(Part 2) Reddit mentions: The best vocal & singing books

> Any tips for counting pauses and pick strikes?

Don't count... Counting is a useful way to understand rhythm but really when it comes to practicing rhythm you need to feel it, if you try to count it as you play you wont nicly sink into the pocket and probably will pre-empt beats.

I would recommend this book Sight read any rhythm instantly. I find it great because it down plays counting and uses a slightly more verbal / feeling approach to reading / understanding rhythm.

To go on further about feeling rhythm you really need to feel the pulses and how it pushes. Listen to songs and try to feel those pulses, try different ones, jazzy swing, 3/4 time signature etc.

So when practicing with a metronome I think it helps to generate that feel of a groove (I imagine / often vocalise drumms / bass) and play to that, rather than chasing clicks which is what I think alot of people do.

> What BPM should I start with?

What ever is comfortable. Starting slow is best, but too slow could be difficult. Set it somewhere (e,g, 80) if its too fast / you are strugelling to keep up -> slow down, if its too slow and you either strugelling to play too slow or want to push faster -> speed up.

> When should I increase the BPM and by how much?

Depends on what you are practicing / what you want to achieve. Play around with it, there are no right and wrongs, 5 bpm, 2 bpm, even 10 bpm increments its all good. Just make sure if your playing breaks down because you are going to slow/fast then speed up / slow the metronome down.

> How long did it take you to get your timing down solid?

It took me a long time to really feel rhythm + grooves well. Timing is not about chasing metronome clicks or drum beats, its also the space in between and where the emphasis lies. It really helps to have that connection with the groove.

Play or clap slower crotchet triplets, its something I struggled with (I was a click chaser) and I think its something that requires more feel.

I think if you want to improve your timing + feel there are some great exercises to be had with clapping or even vocalisation (i.e. clapping rhythm, either exercises you can find on the internet or even lines of songs). Its good because it removes the guitar element and singles out rhythm. i.e. you can build some rhythmic skills and transfer to guitar.

Another fun exercise is to put the metronome on or a drum beat (its easier with drum beats at first) get it the groove with it (no guitar, just feel it) then turn the volume down. Stay in the groove and then say 5 - 10 seconds later turn the volume back up and see if the metronome/drums are still where you are / you are still in with it. It helps to vocalise a drum beat.

That last exercises taken from Victor Wooten, he has a great book The music lesson which I'd really recommend. Goes into feeling rhythm + other core musical concepts.

Remember as well, no one is a human metronome, people's sense of timing shifts and that's where feel helps as rhythm / groove is a living beast. So a great way to solidify rhythm / feel is playing regularly with other musicians. Where one on one guitar lessons can help as you can jam / play with an experience player who can keep their timing together.

It certainly depends on the genre, but yes, most of the runs and riffs you'll hear will either be scales or arpeggiations.

I think there are basically two related skills that you'll have to think about when working on runs and riffs.

One is, what we call in the classical world, "coloratura" or "agility". Basically, it's your ability to sing really fast and move from one note to the next quickly. Like just about everything else in the singing world, this is highly dependent on your breath and how you use it.

I'm currently super in love with Mathilde Marchesi's book on Bel Canto technique, and one of the really great ways she introduces flexibility is by starting really small, with at first two or three note scales, then adding onto the scale as you become more comfortable. The important part is not to start too fast, but to learn how to smoothly move between each note. When you can do that at a moderate tempo, you can keep increasing the tempo, and add more notes, and eventually you can sing very long fast scales without losing that smooth transition from note to note. (So as a side note, if this is something you're really interested in, I'd totally recommend that book - the paperback is not expensive, and it's a great resource).

And then, the second issue is knowing scales. This is related, but it's less about technically executing them and more about aurally distinguishing between various scales.

