With their rich and complicated history, spirituals hold a special place in the American musical tradition. This soul-stirring musical form is irresistible to singers seeking to diversify their performance repertoire, but it is also riddled with controversy, especially for singers of non-African descent. Singer and historian Randye Jones welcomes singers of all backgrounds into the style while she explores its folk song roots and transformation into choral and solo vocal concert repertoire. Profiling key composers and pioneers of the genre, Jones also discusses the use of dialect and other controversial performance considerations. Contributed chapters address elements of collaborative piano, studio teaching, choral arrangement, voice science, and vocal health as they apply to the performance of spirituals. 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 Spirituals features online supplemental material on the NATS website.

In some ways, the successor of vaudeville and an extension of the opera and operetta, the stage musical has evolved into a worldwide juggernaut. Musicals are staged not only across the globe but are offered in a variety of settings, from the high school stage and major theater to the big screen. The stage musical has become a staple for the professional singer and the object of close study by students of singing. In So You Want to Sing Music Theater: A Guide for Professionals, singer and scholar Karen S. Hall fills an important gap in the instructional literature for those who sing or teach singing to those seeking their fortunes in music theatrical productions. Developed in coordination with the National Association for Teachers of Singing, this work draws on current research from the world of voice scholarship to advance the careers of singers seeking to make a foray into or already deeply embedded in the world of music theater. So You Want to Sing Music Theater covers a vast array of topics. It includes a brief history of music theater; the basics of vocal science and anatomy; information on vocal and bodily health and maintenance, from diet to exercise to healing techniques; advice on teaching music theater to others, with focuses on breath, posture, registers, range, and tone quality; repertoire recommendations for voice and singing types, from female and male belting to classical and contemporary styles; a survey of music theater styles, such as folk, country, rock, gospel, rhythm and blues, jazz, and pop; insights on working with other music theater stakeholder, from singing teacher, vocal coach and accompanist, to acting teacher, director, dance instructor, composer, and music director; and finally sage advice on working with and without amplification or microphones, auditioning tips, and casting challenges. So You Want to Sing Music Theater includes guest-authored chapters by singing professionals Scott McCoy and Wendy LeBorgne. This work is not only the ideal guide to singing professionals, but the perfect reference works for voice teachers and their students, music directors, acting teachers, dance instructors and choreographers, and composers, and conductors. 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 Music Theater 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.

So many who love to sing are drawn to the immediacy and essential simplicity of the music we commonly call folk. Folk music, in fact, can serve as the perfect entry point for those just starting on their singing careers because of the ways in which it sidesteps the strictures of classical forms without giving up the fundamentals of professional singing techniques. In So You Want to Sing Folk Music, singer and writer Valerie Mindel demystifies this sprawling genre, looking at a variety of mainly traditional American musical styles as well as those of the folk revival that continues in various forms to this day. The aim is to help the fledgling singer better understand the scope of folk music and find his or her voice in the genre, looking at the “how” of creating a vocal sound that reflects a folk-based style. The book looks at specific repertories and ways of approaching them in terms of both working up material and performing it. It also looks at some of the realities of folk music in the twenty-first century that affect both amateurs and professionals. Additional chapters by Scott McCoy, Wendy LeBorgne, and Matthew Edwards address universal questions of voice science and pedagogy, vocal health, and audio enhancement technology. The So You Want to Sing seriesis produced in partnership with the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Like all books in the series, So You Want to Sing Folk Music 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.

So You Want to Sing CCM (Contemporary Commercial Music) presents a compendium of approaches to non-classical singing with an emphasis on vocal technique and function. Over the past twenty years, approaches to singing CCM have exploded, resulting in many schools of technique. So You Want to Sing CCM is the first book to bring these trademarked methods—such as Estill Voice Training™, Somatic Voicework™, Complete Vocal Technique™, Voiceworks™, and the Vocal Power Method™—together in a single volume. So You Want to Sing CCM opens the reader to the vast world of contemporary commercial music through the teachings of the world’s best-known practicing CCM pedagogues. Supplemental chapters by Matthew Edwards, Darren Wicks, and editor Matthew Hoch offer additional commentary on CCM history and pedagogy while chapters by Scott McCoy, Wendy LeBorgne, and Matthew Edwards investigate voice science, vocal health, and audio enhancement technology. 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 CCM features online supplemental material. Please visit www.nats.org to access style-specific exercises, audio and video files, and additional resources

In a profession that is dominated by male composers, SYWTS Music by Women serves as a compendium for singers and teaches of singing who wish to explore the vast repertoire of women written by women, cutting across a wide array of styles and genres. Hoch and Lister highlight the key composers and provide tips and tools for programming their music.

