pronunciation changed throughout
In discussing the singer’s for- derstand the anatomical and physi-
centuries and in different regions of
the same country. Appendices in-
clude interesting historical material
and thorough bibliographies; how-
ever, the discography is oddly selec-
tive, and there are no resources for-
matted for or specifically addressing
singers to help them vocally achieve
the championed dialects. Neverthe-
less, Silva’s pages of historical nar-
rative are accessible and illumining.
Ryan Kelly
West Chester, Pennsylvania
The Anatomy of Tone: Applying
Voice Science to Choral Ensem-
ble Pedagogy
James Jordan, Sean McCarther, and
Kathy Kessler Price
Chicago: GIA Publications, 2018
210 pages
$29.95 (paperback)
James Jordan, Sean McCarther,
and Kathy Kessler Price have co-au-
thored The Anatomy of Tone: Applying
Voice Science to Choral Ensemble Pedago-
gy. From the perspective of one cho-
ral conductor and two voice teach-
ers, the topics covered in this book
explore anatomy, physiology, and
acoustics.
The authors discuss breathing
and resonance, formants in the cho-
ral rehearsal, choral warm-ups, cho-
ral spacing, specific vowels and their
internal architectures, accompany-
ing, and good vocalism. In the first
six chapters, McCarther and Price
provide a thorough explanation of
the anatomy and physiology of sing-
ing in both solo and choral environ-
CHORAL JOURNAL June/July 2019
ments.
mant and resonance, Price explains,
“Formants 1 and 2 are responsible
for the color, distinction, and intel-
ligibility of the vowels. All vowels
consist of a mixture of these two
formant frequencies” (p. 32).
McCarther and Price then focus
on warm-ups and choral spacing.
While relating to a free and reso-
nant tone, McCarther says, “Get-
ting singers to relate their singing
voice to their supported speaking
voice is often a great way to simpli-
fy the singing process and help them
produce clear, resonant, and easy
sounds… The two [speaking and
singing voices] are actually one and
the same instrument. Humans pro-
duce vocal sounds in only one way:
air moves through the vocal folds,
causing them to vibrate” (p. 63). Not
only do the authors reinforce a fun-
damental understanding of the tech-
nical aspects of the voice, they help
the reader further understand vocal
production to a deeper level.
To create a connection between
voice science and choral ensemble
pedagogy, James Jordan begins with
the breath. “One of the most influ-
ential tools in a conductor’s rehears-
al ‘arsenal’ is the breath. For singers,
breathing directly influences tempo,
tone color, shape of phrase, ensem-
ble dynamic, and spiritual content
of the tone… For conductors, the
breath not only affects the tone
quality of the singers; it also affects
what the singers perceive musically
and all matters of interpretation and
human connection” (p. 107). As an
example, Jordan shares eight hand
motions any conductor can use in
rehearsal to better help singers un-
ological connections the body has to
the breathing process.
Focusing on the podium, Jordan
discusses connecting audiation to
conducting gesture, leading to cho-
ral ensemble pedagogy. The defi-
nition of audiation is generalized
as the ability to hear sound [music]
without sound being physically pres-
ent. The importance of a conduc-
tor’s ability to hear and listen is fully
explored in Chapter 11, where he
states, “The process of conducting,
in essence, occurs before sound actu-
ally takes place in the ensemble. En-
semble sound ideally occurs slightly
after the sound is birthed through
breath and gestural impulse on the
part of the conductor” (p. 121). The
result in rehearsal is if the conductor
is “reacting” to the sounds produced
by the ensemble instead of hearing
and conducting the sounds of the
piece, the rehearsal will bring a dis-
connection of the breath to the mu-
sical sound.
The Anatomy of Tone: Applying Voice
Science to Choral Ensemble Pedagogy will
aid any conductor to have a further
comprehensive understanding of
voice science as it applies to choral
rehearsals.
Alan Davis
Temecula, CA
Volume 59 Number 11 89
Reproduced with permission of copyright owner. Further reproduction
prohibited without permission.