Cantabile: A Manual about Beautiful Singing for Singers, Teachers of Singing and Choral Conductors
by Katharin Rundus
(Pavane Publishing, 2009, 192 pp.
ISBN 978-1-934596-03-6)
“All singers, voice teachers, and choral conductors treasure and strive to attain these aspects of beautiful and skillful singing. As we deal with our voice students and choir members who are less-than-perfect singers, we admire and yearn for beauty in our own voices and in the voices we train. We prize a tonal quality that is freely produced, with well-controlled dynamics; we value an evenness throughout the range, and a resonance that is well projected, and we esteem voices that are strong and healthy.” Thus begins Katharin Rundus in the introduction to her book Cantabile: A Manual about Beautiful Singing for Singers, Teachers of Singing and Choral Conductors.
Rundus is herself a singer, voice teacher, and choral conductor. She oversees more than 150 voice students at Fullerton College and also maintains a private voice studio at California State University in Long Beach. A popular lecturer on vocal pedagogy, Rundus writes about rather complex concepts in a simple to understand and engaging manner.
Each summer I make a personal goal to read at least two books on vocal and performing technique. This book was one I immediately put into practical use in my studio. With easy-to-comprehend flow, the book offers practical explanations of anatomy—including at-a-glance under-standable illustrations and pictures, technical explanation of various aspects of healthy vocal production, and logical vocalises that train and strengthen the particular technique being discussed. The book can be read cover to cover or used as a reference manual for various aspects of vocal technique.
Rundus begins the book with a graphic to explain her philosophy of voice training, an interesting approach which she calls the “Spiral of Singing.” The graphic, “representing a spiral, contains principles of singing that will be discussed in this book,” writes Rundus. “Singers will find in their voice study, as with any art, that the principles will be revisited over and over from varying perspectives, and with each revisit a new depth of understanding is likely to occur.” The spiral includes the following ideas: Release of Tension and Positioning the Instrument, Opening the Vocal Tract, Breathing for Singing, Onsets and Releases, Resonance, Registers, Focus of the Tone, Articulation, and Musical Expression.
These concepts are then visited chapter by chapter, each well organized beginning with a scientific approach and background of the vocal concept, followed by exercises to teach the singer the concept and, finally, mental images that may be used to reinforce the concept. The technique is then applied specifically for choral conductors. The clear and well notated vocalises are accompanied with an explanation of exactly what the vocalise is meant to accomplish in balancing and strengthening the voice. A concise summary of the vocal technique rounds out each chapter—a great resource to use at a glance in the voice studio as a refresher to the chapter’s content.
Four highly useful appendices conclude the book. The first, “Aphorisms for Singing,” includes inspiring quotes by Lamperti, Doscher, Clippinger, and Caruso, just to name a few. The second appendix gives a list of “Feelings or Emotions” for musical expression. The third is a glossary of terms. And the final appendix lists the International Phonetic Alphabet.
From a pedagogical point of view, this book offers any voice teacher a simple, fresh, and holistic look at teaching time-honored concepts. From a singer’s point of view, it is useful for refreshing and further enlightening vocal technique. From a choral conductor’s point of view, the book addresses not only the why and how, but specifically encourages the use of healthy techniques in a group setting.
My dog-eared copy of Cantabile is now a staple in my studio. Rundus has succeeded in writing a useful, practical manual that continually “spirals” to all who open its cover.