Cabaret performances are often known for bringing alive the Great American Songbook from the 1920s through the 1950s for contemporary audiences. But modern-day cabaret does much more than preserve the past—it also promotes and fosters the new generation of American composers and creates a uniquely vibrant musical and theatrical experience for its audiences. So You Want to Sing Cabaret is the first book of its kind to examine in detail the unique vocal and nonvocal requirements for professional performance within the exciting genre of cabaret. With a foreword by cabaret legend Lorna Luft, So You Want to Sing Cabaret includes interviews from the top professionals in the cabaret industry, including Michael Feinstein, Ann Hampton Callaway, Roy Sander, Sidney Myer, Jeff Harner and many others. There are also chapters devoted to crafting your show, lyric connection, “do-it-yourself” production and promotion, and working with your musical team. David Sabella and Sue Matsuki have crafted the perfect one-volume resource for both the aspiring cabaret singer and the singing teacher who seeks to learn more about this unique art form. 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 Cabaret 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.

Since the 1930s and ̕40s, jazz has stood tall in American popular music, drawing into its embrace not only great horn players, percussionists, guitarists, bassists, and pianists, but also some of the greatest singers in America’s musical history. Jazz has laid the groundwork for important innovations in modern singing, opening up entirely new ways of delivering songs through what would eventually become jazz standards—songs that formed the basis of the American Songbook. In So You Want to Sing Jazz, singer and professor of voice Jan Shapiro gives a guided tour through the art and science of the jazz vocal style. Throughout, Shapiro hones in on what makes jazz singing distinctive, suggesting along the way how other types of singers can make use of jazz. She looks at such key matters in jazz singing as the role of improvisation, the place of specific singers who influenced and even defined vocal jazz as we know it today, and the unique way in which jazz incorporates vibrato, conversational delivery, rhythmic phrasing, and melodic embellishment and improvisation. The book includes guest-authored chapters by singing voice researchers Dr. Scott McCoy and Dr. Wendy LeBorgne. In So You Want to Sing Jazz, singers and voice teachers finally have the go-to resource they need for singing vocal jazz. The So You Want to Sing seriesis produced in partnership with the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Like all books in the series, So You Want to Sing Jazz 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.

Classroom Instructional Resources

There are few works in existence that teach gospel singing and even fewer that focus on what gospel soloists need to know. In So You Want to Sing Gospel, Trineice Robinson-Martin offers the first resource to help individual gospel singers at all levels make the most of their primary instrument—their voice. Robinson-Martin gathers together key information on gospel music history, vocal pedagogy, musical style and performance, and its place in music ministry. So You Want to Sing Gospel covers such vital matters as historical, cultural and spiritual perspectives on the gospel music tradition, training one's voice, understanding the dynamic of sound production, grasping gospel style, and bringing together vocal performance with ministerial imperatives. She also includes in her discussion such matters as voice type, repertoire selection, and gospel sub-genres. Additional chapters by Scott McCoy and Wendy LeBorgne, and Matthew Edwards address universal questions of voice science and pedagogy, vocal health, and audio enhancement technology. The So You Want to Sing seriesis produced in partnership with the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Like all books in the series, So You Want to Sing Gospel 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.

In recent decades, world music styles have been making increasing inroads into Western popular music, music theater, choral concerts, and even concert hall performances. So You Want to Sing World Music is an essential compendium of these genres and provides technical approaches to singing non-Western styles. Matthew Hoch gathers a cohort of expert performers and teachers to address singing styles from across the globe, including Tuvan throat singing, Celtic pop and traditional Irish singing, South African choral singing, Brazilian popular music genres, Hindustani classical singing, Native American vocal music, Mexican mariachi, Lithuanian sutartinės, Georgian polyphony, Egyptian vocal music, Persian āvāz, and Peking opera. Additional chapters offer resources for soloists and choral directors as well as primers on voice science, vocal health, and audio enhancement technology. 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 World Music 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.