Customer Reviews

Singer's Italian: A Manual of Diction and Phonetics

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

 

 

Colorni's book has stood the test of time. But it's complexity is indeed more suitable for aspiring classical singers rather than amateur singers. Colorni approaches everything in much detail, which is both good and not so good! The information is there for the taking but the format is somewhat intimidating. Although the Italian language seems to be one of the easiest for singers to pronounce, it is full of exceptions at every turn. Whether there is a better way around this subject remains to be found. In the meantime. Colorni's book is the one to choose for detailed information on this subject.

Eileen Davis, Author of Sing French

Of course, you need to study the IPA a little to understand some of the terminology that is used in this book, but it is well worth it in the long run. I get frustrated with people that say they don't need to worry about IPA transcriptions; they just know how to pronounce it... Well, that attitude will allow a certain amount of success as Italian is a relatively easy language to pronounce for Anglophones, but if it is your desire at all to be a singer - a good singer - buy this book. It instructs very well, gives perfectly relevant practices, and was a joy to study. The vowel chart is a little outdated; there have certainly been advances in phonetics since it was written, but they work. The other lyric diction books from this same series are also of equal level.

This book was recommended to me by my Vocal Diction Professor. It is a very good and thorough book, but it is necessary to have a fairly good grasp at IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet). Some of it was a little over my head, but my teacher was able to help me out. It has some great lists and pronunciation guides. I recommend this to people who are serious about singing in Italian correctly and have someone they can go to if they do not already know IPA.

This book contradicts itself. First it says there are no dictionaries that have correct IPA (which is reassuring--NOT), then it says in the middle that we should consult a dictionary for proper pronunciation. By no means should you tackle this book without a teacher who actually knows Italian and from whom you can hear it being spoken because this doesn't come with recordings of how to actually pronounce words, which would be most helpful. I guess that's just the limitation of any diction book without a CD. But anyway this book is still ridiculous because it also doesn't clarify the difference between open and closed Os and Es. Sure, it really may not be that big of an issue because you can't really tell open/closed Os and Es anyway when they are sung, but this book is also just too convoluted. Find a good Italian diction teacher.

I did not expect the book to be so detailed and comprehensive. It would perhaps be useful for a professional opera singer, but for a fellow such as myself who takes a private singing lesson once a week and does all his exercises and songs in Italian, this book is simply too much. I wouldn't know where to begin with this book. It has entire chapters on topics that I would be satisfied to have a two paragraph explanation of. In order for it to be useful to me, it would have to be re-organized so that the important points stand out and can be read whilst skipping over the lesser points. In this day and age, a book with such ambitious pretensions as this should really include a CD that has examples of males and females actually pronouncing operatic Italian.