Singing: The First Art
by Dan H. Marek
(The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2007,
235 pp. ISBN-13: 978-0810857117 or ISBN-10: 0810857111)
Have you ever given much thought to your craft outside of a music history course in college? Most of us pursue and allocate our precious time on only part of our craft—the thrill of learning new music, the work of technique and coachings, diction and musicality and, of course, the ultimate fruit of our labor: performing! To take time to study how the “art of singing” began—who were the pioneers, what did they teach, what were the vocalises and techniques used, who emerged as leaders in the art—is something that often falls to the bottom of our list (if on our list at all).
As a wise professor taught me, the more you learn about your craft, the better an artist you become. He compared learning a song to the process of preparing a tombstone. The singer engraves all the information they can learn about a song—the history, composer, style, diction, language, translation, performance choices, musicality, and technique—onto a well set tombstone, and then brings all that information alive in performance of the piece.
In his book Singing: The First Art, Dan Marek provides an educational outlook full of information singers can engrave on their preparatory tombstones. Marek begins his book by admonishing readers to continually learn about their craft. “To achieve anything in your chosen art,” he writes, “you must love the process and, in a sense, you will never ‘graduate.’ On the highest levels of the singing profession, great artists are eternally looking for ways to perform better . . . .”
Marek starts off this educational journey with the section “The Historical Background of the Art of Singing.” The first chapter of this section, “The Art of Singing in the Ancient World,” takes the reader through the sands of time, with Marek’s research and philosophy on how sound began to “The Age of Bel Canto,” “The Age of Grand Opera, Wagner, Verdi, Virgins and Verismo,” “Modern Times,” and “The Age of the Machine.” Each chapter contains illustrations with paintings and drawings of the early artists as well as photos of the modern ones. Readers will thrill to see Maria Callas in rehearsal, Enrico Caruso in full costume for Verdi’s Aida, and Lilli Lehmann as Brünnhilde in Die Walküre.
In the second section of the book, “Vocal Technique,” Marek shares his obvious extensive research on the Bel Canto technique. He quotes well known technicians such as Coffin, Tetrazzini, Lamperti, Garcia, and Mancini on everything from appoggio to breathing, vibration, and mechanical and acoustical registers. The chapter on breathing is especially informative, and discusses a very unique concept of “the breath stands still” as well as the cycle of inspiration and expiration and abdominal breathing vs. intercostal and thoracic breathing. Each chapter includes illustrations of the technical concept being discussed and exercises to reinforce the concepts.
Marek’s writing style in this section is highly academic in nature, often times thick and a bit vague. Thus, this section requires comprehensive reading and might take some time to absorb. But it’s well worth the effort. To have a plethora of technical ideas gathered into one place, discussed and enhanced with Marek’s own expertise, is invaluable. Many teachers today use the same terms and concepts as these early Bel Canto teachers used. Becoming familiar with the terms and really understanding them is of great value to any classical singer.
The book concludes with “Applications,” a chapter with additional exercises for singers. Be sure to study the transposition instructions at the beginning of each section or you will find yourself lost in the transcription of what Marek is intending. Exercises include vocalises by Marek, as well as master teachers such as Garcia, Coffin, and Marchesi, to name a few. They are categorized into sections for male and female singers and further broken down for different Fachs.
As my wise mentor and professor taught me, “If you stop learning, you should stop singing.” This book proves a great resource for singers and teachers wishing to enhance an already solid educational foundation.
