Customer Reviews

Great Singers on Great Singing: A Famous Opera Star Interviews 40 Famous Opera Singers on the Technique of Singing

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'm a mezzo soprano with more than 40 years of performance experience and I learned new things when I read this book. It's not for beginners as the technical references would be confusing. But for the experienced singer who always wants to learn and improve there is a wealth of information. On the first read through I just examined what the mezzos had to say...a good way to get info quickly for your particular voice type...then I sat down and read it all. This will be a permanent part of my music library.

I read this book when I was young (borrowed it from the Library) then bought it later. At the time I first read it, I was studying singing myself and I really wanted to make sense of what teachers were saying and what great singers had to say about singing. I found the book wonderfully insightful, but completely contradictory. It seemed so few singers agreed with one another. It was like black was white to some of them. The descriptions of the passagio left me more than confused, "Making the throat space larger by making it smaller?" Or Corelli's idea of shoving your tongue down your throat to hold the larynx low (a thing that literally choked me!).

I concluded that there were as many ways of singing as there were singers. And NONE of their insight helped me one bit in understanding my own voice teacher (who I left because in the end, I was getting no where, and only getting a sore throat).

Once I had found a great teacher (a former very famous Wagnerian soprano) who really seemed to understand about freeing the voice, I began to understand what things meant. She was able to tell me what the different terms people used meant, and that sometimes terms that sound in contradiction really were explaining the same thing. At this point, I purchased the book and read it again. With this new insight I was able to make more sense of what the various singers were saying. It is true, they still contradicted each other as far as their methods, but at least I was able to see they were still talking about achieving the same things. Some of the singers were using the same technique I was being taught, and they explained it well enough (though in different terms) so I could see what they were all about. I also listened to their recordings and could hear the same things I was being taught.

In the end, though the book was written to help curious people understand what makes these particular singers "wonderful", again one must never use it to teach yourself or anyone else proper singing technique. If you used all you read, you would tie your throat into a knot.

For me, what I found most interesting was learning what these various singers were trying to achieve in their singing, and that was very insightful and beneficial. Even Jerome Hines shares a time period where he lost his confidence (and as far as I can learn, I think he had about the longest active singing career of any singer in living memory), where he actually when to see a therapist to discover what suddenly was overcoming him and ruining his ability to produce like he used to. The psychological aspects of singing are seldom talked about in any technique, but he reveals some super important ideas about what and how we feel about ourselves and how they can actually destroy what we are trying to do (and that bad technique doesn't even have to be a part of that).

No matter the real value of the book, I have to say that what is written in these interviews is often the closest we will ever come to what these singers thought about when dealing with technique and singing, and some, like Sutherland, openly admit they really can't explain what they do and only have vague understanding of what is actually going on (and yet, with all this lack of really understanding her own technique, when retired and in old age, this woman would sit in masters classes and judge good singing -- perhaps she could hear what was good, but obviously even throughout her own career couldn't figure out for herself why it is good).

I am glad he wrote this book, just because it is interesting to read, but like I say, you really do need some vocal study background to really figure out what they are talking about, and even then, there is no guarantee what they say will make that much sense.

What to say about this book?

Jerome Hines, in my view one of the great singers of this century, in his long career as a professional singer, got to work with and meet some of the greatest voices in recent history.

Mr. Hines got responses from these great artists, and collected them in a book as an inestimable resource for the rest of us, and I am truly grateful for having had the chance to share in what they brought to the world of music and vocal performance.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in vocal performance or vocal pedagogy, or anyone who would love to read about some of the great voices of our time having a friendly chat about their lives and art with another great artist.

Hines, at a time when he needed vocal advice himself, asked his operatic peers to tell him just how they sing. Their unguarded answers are greatly revealing, and greatly useful to the aspiring singer; that's why this book has been in demand for decades.

Proving once again that there is no "just follow these simple steps and you'll be a great performing vocalist" recipe to greatness. Through many interviews with accomplished singers, this book proves that each artist must struggle (even with great talent in hand) to find their own unique way to vocal greatness. Many of the interviews confirm the universal vocal truths we all know too well. But there are also some unique pearls of wisdom and insight from highly accomplished vocalists which makes this book well worth the read.