Like with flexibility exercises, I would recommend starting slow and small. For example, you can practice accurately singing the various alterations of a five-tone scale: major (1 2 3 4 5), minor (1 2 b3 4 5), phrygian (1 b2 b3 4 5), and lydian (1 2 3 #4 5). (You can also do things like augmented and diminished/locrian scales, but those are harder and relatively less useful outside of contemporary music.) Then you can branch up to full octaves, and then get into octave+ scales.

Here, the issue is accuracy, so sing slowly enough that you're clearly hitting each note in the scale without sliding around or "fudging" the note. When you can do that, you can start speeding up and adding more notes.

Anyway, the only other thing to worry about is actually analyzing which scales are used in your chosen genre. This varies substantially so of course you'll want to focus on the types of scales that are used in the music you want to sing. Ultimately, I think you'll find that listening to a really good run/riff type singer is probably the best way to figure out what it is you want to accomplish.

Your goals are totally realistic!! I first started in my early 20's but then put music on hold until this year (very very late 30's haha). When I started my goal was to just see where it took me.

I found my first teacher by asking someone I heard at an Open Mic who she studied with (her voice was really amazing). I actually found my second teacher through a web search. I basically read bios of the teachers through the studio and scheduled a lesson to see how we clicked.

My teacher is actually a student of David Jones. David Jones has a Facebook page and you might be able to ask there if anyone has recommendations for his students that are in your area. I don't know about this other person folks are recommending, but he might also have students that are also teachers that could work with you more frequently.

One important thing to keep in mind is to trust yourself. If your teacher belittles you or ignores or dismisses your concerns, find another teacher. It's really important to work with someone who is going to treat you and your voice like the unique snowflake you are.

My teacher also recommended his book that his teacher just published (https://www.amazon.com/Modern-Guide-World-Singing-Swedish-Italian/dp/154390887X). I also like the Singwise blog and Youtube channel as she has a lot of insight on voice science. I bring questions about what I've read to my teacher for clarification - this stuff makes a great supplement.

The other things I would recommend is that you record your lessons, work out a practice routine with your teacher (eg, what exercises should you do during the week, what should you focus on), and really consider doing weekly lessons (rather than biweekly).

Finally, something to keep in mind, in classical especially, people want to get all hung up on voice type/fach/whatever. Do not fall into that trap and don't let anyone push you into a category too early, especially if it doesn't feel right. Focus on developing your true sound - free, released, relaxed.

Good luck!!

A few things:

-Try not to differentiate between choral and solo singing. Healthy singing is healthy singing. Make that your focus. In my ensembles, I tell students not to be "choral singers," rather, intelligent soloists.
-Voice lessons are the best way to dramatically improve your solo voice, and therefore your "choral" voice. Your teacher will provide you with many exercises to improve your voice. Practice these daily.
-Scales are excellent to improve your technique, especially when trying to master going through your second passagio. Record yourself, assess, and redo.
-Get the following two books:

http://www.amazon.com/Great-Singers-Singing-Interviews-Technique/dp/0879100257 (Insight on singing from great opera singers of the past. No, they don't talk about choral technique, but it's a great way to hear MANY different ways different singers achieve vocal beauty. Try out what you read, and decide if it works for you or not. That's the beauty of voices - every one is totally different)

http://www.amazon.com/Solutions-Singers-Tools-Performers-Teachers/dp/0195160053 (Great practical book. Once again, healthy singing is healthy singing, doesn't matter if it's choral or not. Be ready to have to look up a bunch of physiological terms. Amazing resource.)

Good luck!

While I am not a primary vocalist, I happen to have a few excellent resources at my disposal: a textbook from a vocal pedagogy class I took a while back and a book on the list of recommended books for that class. The first is Barbara M. Doscher's The Functional Unity of the Singing Voice. I would highly recommend it for its very in-depth look at MANY aspects of singing, and how technically minded it is. It brings up various points of view on mechanisms from vocalists, and prior pedagogues, and compares them with more recent scientific study and great detail on anatomy used in singing. The second is James C. McKinney;s The Diaganosis & Correction of Vocal Faults.

