Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 272
•
Trim: 6 x 9
978-1-5381-0589-4 • Paperback • February 2019 • $48.00 • (£37.00)
978-1-5381-0590-0 • eBook • February 2019 • $45.50 • (£35.00)
Martha Elliott has been a member of the Performance Faculty at Princeton University since 1985. She has taught courses and workshops in early music performance, and coached baroque opera productions at Princeton and elsewhere. Her performing career has featured a wide variety of repertoire and styles including a specialty in early music.
Chapter 1 – Historical Overview of the Repertoire
Chapter 2 – Singing and Voice Science, Scott McCoy
Chapter 3 – Vocal Health for the Early Music Singer, Wendy LeBorgne
Chapter 4 – Grandfathers of Voice Pedagogy
Chapter 5 – Elements of Baroque Style
Chapter 6 – It’s All Chamber Music
Chapter 7 – Know the Score
Chapter 8 – Using All the Tools
Appendix A – So You Want to Be a Consort Singer?, Gabriel Crouch
Appendix B – Singing with Players, Mary Benton, Patricia Hlafter, Judith Klotz & Amy Warren
Appendix C – Approximating the Past, Jamie Reuland
The main emphasis of So You Want to Sing Early Music is to highlight the numerous styles of vocal repertoire of the 17th and 18th centuries, ranging from solo songs with lute to secular and sacred cantatas to five- or six-part consort music and even to early opera. This also helps illuminate the diversity of vocal skills that are called for in this wide-ranging era. Arguably, however, the book’s greatest attribute is the context it provides. Elliott expertly reveals the styles and trends that evolved over centuries to form our current understanding of baroque performance practice. In this way, So You Want to Sing Early Music serves as a thorough introductory guide to the history, vocal approach, and style of early music. Reviewed by Brian Maternach.— Classical Singer Magazine
Taking on the complex and often confusing subject of early music performance and practice, Martha Elliott has written an invaluable resource for singers, teachers, and coaches alike. This book is both a terminal resource and a jumping off place for continued exploration of this vast musical treasury.— William Burden, voice faculty, Mannes College of Music and The Juilliard School
This is an essential volume for singers, teachers, and even conductors of early music at any level. Packed with information, suggestions, resources, and illustrative examples—and invaluable bonus chapters—it clearly and comprehensively delineates the many musical and practical considerations this enticing repertoire compels us to make.
— Ryan Brandau, artistic director, Amor Artis, Princeton Pro Musica, and Monmouth Civic Chorus
In sum, Elliott’s book on singing early music is outstanding. . . Elliott has provided an excellent introduction for singers beginning to engage with this music, and she even offers new perspectives to those well-versed in the repertoire.
— Early Music America