The Singing and Acting Handbook: Games and Exercises for the Performer [Paperback]

Thomas De Mallet Burgess (Author), Nicholas Skilbeck (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0415166586 | ISBN-13: 978-0415166584 | Publication Date: December 1999

This book is an unique resource which directly addresses all performers who sing and act, whether in opera, musical theatre or music-theatre. By looking beyond the separate acts of singing and acting the performer builds up a greater awareness of how the two interrelate to form a single powerful expression.
Using games, exercises and discussion, The Singing and Acting Handbook takes a stimulating approach to the demands made upon today's performers, and will equip both the experienced professional and the student to take full advantage of rehearsal and performance. With advice on approaches to learning music, interpreting scores, and building characters, it provides a long-awaited innovative resource for performers, directors, workshop leaders and teachers.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This collaborative effort by Oxford don and musical director de Mallet Burgess and acclaimed international musical director, composer, and teacher Skilbeck is the result of the authors' efforts to develop practical and effective exercises to merge music and drama in the study and performance of musical theater, opera, operetta, vaudeville, and cabaret. Following an introductory section establishing the constituent elements of music, drama, and the workshop process through which the techniques can be incorporated, the authors delineate over 100 exercises for fundamentals: rhythm, pulse, and time; music, text, and score; and character, emotion, and sound. Instructions for each workshop-tested exercise are prefaced by its title, goal, methodology, risk factor, and necessary resources. This wonderful compendium of exercises clearly supports the authors' basic tenet that musical theater is greater than the sum of its usually segregated parts. Certain to become a standard in this discipline.
-Barry X. Miller, Austin P.L.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

The Singing and Acting Handbook is an excellent reference resource intended to create and keep alive the requisite self-knowledge, imagination, and creativity to distinguish the especially talented performer from the thousands of others..
–Choice

Teachers of music theater or opera will want this in their libraries for the use of students at all levels..
–Choice

This wonderful compendium of exercises clearly supports the authors' basic tenet that musical theater is greater than the sum of its usually segregated parts. Certain to become a standard in this discipline.
–Library Journal, February 15, 2000

For any institution serious about integrating singing and acting, this book should be the first port of call.
–John Caird, Honarary Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, Co-director of 'Les Miserables', London and New York

[A] groundbreaking collection of exercises.
–Paul Reeve, The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 204 pages
• Publisher: Routledge (December 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415166586
• ISBN-13: 978-0415166584
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #961,594 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is a revelation!, April 15, 2001

By 

Jackolucky (London, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Singing and Acting Handbook: Games and Exercises for the Performer (Paperback)

I think any musical theatre or opera performer will relate to the accessible and sympathetic way De Mallet Burgess and Skilbeck communicate their ideas. They have a real insider's grasp of their subject. I've had a go at some of the exercises and I am already becoming aware of aspects of my stage work that I know will benefit. What makes this book so enjoyable is that it is written from the performer's point of view. There is never any attempt to mystify. Quite the opposite - the gauntlet of detailed technical excellence is thrown down without ever forgetting that the ultimate aim is to put on a jolly good show; probably underfunded; possibly underrehearsed but with heart and soul. Excellent!