I'm mainly going to talk about head voice and falsetto as it relates to men, though some of the anatomical information present will apply to women as well. Please pick up a copy of one or both of these books if you want to study this topic further, maybe ask your vocal instructor to assist you in learning a bit more about what they both contain.

>The male head voice is a blending of heavy and light mechanisms to attain a voix mixte, but it has a very different color and projection from that of the female middle voice.

^(Doscher 183)

Earlier in the text, Ms. Doscher talks about heavy and light mechanisms based on laryngeal function, which according to her source (Vennard, William. Singing: The Mechanism and the Technic, 4th ed. New York: Carl Fischer, 1967.), can overlap by about an octave in usage.
Heavy mechanisms:

• utilize thickened vocal cords
  
• have a wide amplitude (large range of possible volumes or dynamics)
  
• exhibit firm glottal closure
  
• are rich in partials (SEE THIS for information on partials)
  
• utilize an active vocalis.
  
  In contrast, Light mechanisms:
  
  
• utilize thinned vocal cords
  
• have a narrower amplitude
  
• utilize brief and/or incomplete glottal closure
  
• have fewer partials
  
• utilizes an active crico-thyroid
  
  ^(Doscher 174)
  
  >[still referring to male head voice] The intensity or amplitude of vibration and the multitude of overtones in the sound wave are regulated by a firm glottal closure, the longer length of time the glottis is closed, and the high air pressure used. In laryngeal appearance, this blended head voice resembles the chest register more than it does the falsetto.
  
  ^(Doscher 184-185)
  
  And on the topic of falsetto:
  
  >According to Hirano, the major breathing and phonatory characteristics of the falsetto are:
  
  > * relaxed vocalis muscle
  
• stretched crico-thyroids
  
• incomplete closure along the total length of the vocal ligaments
  
• great increase of air flow
  
• great decrease of air pressure
  
  >Although falsetto behavior formerly was thought to be solely the result of the damping of the vocal folds (as in a violin string), some authorities now think extreme longitudinal tension of the folds creates the effect of damping. [...] Because of all these factors, the glottal closure time is short and often incomplete, the amplitude of the folds is narrow, and there are very few upper partials in the sound wave. There is greater breath flow than in either the male chest or full head registers.
  
  ^(Doscher 185-186)
  
  Now on to Mckinney on Falsetto, contrasting against the "modal voice," which he calls the normal register for speaking and singing. This puts falsetto in a much shorter and easier to digest way (or if you'd rather: TL;DR)
  >The falsetto register lies above the modal voice register and overlaps it. The characteristic sound of falsetto is inherently breathy and flute-like, with few overtones present. This is due to the type of vibratory pattern set up by the vocal cords. As has been previously stated, the frequency of vibration is determined by the length, tension, and mass of the vocal cords. As pitch rises in the modal register, the cords are lengthened by the action of the cricothyroid muscles, tension is increased by the resistance which the vocalis muscles (the internal thyroarytenoids) offer to the pull of the cricothyroids, and mass is decreased as the edges of the vocal cords become thinner. The key factor is that the whole vocal cord is involved in the vibratory pattern of the modal register; this is not the case in falsetto.
  
  ^(McKinney 99)
  
  So that's what's different between Male head voice and falsetto.
  
  
  EDITS: a ton of formatting issues. It's readable now.

Story Time!

So I was living in London but was planning to move back to Australia when I saw the BBoys were touring with a festival show downunder. I bought tickets for Sydney and Melbourne before buying our return tickets to Oz.

On the drive down to Melbourne, my wife spots a Sydney Morning Herald with a BBoys contest; 50 words or less tell us why you're the biggest Beastie Boys fan. Winner got 2 backstage passes to meet them in Sydney before that show. After the Melbourne show I sat down in our hotel room and came up with 49 words:

> I've seen the BBoys 11 times on 2 continents... I own every song they've released (and many they didn't officially - Desperado anyone? Scenario? I'm Down?)... I'm a published BBoy Discrography expert*... I worked on their official website for 3+ years**, and yet I'VE NEVER MET THEM! Fix this!! Please!?!

