Teaching the Bel Canto Technique: A Practical Guide - with Anecdotes from Africa

by Colleen Philp

Overview

Colleen Philp's practical guide to the Bel Canto technique will help singers, drama students, singing and drama teachers, choir conductors, and students who are studying methods of teaching, to learn how to use or teach the Bel Canto technique of singing and how to keep their voices safe from vocal misuse and abuse. Her Anecdotes from Africa add delightful insights into her life as a teacher of Voice in South Africa, and her warm, lasting relationships with her students.

     It could be placed in libraries at schools and universities all over the world because, although there are many books on Bel Canto, there are not many, if any, on HOW TO TEACH in the Bel Canto tradition.

     Teaching singing is difficult because one is dealing not only with the technique involved, but also with any physical impairments, as well as the psychological approach of the singer. This is the first book to contain the material in Chapters 4 to 7, which cover passagio, tips from famous singers and voice teachers, vocal abuse and misuse, and correcting vocal defects.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940180321893
Publisher:	Colleen Philp
Publication date:	05/23/2024
Sold by:	Draft2Digital
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Colleen Philp was one of South Africa's leading lyric coloratura sopranos in over three decades, in a professional singing career that featured foreign tours, gala soloist performances with major orchestras, and a long tenure as a classical recording artist on the country's national broadcaster, the SABC. In parallel, for 36 years she also served as one of the region's leading voice teachers (teaching well over 300 singers in South Africa), and was senior lecturer at OSCA (the Opera Studio and Choral Academy) at UKZN for 26 years. Many of Colleen's students were awarded scholarships to esteemed schools overseas, and went on to stellar international careers; among them, sopranos Nozuko Teto and Dr Bronwen Forbay. Having studied the Bel Canto voice technique under South African opera doyen Joyce Barker, Colleen is dedicated to spreading this richly fruitful method to singers around the world. Before writing this practical guide, she interviewed and sent questionnaires worldwide to ear, nose and throat specialists, voice teachers, professional singers, producers and directors of opera and musicals, and choral conductors.

Her own singing career focused on a recital and oratorio repertoire, as well as opera in concert. One of Colleen's most celebrated performances was the soprano role in a major production of Haydn's Nelson Mass at St Paul's Cathedral in Durban, which can be heard at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMF4LRLlopII4PKxM_NfLBm1ZazLqI1hZ

She lives in Durban with her beloved husband Garry, and is devoted to her three children, six grandchildren, and one great-granddaughter.