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So You Want to Sing Folk Music

A Guide for Performers

Valerie Mindel

So many who love to sing are drawn to the immediacy and essential simplicity of the music we commonly call folk. Folk music, in fact, can serve as the perfect entry point for those just starting on their singing careers because of the ways in which it sidesteps the strictures of classical forms without giving up the fundamentals of professional singing techniques.

In So You Want to Sing Folk Music, singer and writer Valerie Mindel demystifies this sprawling genre, looking at a variety of mainly traditional American musical styles as well as those of the folk revival that continues in various forms to this day. The aim is to help the fledgling singer better understand the scope of folk music and find his or her voice in the genre, looking at the “how” of creating a vocal sound that reflects a folk-based style. The book looks at specific repertories and ways of approaching them in terms of both working up material and performing it. It also looks at some of the realities of folk music in the twenty-first century that affect both amateurs and professionals. Additional chapters by Scott McCoy, Wendy LeBorgne, and Matthew Edwards address universal questions of voice science and pedagogy, vocal health, and audio enhancement technology.

The So You Want to Sing seriesis produced in partnership with the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Like all books in the series, So You Want to Sing Folk Music features online supplemental material on the NATS website. Please visit www.nats.org to access style-specific exercises, audio and video files, and additional resources.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 258 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-1-4422-6561-5 • Paperback • February 2017 • $50.00 • (£38.00)

978-1-4422-6562-2 • eBook • February 2017 • $47.50 • (£37.00)

Series: So You Want to Sing

Subjects: Music / Instruction & Study / Voice, Music / Genres & Styles / Folk & Traditional, Music / Instruction & Study / General

So You Want to Sing Folk Music

A Guide for Performers

Paperback

eBook

Summary

So many who love to sing are drawn to the immediacy and essential simplicity of the music we commonly call folk. Folk music, in fact, can serve as the perfect entry point for those just starting on their singing careers because of the ways in which it sidesteps the strictures of classical forms without giving up the fundamentals of professional singing techniques.

In So You Want to Sing Folk Music, singer and writer Valerie Mindel demystifies this sprawling genre, looking at a variety of mainly traditional American musical styles as well as those of the folk revival that continues in various forms to this day. The aim is to help the fledgling singer better understand the scope of folk music and find his or her voice in the genre, looking at the “how” of creating a vocal sound that reflects a folk-based style. The book looks at specific repertories and ways of approaching them in terms of both working up material and performing it. It also looks at some of the realities of folk music in the twenty-first century that affect both amateurs and professionals. Additional chapters by Scott McCoy, Wendy LeBorgne, and Matthew Edwards address universal questions of voice science and pedagogy, vocal health, and audio enhancement technology.

The So You Want to Sing seriesis produced in partnership with the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Like all books in the series, So You Want to Sing Folk Music features online supplemental material on the NATS website. Please visit www.nats.org to access style-specific exercises, audio and video files, and additional resources.

Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 258 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-1-4422-6561-5 • Paperback • February 2017 • $50.00 • (£38.00)

978-1-4422-6562-2 • eBook • February 2017 • $47.50 • (£37.00)

Series: So You Want to Sing

Subjects: Music / Instruction & Study / Voice, Music / Genres & Styles / Folk & Traditional, Music / Instruction & Study / General

Author

Valerie Mindel is a longtime performer and teacher of various American folk styles, including early country, old-time, and bluegrass. She has taught harmony singing classes and workshops for twenty years across the United States and abroad.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 – You Know It When You Hear It
Chapter 2 – Vocal Nitty-Gritty
Chapter 3 – Sweet Harmony
Chapter 4 – Working Up a Song
Chapter 5 – Putting It Out There
Chapter 6 – Singing and Voice Science, Scott McCoy
Chapter 7 – Vocal Health and the Singer of Folk Music, Wendy LeBorgne
Chapter 8 – Using Audio Enhancement Technology, Matthew Edwards

Reviews

The strength of the “So You Want to Sing” series is that it offers a resource for performers who are interested in a specific genre of music. So You Want to Sing Folk Music is no exception. The author is experienced and knowledgeable about the genre, and she identifies the characteristics and demands of folk music. Singers who are interested in singing this repertoire will benefit from reading this volume.
— Journal of Singing

[The book]'s central chapters provide a no-nonsense and non-patronising guide to the "vocal nitty-gritty". . . In the process of doing so, Mindel. . . also usefully invites the reader. . . to reflect on issues that can all too easily get forgotten or overlooked. . . . [the book] presents a genuinely useful compendium of information and advice from which the already experienced and confident singer is likely to learn plenty.

— fRoots

So You Want to Sing Folk Music

A Guide for Performers

Valerie Mindel

So You Want to Sing Folk Music

A Guide for Performers

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