> * - https://www.amazon.com/Rhyming-Stealing-History-Beastie-Boys/dp/1897783140/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1540313405&sr=8-1&keywords=beastie+boys+angus

> ** - https://web.archive.org/web/20060617002049/http://grandroyal.isontheweb.com:80/

(and yes, I kinda cheated with having the references)

On Valentine's Day 2007 I got the call that I had won! My wife is more a BBoys fan out of need than want so meeting the band wasn't a bucket list item for her so she made a suggestion. I have a friend in Sydney that at that point I'd traded BBoy recordings with for ~12 years but I'd never met, so I sent him an email and told him I'd won. After some light bitching he congratulated me and said he was jealous but the boy just wasn't picking up what I was laying down so I asked for his number.

I called him and said "You don't get it, I have TWO backstage passes. You're coming with me!" I felt Astro float on the other end of the phone :)

That was a good day!

I would love to have this book for Christmas: http://www.amazon.com/How-Sing-Graham-Hewitt/dp/0800839803/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260381040&sr=8-2

I really can't sing at all, but would love to be able to. That book looks like it would help. Then I would sing my mom's favorite song on her birthday. She would love it, and it would bring a lovely smile to her face.

I've been slacking on this skill, but I can tell you what my ideal method would be for this skill. Note that aural skills were the bane of my existence as an undergraduate, and my current struggles have probably kept me from full funding at the graduate level, which is why I've been woodshedding (I'll show them! I'll show them all!)

• Buy "A New Approach to Sight Singing, 4th Ed." (because the newest editions are too expensive) http://www.amazon.com/New-Approach-Sight-Singing-Fourth/dp/B000L3K71I. Why? Because the interval of a 4th (do --> fa, re --> so, mi --> la, so --> do, la --> re, ti --> mi) feels different in each of those contexts, relative to whatever is your tonic note. For that matter, so do all other intervals. At any rate, sing through Part I of each chapter, and then Part II of each chapter, etc. Expect this to take a long time. Expect to be frustrated when the keys go outside of a comfortable range (e.g. a major 2nd which is easy in G major is incredibly difficult in the key of B, a major 3rd above)
  
  
• Buy "371 Harmonized Chorales and 69 Chorale Melodies with Figured Bass" by J.S. Bach (http://www.amazon.com/Harmonized-Chorales-Chorale-Melodies-Figured/dp/0793525748), and play three voices while singing the other. This will also take forever. Use sol-fege
  
  
• Buy MacGAMUT (http://www.macgamut.com/) MacGAMUT looks really, really outdated. But it isn't--if you use Windows you'll need to get a Virtual MIDI Synth and some SoundFonts, because the way it sound out-of-the-box will probably hurt more than help. But where MacGAMUT succeeds is in it's refusal to coddle you as a musician. Either you know it or you don't. Expect to spend dozens of hours using the program. The most vital exercises are going to Melodic Dictation and Harmonic Dictation. They are both difficult and will require you to use staff paper. But they work.
  
  
• If you are fortunate enough to be studying music at the Undergraduate level or beyond, look for "error detection" methods in your music library. If you are not fortunate enough to be studying music but you have money, you can buy something like "Error Detection: Exercises for the Instrumental Conductor" for around $200. (http://www.jwpepper.com/10087652.item#.Vy0lh76b2CM)
  
  
• Realize that ear training is different for everybody. Some people just have great aural skills, and they will treat you like dirt because they'll wonder "why can't you hear that?" Others believe that aural skills are like athletic abilities and thus cannot be trained to a consistent standard. I disagree. I do think that ear training requires devotion and it is time-consuming, and the payout is not the same now when everything is on youtube than it was in the 17th-19th centuries when you had to be able to relay information accurately to other musicians. Consider that most of the educated populace had better skills with the visual arts before the age of photography and you have a striking parallel to music before the age of recordings.

