So You Want to Sing with Awareness

by Matthew Hoch

Yoga, Alexander Technique, Feldenkrais Method, Pilates, Body Mapping… These techniques all promote optimum vocal performance through mind-body awareness, but where should a singer begin?

So You Want to Sing with Awareness welcomes singers into all of these methods, allowing them to explore each option’s history and application to singing and determine which methods may best meet their needs as performers. With this unique volume in the So You Want to Sing series, editor Matthew Hoch brings together renowned expert practitioners to explore mind-body awareness systems and introduce cutting-edge research in cognitive neuroscience and motor learning. Carefully curated for singers’ unique needs, the book also includes essential discussions of anatomy and physiology and vocal health.

The So You Want to Sing series is produced in partnership with the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Like all books in the series, So You Want to Sing with Awareness features online supplemental material on the NATS website. Please visit www.nats.org to access style-specific exercises, audio and video files, and additional resources.

414 pages, Paperback

Published March 19, 2020

Reviews

[Daniel Wolpin]

Discovered this book just as it was being published and chose to purchase because of the title. It offers an overview of 12 different angles of singing theory by just as many authors (more actually), focusing on prevailing techniques and schools of thought bent on bringing awareness to the singer’s voice. Each chapter offers insight into a different approach and the final chapter by the editor consolidates the preceding. I really enjoyed this thoroughly. It is well-written. It is serious and academic in it’s approach to the subject matter, discarding humor for intellectual purposes. At times it digs into an approach, but the chapters are only so long and further reading of each subject heading is obviously highly recommended. It is a good primer on singing with awareness. I will be looking into several of the books referenced in the chapters.

[Allie]

A great resources for any singer and/or teacher of singers. I placed an inter-library loan to read the book, but I really want to own it so expect to buy it soon as a resource that I can return to again and again.