This has long been one of my favourite books on singing. I lent my copy to a fellow singer and never saw it again. Fortunately I recently managed to buy a second-hand first edition, and this copy is never going to leave my house. If you are a singer, it is one of those books that you will want to read again and again at various points in your career, gaining more insight from it at each reading and as your experience grows. Jerome Hines interviewed a selection of forty opera singers - including Domingo, Pavarotti, Ponselle and Sutherland (to name four of the best known) - and prompted them to voice their opinions, experiences, impressions, sensations, tricks of the trade and routines on what is so often invisible, intangible and elusive about the art of singing. He sensibly chose, for the most part, singers who were well into their years of prime or nearing the end of their careers rather than young stars who might not have acquired enough experience to be suitably analytical about their art. What is so endlessly fascinating about this book is what has to be inferred rather than what is actually stated. The reader is often left to try to imagine what the interviewee could possibly mean when he (in this case Nicolai Gedda) said in response to a question about what he feels when he sings a high note: "I think it's a double kind of movement ... of working of muscles ... even up a little. It's both." This is the kind of stuff that a singer will ponder for many a year, and one wishes that Hines could have been just a little bit more probing at times. Nevertheless I still give him five stars because it was such an original idea for a book. (A similar kind of book by was written in 1998 by Helena Matheopoulos about the current crop of female opera stars, but it is aimed at a wider audience and its focus is more on repertoire and roles and less on the technicalities of vocal production.)

At one level the book is now becoming slightly dated, as many of the forty have passed away. On the other hand, we have recordings of all of them to keep their voices alive, and these interviews will gain in value as they gradually acquire the status of a historical document, especially in the case of those singers who did not write about their art. As good singing is timeless, there is much of interest for serious student of vocal technique, and there is much to glean between the lines. One wonders what other gems Hines might have recorded during those interviews which didn't make it into the book. Sadly, as he died in 2003, we shall probably never know.

Also included are two useful chapters by a speech therapist and a laryngologist.

A book that interviews 40 famous opera singers including well known singers suh as Pavarotti, Domingo, Corelli, Sutherland, Horne, Milnes etc. I think that Jerome Hines( a respected basso singer himself) has left an important work behind. The work is "The Great Singers On Singing." There hasn't been another book like it ever since when it comes to interviewing opera singers. It's a great book to have as a classical vocal student or teacher. The book reveals famous opera singers opinions regarding career, performing, diction, passagio, methods, range and the mental aspects of dealing with singing. Singing is hard to explain, which is why a good teacher will guide you for your own interpretation through appliction . Some of the singers are vague in their descriptions when it comes to explaining a certain vocal matter, and other singers explain clear as a bell. There are also long interviews with Dr Leo P. Reckford and Dr Morton Cooper that are valuable. These Doctors have great knowledge about the throat and vocal cords, and lay down physiological explanations. These kind of interviews along with the famous singers makes this book complete. Another reason why this book is so enjoyable is cause you can feel that Jerome Hines has a strong curiosity of what makes another singer have great vocal production. The questions asked by Hines are questions that singers would ask. He wants to know their secrets, their vulnerabilities, their interpretations, and he actually gets answers more so than he bargained for. It's very hard to find a book, or articles on the internet that gives away singers' opinion regarding their technique. This treasurable book should go for reprint. I have read over a dozen books when it comes to the art of singing. If I had to keep one vocal book this would be it. The reason for it is you'll find that not all singers in this book agree on the approach of what they consider good technique, but the disagreements here are not drastic and that is the reality of singing. Not one book can really show you how to sing. You can only apply the principles to when you actually start practicing. In the journey of becoming a singer you also will find your own opinion about what great singing is. That is why I think this book is valuable cause it interviews singers who went through the process. A great book that is entertaining as well as informative. This is the kind of book that you will re-read a chapter or a paragraph or whatever you are looking for for the rest of your life.

This is a fabulous book. I have read it several times, and I still learn something new each time I pick it up. What an opportunity to read what the great masters have to say about their art. It should be required reading for all singers!

Jerome Hines interviewed about 40 opera singers for this book, among which are the most famous from 20th century. Each interview is around 5 pages long, going over the fundamental issues of singing technique: breathing, support, and placement, while going over each singer's personal story. It's an easy read, wittingly written, and very enjoyable. I think this book would be ideally suited to singers who have studied for a couple of years and can provide conviction for the technical issues they are doing right and an idea of how to tackle, or ask, about the issues they aren't sure of.

This book was recommended by Rebecca Cook-Carter in a master class of hers that I attended. I've loved every page I read! The book is essential for any aspiring singer who wishes to have a better understanding of vocal technique.