I'm currently studying Vocal Performance in preparation for graduate studies in Choral Conducting. I would ABSOLUTELY look into literature such as Dennis Shrock's books, specifically his most known, Choral Repertoire and Choral Scores.

Also, if you are looking at this opportunity very seriously as your future, this is very exciting and I welcome you to choral singing!

Absolutely also look into the work done by Dr. James Jordan, he is one of the leading scholars, pedagogues, and conductors in the field. His books in the Evoking Sound series, Evoking Sound, Evoking Sound, the Choral Warmup, and if you're particularly interested in conducting(not just choral conducting!) and its nuances, then The Conductor's Gesture.

Also, Podcasts are a GREAT resource, listen to Choir Chat, with John Hughes, he interviews the fields leading experts and big names, composers, conductors, and teachers!

I would also like to say that the greatest tool for finding new rep is just listening to choirs, listening to a lot of recordings. You should be able to find a LOT of rep just from searching through recordings from ACDA conventions alone.

Also, recommendations for composers generally outside of the classical choral canon, or who are gaining some popularity, Stacey Gibbs for spirituals, Moses Hogan for spirituals, Dan Forrest is a new contemporary composer whose music is approachable, Jake Runestadt is another contemporary composer with approachable music, Daniel Elder's set of Three Nocturnes(Lullaby, Ballade to the Moon, and Star Sonnet), Michael Burkhardt for treble choir or approachable young choir / world music, Eugene Rogers has a very approachable series for world music, Joseph Flummerfelt has a lot of fantastic arrangements of a lot of stuff(Danny Boy), Greg Jasperse for vocal jazz, Darmon Meader for vocal jazz, Kerry Marsh for vocal jazz.

Don't hesitate to message if you have any questions about the comment or in the future!

I think a great choice would be a book with both piano music as well as chord charts. A fakebook is a huge advantage once you learn a few chords.



I have this book. It's pretty simple to either read the music on the staff or to "fakebook" it and just use the lead sheet and chords. The guitar chords are there to play together.

My wife plays flute and will play te melody of these while I play accompaniment from the same page.

New Life of the Christmas Party: Piano/Vocal/Chords https://www.amazon.com/dp/0769289487/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_udAOub1STH2WZ

Or if you're looking for something similar but easy easy easy (songs all written in the key of C). Try this.

The Easy Christmas Fake Book: 100 Songs in the Key of C (Fake Books) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0634049119/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_riAOub1FXYTWZ





For other styles I would recommend something like this:

The Ultimate Fake Book (for C Instruments) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0793529395/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_HgAOub0Z1A9T8

This book will include only chords and melody lines. Perfect for singalongs or jamming guitar and piano together.

For something similar but also very very easy, try the C version.

The Easy Fake Book https://www.amazon.com/dp/0634009052/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_PjAOub1TJTNHF

I'm guessing since you are learning all this theory and stuff that you want to be a good musician. Any good musician will want to possess the skill of reading music. I know us guitarists generally don't want to read, but it REALLY comes in handy when you want to communicate between other musicians (especially non-guitarists). I recommend this book for reading. Not only does it teach you to read, but it introduces concepts of music theory as you go. I'm currently on Vol. 2 and it's rough, but I can tell you right now that I know SO much more since starting this book than if I hadn't and just kept trying to do things by ear.

As for classes and sequences, it's a lot of theory, ear training, sight-singing, and melodic/harmonic dictations. I know sight-singing seems kind of trivial or even inapplicable, but it is honestly one of, if not the best things to be good at musically. To be able to sight sing well means that you can internalize notes in your head (relatively); i.e. you can hear in your head what's supposed to be playing. For that I would say that this book would be the best, it's the one that I'm using and will continue to use for some time. For theory I would recommend the guitar book (I was never assigned an actual textbook in my theory courses). For ear training I would recommend this site. And the dictations will come once you've gained some mastery in the previous skills.

