Hidden In Plain Sight: The Hermann Klein Phono-Vocal Method Based Upon The Famous School Of Manuel Garcia

Mr Shigo discovered a Klein's forgotten gramophone and succeeded in reprinting the accompanying guide book. This guide book is what singing teachers usually said before they actually emitted their voice so that the pupil might mimic the art. The idea came from the obvious fact that people learn the art by mimicking the maestro rather than by reading books on their own. The lessons are 20, each is about 3 minutes long, the introductory notes (which is the content of this book) is less than a page for each, the rest of pages are the music scores for the high voice. The text is the reprint of the original for the tenor voice. Incidentally, the sound itself by a contralto is available in YouTube thanks to Mr Shigo. The only complaint I have is that this was not the soprano version and it does not come with a CD that is free from the old gramophone noises. If you are a serious student of singing, you might have read Luigi Lablache's book. Yes, this one is similar to Lablache's in content in that they both deal with the basic training of singing, beginning with messa di voce, easy scales, various intervals, intervals of various repetitions, ending with all sorts of agility training including the shake. (The last three are recitative, oratorio and opera, but better models are easily found in Youtube, e.g. Adelina Patti's voice.) A great feature of Klein's work is the publication of the actual voice. Alas, it was already too late a hundred years ago to find a good model of tenors: The tenor model of the gramophone did not sing shake! The art of singing cannot be taught by words alone. You will need a competent maestro as a minimum. By obtaining this book and downloading the model singing, you will have all but the comment from the maestro about your voice. It goes without saying that it is virtually impossible to find a competent maestro easily who can demonstrate the basic skills old masters taught. They are mentioned everywhere as the Old School of Belcanto, but it is almost impossible to find appropriate lessons. What we have today are the recordings of Caballe, Sutherland, Berganza etc. in their prime. We have good singers from time to time, but they learn the art thanks to their natural talent. Belcanto is nothing else but a good singing. I recommend Shigo's work to everyone interested in singing well. You will understand that it will take you ten years to learn the skill even if you find a good teacher and are trained every day. This book is far better than having no teachers at all (Just show this book to your teacher and ask her to sing, and you will know everything).

Quite interesting from a musicology and historical stance. I had (incorrectly) assumed that an audio CD was included with the book, but at least samples are available in YouTube.

Old stuff the best stuff.

Doesn’t include the trill exercise which is the primary reason most people would buy it.

A fascinating book and excellent research by Daniel James Shigo.