Customer Reviews

Practical Method of Italian Singing: For Soprano or Tenor

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The premise behind Vaccai's method is similar to that of the great Corri. While the latter tunes one's intervals through the correlation between various chords and the messa di voce, Vaccai composed short songs to guide the voice. Corri trains the voice; Vaccai leads one to sing, say, a trill, in the context of a song; and the end result is singing Verdi with ease.

In Italy Vaccaj's volume is available in a Ricordi edition edited by Mr Battaglia, but I guess and hope the real content, meaning the wonderful little arias, is just the same.

First of all, unless you already have a clearly defined vocal range, I suggest you buy the edition for mezzo/baritone, whose range is really a medium one and is good for nearly every voice. Later on, you can buy the edition more suitable to your register.

This small booklet is small in size only.
A beloved textbook, it should be the basis for anyone wishing to train as a singer.
The short, apparently simple arias, are the masterpiece of a genius didactitian: every note, every interval, every sillable of the text is perfect and perfectly suited to educate the inexperienced singer. Those who despise the text as too simple should be ashamed of their musical skills: there is nothing simple here. The arias can be sung by beginners but to sing them properly you have to be a perfectly accomplished artist.
Once you have completed the course you will be able to declare yourself competent in singing.

Another fact is that the arias are beautiful. Vaccaj was not a great composer but he was a wonderful craftsman. All the short arias are small gems, very pleasing to the ear, with nice piano score.

Last but not least this method will be extremely useful to pianists too: technically it is not difficult but it is a wonderful way to learn how to accompany a singer, a very difficult skill.

I have been using this method for the last couple of months and I cannot get tired of it. You will have the most useful buy of your singing career for a couple of dollars. Do not miss it.

I have used Vaccai as a young classical singer and then have references and taught out of it as a Voice Teacher for years. The exercises are more like small songs. Each "song" concentrates on developing a different part of the voice for example cadenzas, trills etc... They are not classic vocal warm ups. You need to warm up a bit before you attempt them. I would use them after a warm up and before singing through your repertoire.

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