Sorry for the long post, I kind of got ahead of myself there. But one last thing - if you just keep drilling the theory and reading, even when it gets hard, you'll progress. There were times when I just looked at a piece of music that I had to have down by the following week and thought to myself, "there's no way in hell I'm going to be able to play this." But some determination and time will get you there.

Changing genres is a long process. It starts exactly where you're starting - imitating singers and sounding bad. That's ok!

Instead of whole-cloth imitating them, why not analyze what each singer does? Like this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAhs35-xDOM&t=825s. Then try to mimic just one or two of those stylistic choices like a fast or slow vibrato, a short run or turn, sliding between notes. Just pick one thing of your favorite singer and perfect it. The things you like and make your voice sound good will be your style.

I would avoid modern jazz singers for now...go back to the 30s, 40s and 50s. There are a lot of modern "jazz" singers who sound very hokey and unnatural (what you want to avoid!) so don't get into the habit of singing like them!

To sing jazz specifically, you're going to have become a theory nerd. Good jazz singers manipulate rhythms, pitch, vibrato, scales, etc. You can start here: Judy Niemack: Exploring Modal Jazz. This will get you used to singing the modal scales and experimenting with improvising. Not all jazz singers improvise or scat, but they do understand the harmonic and melodic structure of the songs they sing.

For R&B, again, pick an artist you love. But also practice runs and turns, back and forward phrasing, and try a little mixed-voice "belting."

For blues, everything above plus learn the blues scale.

Good luck!

​

To be entirely honest with you, I have no idea where this sub is heading. We're just shy of 15,000 subscribers. Fifteen thousand.

Overall it's a pretty dead sub when you compare it to those numbers, which is just depressing.

We've tried weekly discussion threads, weekly recording threads, the whole 9 yards, and it's just a struggle to get participation going. Talks about technique can get seriously heated and personal, and not everyone is on the same page when it comes to the first rule of the sidebar:

> Be Excellent to Each Other.

I would like to form an actual community - not just a sub of Q&As. I'm not entirely certain how to do that, and every time I've sent out feelers looking for ideas, I've been greeted with crickets.

Your signal-to-noise comment is exactly it - but we can't force people to participate if they don't find questions particularly stimulating. I'm hoping the full-genre threads that recycle themselves every 8 weeks will work out, but I can't guarantee that they will.

Out of FIFTEEN THOUSAND subscribers, I see maybe 20 a week, 5-10 of them the same people.

I can do my best to help lead and guide as a moderator, but I can't take the sub anywhere when there's no one to go with me. I want this to be a community-based discussion board, but it's not about what I want, it's what everyone else wants - which has had a frighteningly quiet response.

___

To tag on some responses to what you wrote:

• Intermediate articles haven't been written, in part because a lot of them accidentally got melded in with the beginner ones. (whoops). Where do we draw the lines? Also, yes, they should be user submitted, and no one has submitted them. Sadly.
  
  
• Critiques are one of the trickiest things to handle around here. No one liked them when they weren't in threads, no one likes them now that they're in threads. What's up with that? Oh - participation.
  
  
• Richard Miller is NOT a book for beginners. Not even close, and I'm a little upset that it was marketed to you as such. This is a more recent thread on the same topic, and honestly, this is the book I found written in beginner-terminology that was the best. You can even find it on WorldCat which is a worldwide library catalog, where you can check out books from around the world simply by having a library card at your local library - so you'd be able to check it out for free without having to worry.

