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Books > Arts & Architecture > Music > Other types of music > Vocal music
Described as the "life and soul of British contemporary music",
Jane Manning is an internationally celebrated English concert and
opera soprano. In this new follow-up to her highly regarded New
Vocal Repertory, Volumes I and II, she provides a seasoned expert's
guidance and insight into the vocal genre she calls home. Vocal
Repertoire for the Twenty-First Century spans the late middle-20th
century through the second decade of the 21st. Manning's
comprehensive selection of contemporary art songs ranges from the
avant-garde to the more easily accessible, including substantial
song cycles, shorter encore pieces, and songs suitable for
auditions and competitions. The two-volume guide presents
expertly-informed selections tailored to particular voice types.
Each of the 160 selections is accompanied by a highly detailed
performance guide, music examples, levels of difficulty, and a
brief encapsulation of vocal characteristics or challenges
contained in the piece. A supplemental companion website provides
composer biographies and an up-to-date list of recommended
recordings. With a focus on younger composers in addition to
prominent figures, Manning encourages singers to refresh and expand
their recital repertoire into less familiar territory, and discover
the rewards therein. Volume 2 features works written from 2000
onwards, including pieces from contemporary composers Mohammed
Fairouz ("Annabel Lee"), Missy Mazzoli ("As Long as We Live"),
Judith Weir ("The Voice of Desire"), and Raymond Yiu ("The Earth
and Every Common Sight").
As the landscape of choral education changes - disrupted by Glee,
YouTube, and increasingly cheap audio production software -
teachers of choral conducting need current research in the field
that charts scholarly paths through contemporary debates and sets
an agenda for new critical thought and practice. Where, in the
digitizing world, is the field of choral pedagogy moving? Editor
Frank Abrahams and Paul D. Head, both experienced choral conductors
and teachers, offer here a comprehensive handbook of
newly-commissioned chapters that provide key scholarly-critical
perspectives on teaching and learning in the field of choral music,
written by academic scholars and researchers in tandem with active
choral conductors. As chapters in this book demonstrate, choral
pedagogy encompasses everything from conductors' gestures to the
administrative management of the choir. The contributors to The
Oxford Handbook of Choral Pedagogy address the full range of issues
in contemporary choral pedagogy, from repertoire to voice science
to the social and political aspects of choral singing. They also
cover the construction of a choral singer's personal identity, the
gendering of choral ensembles, social justice in choral education,
and the role of the choral art in society more generally. Included
scholarship focuses on both the United States and international
perspectives in five sections that address traditional paradigms of
the field and challenges to them; critical case studies on teaching
and conducting specific populations (such as international, school,
or barbershop choirs); the pedagogical functions of repertoire;
teaching as a way to construct identity; and new scholarly
methodologies in pedagogy and the voice.
'Erudite, original and surprisingly moving ... This Christmas, as
at every Christmas, millions of listeners will have relished the
ethereal King's choir ... Day's meticulous history of a special
choral sound investigates the creation of a style, and the
evolution of a tradition, that now feels as anciently English as
the stonework of King's chapel itself' Boyd Tonkin The sound of the
choir of King's College, Cambridge - its voices perfectly blended,
its emotions restrained, its impact sublime - has become famous all
over the world, and for many, the distillation of a particular kind
of Englishness. This is especially so at Christmas time, with the
broadcast of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, whose
centenary is celebrated this year. How did this small band of men
and boys in a famous fenland town in England come to sing in the
extraordinary way they did in the twentieth and early twenty-first
centuries? It has been widely assumed that the King's style
essentially continues an English choral tradition inherited
directly from the Middle Ages. In this original and illuminating
book, Timothy Day shows that this could hardly be further from the
truth. Until the 1930s, the singing at King's was full of high
Victorian emotionalism, like that at many other English choral
foundations well into the twentieth century. The choir's modern
sound was brought about by two intertwined revolutions, one social
and one musical. From 1928, singing with the trebles in place of
the old lay clerks, the choir was fully made up of choral scholars
- college men, reading for a degree. Under two exceptional
directors of music - Boris Ord from 1929 and David Willcocks from
1958 - the style was transformed and the choir broadcast and
recorded until it became the epitome of English choral singing,
setting the benchmark for all other choral foundations either to
imitate or to react against. Its style has now been taken over and
adapted by classical performers who sing both sacred and secular
music in secular settings all over the world with a precision
inspired by the King's tradition. I Saw Eternity the Other Night
investigates the timbres of voices, the enunciation of words, the
use of vibrato. But the singing of all human beings, in whatever
style, always reflects in profound and subtle ways their
preoccupations and attitudes to life. These are the underlying
themes explored by this book.
Marvelous Rise of Superheroes in Cinema: Evolution of the Genre
from Sequels to Universes addresses the superhero movie genre's
transformation between 1978 and 2019. To emphasize and illustrate
the conceptual and thematic transformation, the main conventions of
the genre are scanned through several periods, focusing on the
developmental age of the genre, including the dominant period of DC
Comics-based superhero movies (1978-1997) and the Marvel "boom"
(2000-2007), and the contemporary age. For this purpose, the book
traces the fundamentals of superheroes from the first appearance of
Superman in Action Comics #1 (1938) to the final installment of the
MCU's Phase 3, Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019). The transformation
has two significant points. First, the genre's main conventions
have been in a change. Second, the genre's focus has changed from
sequel filmmaking to the universe concept. The study investigates
the Marvel Cinematic Universe's dominant, leading, and major role
in the genre's evolutionary process. Besides, the future of the
superhero movie genre is questioned through the multiverse concept
to broaden an understanding of the genre's following directions.
Unconditional Love is Howard Goodall's heartfelt cantata of
gratitude and remembrance, a poignant reflection upon the COVID-19
crisis. It seeks both to give thanks to those who sacrificed their
lives in the aid of others and to offer solace to the grieving. Yet
unifying each of its seven movements is a call to hope and to
moving forward in a world rebuilt. The cantata commemorates the
selflessness and togetherness felt by communities across the world
during the pandemic, communities that offer their thanksgiving in
many different ways. It is hoped that Unconditional Love's
universal messages will resonate with choirs of all kinds and in
all places, for many years to come. The front cover features the
iconic painting, 'The Hug', by the artist Charlie Mackesy. Written
for soprano solo, SATB choir, piano, organ and brass ensemble, this
vocal score includes a piano rehearsal part.
The Cotswold Male Voice Choir, formed in 1949, has become a
well-known part of the music scene in the Midlands and the South
West. In addition to many local events including concerts at
Tewkesbury Abbey and Gloucester Cathedral, in the past year the
Choir has performed in the French Alps at Annecy, in Wales with
three Welsh choirs, in York's Guildhall at the invitation of the
Mayor of York, and twice at the Malvern Music Festivals. The choir
sings a broad repertoire including male voice choir favorites,
classic and operatic, big show numbers, and popular music. The
majority of Cotswold Male Voice Choir concerts support good causes.
Over the years, this has accounted for many thousands of pounds
raised for charities. This heartwarming history follows the
progress of hundreds of singers, their piano accompanists and guest
artistes as well as the company's travels at home and abroad.
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