My Updated Recommended Reading List

My high school students are so busy that I rarely get asked to give them more things to do.  But for those rare times that a student does ask what they can read, or if a book on this list relates to something we are talking about, I like to have a list that I can give them. This list is certainly not a comprehensive list of everything important to singers, but I think the books on the list can work well for young singers or at least give them a glimpse of the possibilities that await them.

What Every Singer Needs to Know about the Body by Melissa Malde, MaryJean Allen, and Kurt-Alexander Zeller
The Perfect Wrong Note:  Learning to Trust Your Musical Self by William Westney
A Soprano on Her Head by Eloise Ristad
The Singers’ Ego by Lynn Eustis
The Inner Voice by Renee Fleming
Song by Carol Kimball
More than Singing by Lotte Lehmann
Interpretation of French Song by Pierre Bernac
The Art of the Song Recital by Shirlee Emmons and Stanley Sonntag
Power Performance for Singers by Shirlee Emmons and Alma Thomas
Auditioning for Musical Theatre by Fred Silver
The Artist’s Way and The Vein of Gold by Julia Cameron
If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland
Letters to a Young Poet by Rainier Maria Rilke
Finding Vocal Artistry by Glenda Maurice

Both of these articles are available for purchase.  Follow the link here and then click on the article title.  You will then be given more information about how to purchase the article.  

“Some Personal Thoughts on Artistry” by Glenda Maurice.  Journal of Singing.  Vol. 53, No. 4 March/April 1997 pages 7-10

“The Composer and the Singer” by Dominick Argento.  The NATS Bulletin.  May 1977.  Pages 18-31.