Complete Handbook of Voice Training

Richard Alderson has written a practical guidebook for singers and especially teachers of voice and choral directors who would like the wise advise of a professional singer and teacher. As a professional teacher of voice, I recommend it highly!!

At first I was turned off by this book's textbook appearance, once however I successfully pushed myself past the cover I was fascinated. Like most voice teachers, I've read my share of "This is the Only Way to Teach Singing" books. I have found that the more truly knowledgeable a person is, the more they recognize how many variables exist and how many approaches may be necessary in order to arrive at the desired destination. Rather than pontificating on his particular brand of vocal technique, Richard Alderson focuses on indisputable physical activities and his discovery of vocal mechanics through experiences with his students. Alternating between descriptions of functional concepts and first-hand stories of their application, this book was a pleasure to read. I often found myself unable to put it down. - Okay, but what can I say... I love voice :-)

I find this book really helpful and insightful regarding all the aspects of singing, breathing, producing sound in general, etc. It not only helps with singing, but it for instance also helps you learn better breathing habits. I'd recommend this book to anyone. I should probably also add that to learn to sing you need a teacher too, but for as far as books go, this is possibly one that I would have to put on my list of favorites. I find it hard to imagine that any other book will provide more insight. For people who need to do without a teacher I'd most certainly recommend this book. You might want to search for CD's or DVD's as an extra learning aid too, to help you visualise/audiolise things if you find this hard to do. An instrument might be nice. You probably need something to produce the desired notes so you can sing along with them. This will be a great help when doing the suggested exercises. But even without such help, the book contains plenty of practical info.

This book is another of the many great books out there on vocal pedagogy. Richard Alderson, a professional singer voice teacher and choral director taught at Northwestern University. Taking a very practical approach, Alderson introduces the principles of voice teaching. Later chapters cover breathing, voice production, resonance, vowels, registers, articulation, and several chapters on choral voices and changing voices (boys' and girls'). Alderson is informed about proper vocal technique, and the book's bibliography demonstrates his reliance on the best sources. Alderson's book seems much more pragmatic than other books on vocal pedagogy like Richard Miller and others. Alderson also makes many analogies to many other fields, especially athletics. Many teachers will find this helpful--it can be very difficult to explain to students what they should try to do to correct their singing. At the expense of his practical explanation, some voice teachers may miss some of the "nuts and bolts" as to what is really going on in the voice. This handbook does not explain all of the inner workings of vocal production. Better sources can be found in books by Clifton Ware, Richard Miller, and Oren Brown. Fans of good aesthetics will probably also wish this book had a different cover (this one shouts, "Welcome to the 1970s!"). All that aside, this is a useful book and voice teachers will find it helpful. I would also recommend James McKinney's book as another great resource. Enjoy!

Here we have a book on vocal production and training that is just that: a book on vocal training. Yes, it contains exercises and other things, and great detailed explanations as to what things mean in vocal pedegogy. One would actually learn more about singing and voice production from this book, and doing it correctly, than from all the "singing for dummies" sort of books out there. The only draw back with the book is it is long, and it is not that exciting to read. He is not wordy, he is just to the point, all of the points of singing. I would recommend this book for anyone seriously wanting to learn to sing, and I mean sing. Study it, read it, get an understanding of what singing is all about, and what you should be fixing as a goal in learning how to sing. Most books on singing don't give enough information so you could actually fix any realistic goals about singing, or what to expect from your own progress, or out of a lesson, or even from your teacher. People buy these other books, learn a few things, sing a few notes better than they did before, and think they are on their way to stardom. Well, people, get real. Read this book and you will get a better understanding of what singing is all about. And on the first pages you will learn one important thing -- you will never hear your voice correctly, so no matter how wonderful you think it is sounding, you will need the ears of someone else (if not a teacher, at least someone with a good ear for quality sound) to let you know what you really sound like. However, if you read this book carefully, you can also save yourself a ton of grief when choosing a teacher. There are tons of teachers out there who, quite frankly, have no business teaching at all. A former singing career, or the ability to sing oneself, is NO indication the person can actually teach what they know, or even that they understand what they did (Joan Sutherland is a perfect example; she sang wonderfully but would never consider teaching as she openly admits she has no clue how it all works). Reading this book will not make you an expert on the subject whatever, but it will give you enough information that you won't be led up the garden path. You will have a great idea of what to expect, what to anticipate, and what should be happening in any voice lesson you have. If your teacher doesn't cover any of these points, then you will have an idea they aren't a real voice teacher and that they don't really know much. Perhaps it would be better to seek out someone else's advice. The advice in this book is excellent, but again, no book can teach you to sing, they can only enlighten you to what to consider and look for in learning technique.