The Mariachi Voice

Book excerpt: "The voice is the most important instrument in Mexican Ranchera (Mariachi) music because the bulk of its repertoire is sung. However, no book on vocal care and production, voice history, diction, technique, graded song lists, and warm-ups for Mariachi singers has been available until now. Dr. Juanita Ulloa has designed The Mariachi Voice to create a bridge between the voice and Mariachi fields, and to extend the reach of training and advocacy for Mariachi vocal training to academic programs, voice studios, and individual singers. Her Operachi style evolved out of her own training, touring, recording, and training of others as a specialist in Mexican and Latin American song. In The Mariachi Voice, Dr. Ulloa shares vocal technique and pedagogy, introducing the female Mariachi fach. She highlights important differences in training the female voice for healthy Ranchera singing while still honoring the style and introduces Mexican Spanish Lyric Diction with International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Professor John Nix of University of Texas, San Antonio contributes an article on vocal production and care. Readers will develop cultural sensitivity towards this almost 200-year-old tradition. The Ranchera vocal history chapter explores the crossover classical vocal training of ranchera singer-actors in charro movie musicals, many tracing back to legendary Mexico City based voice teacher José Pierson. It is a wake-up call to raising the standards and accessibility of vocal training. The Mariachi Voice is sure to enrich those who take pride in sharing these songs and their singers as important symbols of Mexico's identity worldwide"--