Product Details

• Actors: Donna Mcelroy
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Hal Leonard
• DVD Release Date: June 3, 2003
• Run Time: 51 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00009P1MW
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #53,246 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Almost a Complete Waste, August 30, 2006

By	Brian Surratt - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This DVD is sketchy at best, and shows almost no actual technique. You get to watch people exercise their voices, but it is completely unorganized and uneducational. I would not recommend this to anyone, unless you want to buy mine, in which case it's great!

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Impressively Useful DVD, August 16, 2005

By	Monnikue McCall "Monnikue" (CA) - See all my reviews

I am a young music teacher and I am always looking for new techniques to teach my students. This DVD is excellent for many reasons. It talks about practice routines, breathing techniques, vocal and more. This book has really helped me understand the body related to singing. It has also helped my students improve their singing. I would commend this DVD to anyone who is interested in working on their vocal techniques. Enjoy! Also check out The Contemporary Singer by Anne Peckham.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Become a more powerful singer, July 27, 2007

By	Karen Chung (Taipei, Taiwan) - See all my reviews

I think this DVD offers amazing value - you get several professional singing lessons for under twenty bucks. McElroy concentrates on breathing and breath control, and if you come away from this DVD with a few solid exercises to help you improve your breath management while singing, you will have gotten your money's worth (how many breaths did you need to draw to finish this sentence?).

McElroy offers a general approach on how to make up your own vowel exercises, rather than assigning you specific ones to memorize. She gives pointers on taking care of your voice (e.g. start humming right after you get up to loosen phlegm and warm up, rather than coughing or clearing your throat; and avoid coffee - it dehydrates). She also provides useful suggestions on how to manage the break from chest to head voice and back while singing.

I found McElroy's example itself a source of inspiration: her powerful voice, confident rhythm and how both are so much a part of her that her singing seems to just happen by itself, smoothly, beautifully and *right*. There is valuable information and advice in everything she says - but you really have to pay close attention and think about it carefully. If you're only half-listening you may think you've heard it all before and not "hear" the intended message. And of course you need to *practice*, not just sit and watch and then forget everything you just learned.

I was also impressed that the example song used in the teaching was written by McElroy herself. This got the producers around copyright issues, but it was also well suited to the singing style McElroy is trying to teach.