Complete Vocal Fitness: A Singer’s Guide to Physical Training, Anatomy & Biomechanics is now available worldwide! While my publisher sold out of the first print run prior to the release date (!!!), as of this posting Amazon still has paperbacks available, and the eBook version is available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Rowman and Littlefield.
This book is the product of more than 15 years of research and practical application in the voice studio and the gym. I am overjoyed to finally be able to share this material – I truly believe that the content has broad, valuable application for singers and voice teachers independent of any particular approach to technique, and I look forward to hearing how readers respond.
In celebration of the book’s release, here is a final excerpt: an augmented version of my Artists and Acknowledgments pages, including links (where available) to the people and organizations that made this book possible. My heartfelt thanks go out to all of them for their assistance and support – I cannot begin to tell you how delighted I am that this project has now been completed, and I could not have pulled it off without every one of them.
About the Artists
Artist and occupational therapist Sandy Escobar’s diverse projects include anatomical illustration, community art, mental health support, and health-care research. She has been creating art for ten years and has previously illustrated vocal anatomy for publications and web content for the Vibrant Voice Technique. Sandy is passionate about creating accessible, inclusive spaces in health care, communities, and people’s homes. Her broad-ranging activities include producing collaborative murals, holding workshops to design accessible spaces for people with mental illnesses, and recommending orthopaedic equipment to clients. She earned a BFA in interdisciplinary visual art from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, and MS in occupational therapy from Dalhousie University.
Photographer Daniel Welch combines his artistic, technical, acting, and musical training to create dynamic images for books, magazines, billboards, and album covers. While Daniel’s subjects include performers of all types, his work reflects his enduring passion for classical singing. He is artistic director of Reclamation Opera, a company that produces film versions of operatic masterpieces designed to delight new audiences and offer fresh perspectives to die-hard fans.
Soprano Kirsten Chambers has performed with the Metropolitan Opera, Florida Grand Opera, and New York City Opera and has appeared in concert with the American Symphony Orchestra and The Orchestra Now. Her signature roles are among the most physically demanding in the repertoire and include the title role in Salome and Elsa in Lohengrin. While fitness had been an important part of Kirsten’s life growing up, exercise eventually took a backseat to her musical studies. She soon got a wake-up call: “One day I was in a staging rehearsal that required my character to run up and down stairs and then sing long declaratory phrases. . . . I kept running out of breath!” She took up a regimen that includes cardio and strength training and now has stamina to burn. Kirsten finds that fitness supports her singing in many ways: “I move more naturally on stage; my voice warms up faster and more efficiently; mentally, I’m more focused; and the improvements to my posture have stabilized my breath.”
Baritone David Adam Moore has performed with major opera companies worldwide, including the Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Covent Garden, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the Salzburg Festival. A celebrated interpreter of contemporary music, he has created roles for some of today’s most important living composers, including Thomas Adès, Peter Eötvös, and David T. Little. He is also known for his work as a stage director, composer, and video designer, frequently collaborating on multimedia productions of both classic and new works. While on the road, David enjoys parkour as a means of both challenging himself physically and becoming acquainted with new cities. He experiences his artistry and physicality as deeply integrated but emphasizes the primacy of vocal excellence for opera performance: “A full, beautiful voice and an engaging character will always give audiences more goose bumps than well-defined abs.”
Acknowledgments
I am indebted to an extraordinarily diverse group of people and organizations for the inspiration and support to write this book.
W. Stephen Smith, my dear friend and mentor, taught me that anything can be made manageable when broken down into simple components. Mark Milani, my first fitness trainer, showed me that I was capable of becoming far stronger than I ever imagined possible. Artist Michael T. Fry put a copy of The Anatomy Coloring Book in my hands and persuaded me that, with patience, this was a topic I could master. That would have been enough to earn my gratitude, but Mike also contributed the book's sensational cover art!
I am grateful to the National Academy of Sports Medicine for the exceptional training and technologies they provide to fitness professionals and for their ongoing commitment to cutting-edge sports science research. Particular thanks go to Stacey Cooke Penney, for encouraging my interdisciplinary writing about fitness, and singing and Rick Richey, who was also my fitness manager when I first became a personal trainer.
David Ley and Elissa Weinzimmer, creators of Vibrant Voice Technique, have pioneered methods to optimize singers’ physical instruments that have proved invaluable for my work in both the studio and the gym.
Karen Andes, Blandine Calais-Germaine, Barbara Doscher, and Meribeth Dayme wrote books that were vital not only for my education but also for the inspiration to write my own.
Sara Thomas, editor of Classical Singer magazine, offered me a platform for writing about singing and fitness in the form of my monthly “Musings on Mechanics” column; years earlier her predecessor, Carla Wood, launched my writing career by encouraging me to write an article on the topic.
Natalie Mandziuk and the editorial staff at Rowman & Littlefield have sustained me with their belief in and invaluable assistance with this project. Rowman publishes many of the titles that formed my foundational understanding of vocal pedagogy, and I am so honored to count myself among their authors.
The National Association of Teachers of Singing, the Voice Foundation, Opera America, and the Performing Arts Medicine Association all helped me find my voice and connect with the wider musical community through their invitations to present at their symposia and serve on discussion panels.
William Holt and his wonderful staff at Hype Gym provided a bright and versatile environment for our photo shoot.
Bioenergeticists Judith and Michael Jamieson gave me greater access to my own body; Alexander Technique teachers Lori Schiff and Malcolm Balk helped me to reeducate it.
I am grateful to Melissa Malde for her excellent application of body mapping principles for articulation anatomy; Matthew Hoch and Mary J. Sandage for adapting exercise science principles for vocal warm-up techniques; Nicholas Pallesen for sharing his hypnosis expertise with the classical vocal community; and David Salsbery Fry, whose personal experiences navigating the treacherous waters of the American healthcare system formed the foundation of my chapter on maintaining robust health while pursuing a performance career.
The sensational artwork in this book would not have been possible without the generosity of the nearly 300 patrons who pledged my Kickstarter campaign, especially major contributors Judith Friedlander and Jamie Patterson, two of the most dedicated avocational singers a voice teacher could ask for.
While Thom King’s iconic cartoon, “What They Think About When They Sing,” has entertained our community for some thirty years, I am honored to have created the first publication to reprint it with his permission and offer him my heartfelt thanks for the clean copy.
The Barihunks, Sybaritic Singer, and OperAthletic blogs shine a spotlight on the athletic nature of classical singing, helping to lay to rest the archetype of the ungainly opera singer.
My delightfully irreverent social media community is a daily source of support and inspiration, most notably the NEW New Forum for Classical Singers, the Professional Voice Teachers, the Collective Union to Nurture Talent and Singing, and the Danger Clams Fitness Fun Club Facebook groups.
The countless voice students and fitness clients I have been privileged to teach over the years provide a vibrant laboratory of sound and movement that continually shapes my understanding.
A heartfelt thanks to my friends outside the classical singing and fitness communities for keeping my perspective broad and my life in balance.
Finally, I could never have undertaken this project without the unflagging encouragement of my beloved husband, mother, and sister. Their steadfast belief in my vision has sustained me through the challenges and self-doubts that inevitably attend a project of this scope, and I feel so fortunate to have had their support.
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