Modal music is still chord driven music, but the cadences (the way the chords are arranged) follow a different set of rules than tonal music. Tonal music cadences usually approach the tonic chord via circular motion (as in IV-I, V-I progressions) and the tonic chord is built off the key signature and first scale degree of the standard major scale. The most common scale modes are built by using the standard major scale as the "parent scale" and by using the parent scale's key signature, but by building the scale from a different scale degree of the parent scale, which results in a different tonic chord that must be approached differently in order to avoid resolving to the parent scale's tonic chord.

"Modal music" cadences approach the mode's tonic chord step-wise by a whole or half-step (II-i, vii-I, etc), the tonic chord is built off the key signature of the parent scale, but off of a different scale degree (hence giving you the different modes), and the cadences avoid any chord or interval (a.k.a - tritone) that gravitates towards resolving to the tonic chord of the parent scale. When the tonic chord is built off of the first scale degree and key signature of the parent scale, it is known as Ionian mode and although the notes and chords in this mode are identical to the standard major scale, the chord progressions chosen must follow the rules of modal cadences to technically be in this mode (i.e. - you would not use a V-I, or viio-I cadence), otherwise you're just playing in your standard major key.

The book where I got this info ("Modalogy" by Jeff Brent) is pretty informative and goes into more depth about modes and music in general and I highly recommend it for anyone who wants a better understanding for the way notes, intervals, and chords behave in different musical settings.

Hope this makes sense!

https://www.amazon.com/Modalogy-Scales-Chords-Primordial-Building/dp/1458413977

I’ve been really working on enhancing everything about my singing and happened across “The Voice Book”.

I’m only a couple chapters in but they give pics and exercises for posture and supporting your voice. Just a couple minor changes to my stance and I can immediately see/feel/hear the difference in my voice.

Below is the link for it on Amazon. Hope it helps!

The Voice Book: Caring For, Protecting, and Improving Your Voice https://www.amazon.com/dp/1556528299/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_xEGoDbJ4RPZ2V

The Structure of Singing by Richard Miller

Securing Baritone, Bass-Baritone, and Bass Voices by Richard Miller

What Every Singer Needs to Know about the Body

I didn't learn about these books until graduate school. I think every singer needs them in their personal library. The Miller texts are very thorough on technique with scientific explanation of phonation. Lots of diagrams and lots of exercises with very specific purposes. Also a lot of very good references to other texts. If you're more of a right brain thinker and respond better to metaphors and abstract approaches, Miller may not be your go-to reference guide, but it's important to at least study for pedagogy's sake.

The other book focuses on body awareness. It will change your life. For real. Posture, balance, alignment, movement - everything you need to know. Teachers toss around terms and commands such as "tension," "relax," "stand up straight," "chest high," "shoulders back," etc. but none of this is specific enough to actually correct anything and can actually cause other problems! This book will save you. It is my precious and I love it.

Some years ago, when everybody was loving the CD "Chant: The Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo de Silos," cartoonist Sandra Boynton released a startlingly well-done parody called "Grunt: pigorian chant from Snouto Domoinko de Silo" Rather than the liturgical cycle of the monastery, this CD follows the sorta-liturgical cycle of a farm, as seen by the animals.

What makes "Grunt" so excellent is that it's performed by very good cantors in authentic Gregorian modes. Each species chants its own part in impeccable Latin, except for the pigs, who chant in elegant, clearly-enunciated Pig-Latin.

You can play it as background and no one will suspect a thing, except music professors and church cantors, who will get it and laugh inexplicably throughout.

I got it as a gag gift for someone and then when I heard it I bought a copy for myself.

Great reading exercises and practice pieces:

1. 113 Etudes for Cello
   
2. 15 Inventions, Bach
   
3. 6 Cello Suites, Bach
   
4. Jazz Transcriptions
   
5. Various transcriptions
   
6. Vast collection of classic Funk/Soul Transcriptions
   
7. Rhythm Studies
   
   Transcribe as manny lines as you can. Practice arpeggios and scales (write them out even if you have them memorized) through the entire cycle of fifths (up and down) to help internalize the succession of key signatures. Don't worry about style of music. Just read everything you can get you hands on. Practice reading rhythms separately and in conjunction with pitch. For rhythm, think in terms of beats rather than notes. There is a finite number of ways for a beat to be subdivided. Sight-Reading any Rhythm Instantly is a great book for rhythm reading. Frequent short practice is much better than infrequent long practices. It is hard work, but the work pays off.

