The Cambridge Companion to Singing

Front Cover
John Potter
Cambridge University Press, Apr 13, 2000 - Music - 296 pages
This is the only book to cover in detail so many aspects of the voice, ranging from medieval music to Madonna and beyond. Almost anything one wants to know about singing practices and singing styles can be found here in chapters that cover world music, rock, rap and jazz; European art song, ensemble singing, the English cathedral tradition and the choral movement in the United States; Renaissance, Baroque and Classical singing treatises, contemporary vocal techniques, children's choirs and the teaching of singing today. The contributors are leading international performers and specialists.

Other editions - View all

About the author (2000)

John Potter is the author of Vocal Authority (Cambridge University Press, 1998) and Tenor: History of a Voice (Cambridge University Press, 2009). He has contributed articles to many academic journals and chapters to other books, including The Cambridge History of Medieval Music (forthcoming) and The Cambridge History of Musical Performance (2012). He is Reader Emeritus in Music at the University of York, having stepped down from his lectureship in 2010 to focus on his portfolio of freelance projects. His most recent book, published by Cambridge University Press in 2012, is A History of Singing (jointly authored with ethnomusicologist Neil Sorrell). As a singer, John has partnerships with instrumentalists in various parts of the world, notably the Argentinian lutenist and vihuelist Ariel Abramovich, the American medieval harpist Jan Walters and the British electro-acoustic composer Ambrose Field. He also sings with Red Byrd, The Dowland Project, the Gavin Bryars Ensemble and German group The Sound and the Fury. His most recent venture is Cantum Pulcriorum Invenire, a research project at the University of Southampton, which will see the release of three CDs of twelfth-century music on Hyperion, and a multimedia live version with tenor Christopher O'Gorman and video artist Michael Lynch. John spent eighteen years with the Hilliard Ensemble and his complete discography runs to some 150 titles. He also coaches vocal ensembles all over the world and chairs the ensemble contest jury at the Tampere Vocal Festival (Finland).

Bibliographic information