From Adam's apple to intercostal muscles
This encyclopedia on all phenomena relating to voice and singing is much more than a reference work.
Several editors and around 60 authors are responsible for the articles in this diverse, exciting and wide-ranging reference work, which is preceded by a foreword by none other than Thomas Hampson.
We find a wealth of information about the oldest instrument in the world: whether anatomy and physiology, music medicine and musicology, acoustics, vocal pedagogy and different techniques of voice production, artistic personalities from pop, jazz, opera and concert singing. The reader is presented with a multicolored kaleidoscope of everything connected with the phenomenon of the "voice", from the Adam's apple to the intercostal muscles.
This work is aimed at a wide range of readers: singers and speakers, other musicians, singing teachers, voice therapists, lay people interested in cultural history and vocal phenomena.
We find details about Udo Lindenberg next to biographical information about Jenny Lind, the existential obsession and uncompromising nature of a Maria Callas is juxtaposed with the solidity and reliability of a Joan Sutherland, Tom Waits stands next to Wagnerian singing, dramatic soprano next to double valve function. Vocal schools, facial muscles and ossicles all have their place, while twang, trills and carrying power illuminate different aspects of modern and traditional vocal technique ... If you delve into the biography of the blind Stevie Wonder, you will be amazed at the vivid pictures and details of the vocal tract just a few pages further on.
All of this is supplemented by drawings, paintings, graphics and photographic documents and the enormous wealth of information is interlinked with numerous cross-references and presented in a reader-friendly way on 800 pages. There are links to informative websites, an index of names, authors and articles. If you are looking for something, you will find it quickly, if you are not looking for anything in particular, you will find - a lot!
In my eyes, this encyclopedia is much more than just a reference book. It invites you to browse, read and be amazed. Or did you know that a diseuse is a woman who says something - and takes pleasure in doing so? Or are you familiar with Ingeborg Bachmann's obituary of Maria Callas?
Encyclopedia of the singing voice. Geschichte - Wissenschaftliche Grundlagen - Gesangstechniken - Interpreten, ed. by Ann-Christine Mecke, Martin Pfleiderer, Bernhard Richter, Thomas Seedorf, foreword by Thomas Hampson, 800 p., € 98.00 (subscription price until 30.6.2017; Laaber-Verlag, Laaber 2016,
ISBN 978-3-89007-546-4
