Singer's Italian: A Manual of Diction and Phonetics

Rating:
Summary: Singer's Italian
Review: Colorni's book has stood the test of time. But it's complexity is indeed more suitable for aspiring classical singers rather than amateur singers. Colorni approaches everything in much detail, which is both good and not so good! The information is there for the taking but the format is somewhat intimidating. Although the Italian language seems to be one of the easiest for singers to pronounce, it is full of exceptions at every turn. Whether there is a better way around this subject remains to be found. In the meantime. Colorni's book is the one to choose for detailed information on this subject.

Eileen Davis, Author of Sing French

Rating:
Summary: It is way, way over my head
Review: I did not expect the book to be so detailed and comprehensive. It would perhaps be useful for a professional opera singer, but for a fellow such as myself who takes a private singing lesson once a week and does all his exercises and songs in Italian, this book is simply too much. I wouldn't know where to begin with this book. It has entire chapters on topics that I would be satisfied to have a two paragraph explanation of. In order for it to be useful to me, it would have to be re-organized so that the important points stand out and can be read whilst skipping over the lesser points. In this day and age, a book with such ambitious pretensions as this should really include a CD that has examples of males and females actually pronouncing operatic Italian.

Rating:
Summary: It is way, way over my head
Review: I did not expect the book to be so detailed and comprehensive. It would perhaps be useful for a professional opera singer, but for a fellow such as myself who takes a private singing lesson once a week and does all his exercises and songs in Italian, this book is simply too much. I wouldn't know where to begin with this book. It has entire chapters on topics that I would be satisfied to have a two paragraph explanation of. In order for it to be useful to me, it would have to be re-organized so that the important points stand out and can be read whilst skipping over the lesser points. In this day and age, a book with such ambitious pretensions as this should really include a CD that has examples of males and females actually pronouncing operatic Italian.