pedagogy is intended to aid the voice teacher, choral conductor, church musician, and professional or amateur singer develop strategies for lifelong singing. It concisely and clearly presents the principles of voice pedagogy from the perspective of both conducting and voice science in a very user-friendly fashion with helpful charts and simple anatomic diagrams. It offers teaching methods from history and philosophy, medical and voice science, and pedagogical concepts from active musical experts. Special attention is given to the needs of amateur singers and conductors. Topics covered include choral diction, posture and seating, rehearsal practices, and matters of vocal health. This text is a valuable resource for students of choral conducting, music education, church music or choral singing.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #461003 in Books
• Published on: 2005-11-18
• Released on: 2005-11-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

About the Author
Brenda Smith, D.M.A. teaches studio voice, diction and vocal pedagogy at the University of Florida in Gainesville. She has been widely recognized for her contributions to the concept of lifelong singing through proper voice care. A lyric soprano with special interests in the recital and concert repertoire, she was translator, collaborator and assistant to Dr Wilhelm Ehmann and Dr Frauke Haasemann, the pedagogues whose work in Germany and the United States developed the concept of voice building for choirs. Dr Smith works regularly as consultant, clinician, and conductor with amateur and professional choirs throughout the world and has been associated with the choirs of St. Ignatius Loyola, the Central City Chorus, and the Dessoff Choirs in New York City, the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia, the Cathedral Choral Society of the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., as well as the choirs of the Epiphany Cathedral in Venice, Florida. Robert Thayer Sataloff, M.D., D.M.A. is Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Jefferson Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University and Chairman of the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the Graduate Hospital. He is President-Elect of the American Laryngological Association; Chairman of the Speech, Voice and Swallowing Committee of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery; and Chairman of the Voice Foundation. A prolific author and contributor to over 80 books and some 450 articles and learned papers, he is also Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Voice and the Ear, Nose and Throat.

Customer Reviews

Choral Pedagogy Reviewed
This book is a wonderful text for understanding the development and use of the human voice. While the text is titled Choral Pedagogy, the text can also be useful for Speech Pathologists, Voice Actors or anyone who deals with the voice professionally for a living. The sections by Dr. Smith are clear and concise and she communicates her information to reader with ease. Translating her material to practical application is easy and highly beneficial within a short time Dr. Sataloff's contributions are mainly in the area of the physical construction of the human voice and it is helpful if you already have some background in anatomy to understand his chapters, but anyone with a college level science background should understand it. The illustrations of the human pharynx and the photographs could have been a little clearer, but some of that could have been a result of the publisher's choice to print the book in a smaller than average text size. Overall an excellent text, and one that I hope would become a standard for this area.

Every choral teacher needs this one!
This book does not teach you how to conduct a four-pattern or sequence your rehearsal; it does tell you about vocal anatomy, vocal health and pedagogy for the choir director who is a pianist or instrumentalist. The book is also useful for voice teachers and singers. The book contains excellent information on anatomy and physiology of the voice; medical care of disorders; arts medicine and risks (such as the risk of deafness in the left ear of a violinist); voice building; diction; and rehearsal techniques. The book's diagrams and photographs are extremely helpful, and its information is clear, straight-forward, and thorough, yet concise. This book is an extremely useful tool and ought to be on the shelf of every choral teacher.

Every music teacher needs this one!
This is not a book that teaches you how to conduct a four-pattern or sequence your rehearsal; it does teach vocal anatomy, vocal health, and pedagogy, and is especially good for the choral director who is a pianist or instrumentalist. It can also be useful for voice teachers and singers. The book contains information on anatomy and physilogy of the voice; medical care of voice disorders; frequently asked questions about vocal health; different kinds of art medicine and risks (such as the risk of deafness in the left ear of a violinist); voice building; choral diction; and rehearsal techniques. This is an excellent book! Its diagrams and photographs are extremely helpful, and its information is clear, straight-forward, and thorough, yet concise (only 160 pages). This book is an extremely useful tool and ought to be on the shelf of every choral teacher.