Solutions for Singers: Tools for Performers and Teachers

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: I have read all of Richard Miller's books on vocal production and pedagogy. They are very technical and sometimes rather dry reading, but you are getting a very informed and to the point understanding of correct and safe vocal production; and that can be used in all types of singing, not just classical like so many people think.

Unlike his other book "the Structure of Singing", which covers all the same points, in this book he presents questions that people have about various techniques and explains the difference between them and why one or the other works better or less effectively while singing.

As I would say with all books on singing, you can't learn to sing reading a book, however, you would get closer to good correct singing with sound principles using his books than any other. He covers everything from vowel modification, to proper balanced release and attack (things seldom covered in any meaningful way in most books, especially those dealing with "becoming a singing star" for modern singing), posture, everything. He has many exercises that help discover the truths behind healthy production (but not as many as he has in his other books).

It is not always interesting reading, and he does nothing to whet your appetite for gossipy back stage stuff like some singing teaching writers do. If he has worked with many singers, you would have no clue about it, or who they are. No name dropping in any of his books like one finds in so many books on singing (all for the purpose to brag about the author's abilities, or to sell you on the fact they know what they are doing because Mr X and Miss Y were former students, or he coached with them once). All you have to sell you on the principles in his writings are the facts and the explanations to help you understand what good singing is all about.

All the books by Richard Miller are excellent and informative, actually overly packed with information (you can read them a million times and find stuff each and every time, and see more in what you read before than what you originally thought was there), and this one is no different. I feel everyone, teacher or student, who is really serious about singing and singing well for decades to come (not just because an "American Idol" for a year or two) really should study these books. I feel they should be recommended readings at all university vocal music departments. Get the facts and understand the physiology of the voice, and you can go a long way. There is no "new improved scientific technique to create great voices." Why, you may ask? Because anyone who preaches that sort of stuff is selling you a bag of air. There are no new and improved scientific techniques to teach voice. We may have a better understanding, scientifically, of what happens when someone sings, but we have no idea how to create what we see or even why the folds do what they do, they are involuntary actions of our brain which we control only by the desire to sing a certain pitch. The vocal muscles cannot be manipulated like that, they aren't like developing muscles for lifting or running. None of Miller's principles are based on just what we see the voice box doing while singing; rather they are based on centuries of what worked, and what the masters through the ages discovered produced good sound quality in the voice. His explanations of things and how the voice works, are the clearest and most detailed I have ever read, and the most useful when it comes to understanding the voice.

Rating:
Summary: Miller's best book
Review: Richard Miller has written a library of works for singers, teachers, coaches, and anyone interested in the science of singing. The one thing that has always been missing, though, is an easy-to-use guide to much of his information, in the form of the Q&A, or to use the computer-literate term, an FAQ.

Well, here it is!

In this book, Miller addresses series of questions (gleaned from master class students and teachers over his many years of teaching) individually and specifically, giving the curious or troubled artists an opportunity to find an answer quickly and easily.

Of course, Miller cannot possibly address every conceivable question; I, for one, have a question about the female secondo passaggio and bridging the lower and upper mechanisms more efficiently; but a good read will glean the answers to many many other questions, plus give the aspiring student with little knowledge of vocal pedagogy a jumping-off point to dive into Miller's other works (The Structure of Singing, Teaching Soprano Voices, Teaching Tenor Voices, just to name a few fine ones).

This library is far cheaper than the Caldwell Publishing series, which is far easier to digest as a student, but simply out of the financial reach of everyone BUT tenured voice teachers (If you're listening, Robert Caldwell, we would love to buy them!, but it isn't possible at $600 for the series), and though it is fairly technical in its language and might require some background in the physiology of the larynx to completely comprehend, Miller's books are the rarest of beasts in voice ped: affordable, comprehensive, and helpful.

Rating:
Summary: It's like having Richard Miller right there!
Review: Solutions for Singers is like having Richard Miller at your beck and call to answer questions regarding vocalism. In this book, Miller gives sensible solutions to help solve different vocal problems and explains how the vocal apparatus works. Solutions is most helpful when consulted along side the author's other books such as Structure of Singing and Training Tenor Voices. This book is a must have for any vocalist, teacher, coach, conductor and performer!!!

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic, but not for novices
Review: This book is not really a manual for voice teaching but a book of oft-asked questions and answers written by Richard Miller, noted voice teacher and author. Miller has written several books on singing and voice teaching, and all of them have been generally well received. This book is no exception.

The questions are grouped in sections of subjects beginning with breath management. Following chapters address posture, laryngeal functions, resonance, nasals and consonants, vibrato, registration, healthy singing, pedagogy issues, and performance concerns. As one can see, this layout of the book ensures that while Miller does skip from question to question, the book does flow similarly to great treatises on singing and voice instruction.

If one has never read a book by Richard Miller, one should know that his books can be technical and perhaps even...er, boring. Miller has certainly taken great care that each question be answered thoroughly and accurately (not with a simple yes or no). This is not the best book for a novice trying to learn about the voice. Try books by Oren Brown or Clifton Ware first, or be prepared to look it up if you don't know exactly where the zygomatic muscles are or how the thyroid cartilage works.

That being said, this book covers so many of the questions that people have about singing, even the questions that most voice teachers do not know. Miller also includes a wonderful repertoire list for younger or beginning singers in the back, and his select bibliography is also as rigorous as I've seen anywhere else. You may have to reread some answers, but it is clear that you are getting a well-researched answer.

I strongly recommend this book to any voice teacher. As long as they are prepared for technical answers, I think they will find it to be an invaluable resource.


Rating:
Summary: Very good book.
Review: This is a book that answers many unanswered questions - the ones you felt like asking during a master class, the ones you might have had when you studied voice with a teacher who did not know much, the ones you didn't have time to ask your voice teacher, the ones you couldn't ask because what you were working on at a specific time during a voice lesson was not related to your question, the questions you ever wanted to ask but never had the opportunity to... and many others.

Being based on a question-answer approach, this book may surprise you with the sometimes unexpected answers to the questions asked.

However, do not expect this book to have the answer to each and every question about singing you might have ever had. Miller himself advises you that it doesn't.

This book is more than simply a vocal technique book. It provides food for thought galore. I felt very fulfilled by some of the reading I did of this book.

It would be good if R. Miller attempted including more information in each chapter, in each answer, should this book have a second edition, which I surely think it deserves.

This is a book for those who, like me, can never get enough of singing, vocal technique and so on.