National Schools of Singing

Book excerpt: In 1977, Scarecrow Press published Richard Miller's study, English, French, German and Italian Techniques of Singing: A Study in National Tonal Preferences and How They Relate to Functional Efficiency. He compared the historic and then current techniques practiced in the four major Western European schools of vocalism and evaluated technical maneuvers found within each.Recent years have placed greater demands on the vocal talents of professional singers with the growth of performance spaces, the emergence of the stage director, louder orchestral sound, and even the infusion of pop culture sounds into traditional music. As "world culture" continues to expand, and vocal talent becomes more homogenous, the need for continued recognition of lingering national and regional vocal training techniques becomes more important for the singer's quest to develop a certain style. This update of Miller's original study incorporates these new concerns with a continued investigation into which techniques within the national schools are common to them all and which idiosyncratic regional tendencies remain.