The Contemporary Singer - 2nd Edition Elements of Vocal Technique Book/Online Audio (Berklee Guide)

This is the book for you to get started. Easy to read, easy to digest, and best of all, easy to practice and improve.As a new singer in a band, I wanted to improve my vocal pitch, tone and strength.This book has really been a major step forward for me.Follow the exercises and practice daily using the CD. There are three offering, short warm up, beginning, intermediate and advanced sessions. This is particularly helpful in that the voices muscles take a bit of time to build. By working , daily, and slowly increasing the singing time and level of practice, you WILL improve. It helps with strength, breathing, articulation, emphasis and song interpretation. And the best part is it does not overwhelm the reader/singer, with too much to digest. You can get started immediately, and after a month or so, you will have more control, power, be on the note, and simply improve. The only catch, is you have to sing every day, just like exercise.Will it teach you like a vocal coach? Perhaps a bit. Will it help you prepare for serious lessons with a coach, you bet! You'll be fitter and more able to take advantage of a coach by working through this first.

By way of background, I'm a Berklee College of Music Graduate (graduated in 1981). I also taught piano for 34 years so I have a very strong sense of what makes for good teaching materials. I also studied traditional voice for several years so singing and vocal study are not new to me.I love this book on so many levels but I'll try to keep this brief.Ann Peckham has written a book that is very readable, user-friendly, and inviting to use. She has a great gift for presenting the information with all the detail one would need while keeping the language straight-forward. She covers everything from understanding the basic mechanism of singing, to vocal health, to excellent warm-ups and vocal exercises and everything in between.The accompanying audio is extremely enjoyable to practice with and I have seen tangible results from using it regularly (I rotate her exercises with those from her follow-up book "vocal workouts" and also Jeannie Gagne's "Your Singing Voice" audio).If you're looking for a great resource for anyone from a beginner to world-class professional, this book is definitely a must-have!Highly recommended!

My daughter is the family singer and she has been using the Peckham Vocal Workouts for a few years now. I knew there was a revised edition of the Contemporary Singer with different workouts and decided it was time to change things up. The cd that is included with this book has the best warm ups I've come across ever. There are 87 total in a range of voices and styles to fit everyone. Best of all, unlike the original warmups, on this cd there is normally only one example followed by the music queue so that you can hear yourself instead of playing singalong-and each one is short enough to switch around without getting bored.The book goes into practical things that everyone wants to know but noone ever addresses. Just exactly how far from the microphone should your mouth be? Should I sing the same song one way in front of crowd A as I do for crowd B if they are made up of totally different people? How does a classically trained singer deal with slang?There is a lot of practical information and a very practical practice/warm up cd. Awe will probably be shelving the old Peckham warm ups for now because the new ones address my daughters singing style more completely but both books and cds are very useful tools for any singer to own. I highly recommend both of them.

If anyone knows what they are doing these guys do. There is a lot of BS in the singing world. You must have seen the advertisements, written by the teacher of <insert name of pop star>. Then the book contain some strange technique. That stuff is a road to nowhere.To learn to sing:Learn to play an instrument that you can play chords on (piano is best).Find out about ear training and work at it (and I don't mean some bogus "perfect pitch" course.)Get this book and study it. Find a teacher who's training is consistent with this book.This is from Berklee Press and Berklee College of Music has produced some on the world's best contemporary musicians. This book would not have made it out the door if it had not had good reviews from some of the best. Also get Vocal Workouts for the Contemporary Singer and do the exercises contained within.Trust Berklee, they know what they are teaching.

I wish I would have had this book when I first started my vocal studio! The information is wonderful and the practice tracks are incredible! They range from beginner exercises to advanced. I'm able to slow down and speed up the exercises and also raise or lower the key, making it useful for every student.The only strange thing about this book is that the exercises in the book are not in order 1-55. I haven't figured out the best system for that, yet, but other than that it's wonderful!

I love, love, love this book! Can't say it enough. It addresses a variety of topics helpful to any singer, no matter their experience level. I particularly like it for the vocal anatomy chapters. The information is presented in a simple way, with a lot of easy-to-follow diagrams and pictures. This book has helped me fully understand vocal anatomy. Other books have left me baffled and overwhelmed by the scientific fluff.Another reason I love this book is for its vocal exercise CD. The author's speaking voice is a bit robotic and irritating but that's expected with these types of CDs. The exercises are organized by level of difficulty. Level 1 is for all voices but as they get more challenging and specific to the techniques they are recorded for both male and female singers.Buy this book if you have the dedication to teach yourself how to sing correctly!

I have always used Berklee books for my Songwriting and Guitar skill development. But this book is the best of the lot. Just few pages in to the book I got amazing result in my singing. Just to understand how the sound is produced along with the right way to sing enhances our ability enormously.

Great resource

Esta es la biblia del canto contemporáneo, perfecta para alumnos iniciales o intermedios que necesiten reforzar algunos temas.Trae una clave para acceder a los audios en la página de Hal Leonard; sin embargo, la mayor fuerza de este material son los conceptos teóricos; perfectamente entendible cubriendo temas esenciales como postura, respiración, registros, consejos para interpretar frente a público.Respecto de los audios, son pocas vocalizaciónes (aprox 25) pero dan un plus, al usar ritmos interesantes, escala pentatónica menor, etc y se correlacionan con la teoría.Ojo: importante recalcar que está completamente en inglés.

An easy to understand and reader friendly book. Simple but packed with everything you need to know as a singer.

It was a gift for my daughter, and she loves it!