Then there's this: https://www.amazon.com/Grunt-Pigorian-Chant-Snouto-Domoinko/dp/0761105948

It sounds like Gregorian chants, it's performed by professional choristers, the only catch is that it's things like Old McDonald Had A Farm in Latin, complete with the EIEIO; and other pieces in Pig Latin. If you ever have the misfortune to have to attend professional development sessions, innocently offer "Gregorian Chants" as a background (and don't show them the cover), then sit back and quietly chuckle to yourself when everyone relaxes and oohs and aahs, but absolutely nobody twigs the lyrics...

The book Modalogy identifies the most important traits of a modal cadential chord as stepwise motion of the root, a major quality, and presence of the mode’s characteristic note.

For example, it gives II-I as the strongest Lydian cadence, since II’s root is a step away from I, it has a major quality, and it contains the characteristic note of the mode (the raised fourth).

To be fair, the kinematic equations really are kind of mystical until calculus.

Also, please check this book out: The Voice Book

Have you tried to work on your voice, if it bothers you so much? Perhaps something like The Voice Book: Caring For, Protecting, and Improving Your Voice 1 Pap/Com Edition
(which I have no affiliation with but have read parts of)

Sing everything you write. Every note. If you can't sing, get a sight singing book (I recommend this one). Get a pitch pipe or a tuning fork to check yourself if you don't have a piano or something already.

This book helped me.

My family owned the parody CD 'Grunt', a chant in Latin based around the toils of a farmyard. The pigs chanted in Pig Latin, of course.

Link

Here is the mobile version of your link

Here is an excerpt from "The Voice Book":

>Voice quality and ease, or the lack thereof, is closely linked to posture and muscle tension. Slouching posture or tension in the throat, jaw, shoulders, and neck can negatively affect the voice. Therefore, we will start our journey to vocal efficiency by first addressing body alignment.
>
>Heads are heavy (15 pounds or so), and the human body is designed such that the bones of the skeleton support the weight of the head. However, many of us don’t have a sufficiently straight carriage, or posture, to allow the head to be fully supported by the bones of the skeleton. Therefore, we have to overuse neck muscles to support the weight of the head. This state is called misalignment and can create several negative repercussions for voice quality and comfort.
>
>One vocal consequence of misalignment is extraneous tension in the muscles of the neck, which then creates tension in the vocal system. Another issue is the contraction of muscles at the back of the neck and the base of the skull. Keep in mind that muscles shorten when they contract. Most people unknowingly contract and shorten muscles at the back of the neck and base of the skull, thereby causing misalignment. Tension in these muscles not only creates discomfort (this is an area of tightness for many people), but can also create tension in the jaw, because tension in the back of the body tends to lead to corresponding tension in the front. Therefore, misalignment of the head can easily lead to jaw tension, which negatively affects voice by constricting the channel through which the voice flows.
>
>Yet another effect of misalignment is related to the shape of the vocal tract, which is the tube that runs from the larynx to the lips and includes the throat, mouth, and nose. If the head is misaligned, the vocal tract’s shape is distorted in a way that is disadvantageous for voice. The vocal tract is essentially a built-in amplifier that makes your voice louder and more resonant if you don’t constrict it. By mis-aligning the head, we basically unplug the amplifier and cut out many of the acoustic benefits of the vocal tract. Therefore, proper head alignment can not only reduce laryngeal tension, but can also improve vocal projection and reduce vocal effort.

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As far as how to train good alignment well the go to method is The Alexander Technique