Singing Well to the End of Life

The author is a well known singer in NYC. The book is a compilation of the best ideas about how to sing well technically with the greatest technical accuracy, bearing in mind that each singer will approach singing in a slightly different manner. The greatest pitfall as a solo singer is becoming part of a large chorus where the solo singer is encouraged to sing heartily, but off the breath. Knowing how to sing on the breath is not altogether spontaneous. Being part of a large chorus and singing full out can be damaging to a light voice. The devil is in the balance of the correct vocal placement of each individual voice. That takes a special teacher with well educated ears. The book is squarely focused on the free and accurate balance of the solo voice. Choruses allow for very imprecise singing. Many light soprano voices in particular can suffer damage before they are mature enough singers to recognize what precise vocal aduction is (ie the manner in which the vocal folds come together to create a sound). This book tries to address that very common problem. Sue Hassel sang as soon as she could walk. Many mistakes were made with her voice by teachers who didn't sing as soloists. This book addresses the most common issues and illustrates and discusses simple solutions. There is a very solid correlation between singing well and dancing well in a beginning ballet class. Sue Hassel relies heavily on simple ballet moves to keep her voice in good condition to this day.