Personal Bibliography: Music
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Bernstein, Leonard. The Joy of Music. The great communicator and towering figure of American 20th Century music. This book expounds on various subjects in short imagined dialogues.
Blocker, Robert. The Robert Shaw Reader. Shaw was, among his many skills, a writer of clarity and passion on the subject of music.
Friedwald, Will. Jazz Singing. I disagree with Friedwald almost as often as I agree with him, but this book is an indispensable primer to the history of jazz singing.
Glover, Jane. Mozart’s Women. This is the biography of Mozart everyone should read: told through his relationships with women: his sister Nannerl, his wife Constanze, and others, as well as the female characters in his operas.
Horn, Stacy. Imperfect Harmony. A passionate manifesto/memoir on the value of amateur singing – both to society and to individuals.
Parker, Alice. Melodious Accord: Good Singing in Church. Alice could have left off the last two words – this is a great short book on passionate singing.
Ross, Alex. Listen to This. A collection of essays from this brilliant author, staff writer for The New Yorker.
Ross, Alex. The Rest is Noise. The definitive lay history of 20th century music.
Sacks, Oliver. Musicophilia. How does music work with your brain? It turns out that Sacks was just as passionate about music as he was about neuroscience, and this book is the perfect marriage of those two passions.
Seelig, Tim. The Perfect Rehearsal. Tim’s books are excellent primers on rehearsal, blend, and warmups – they were formative as I attempted to back into a career in choral music and remain an appreciated resource.
Swingle, Ward. Swingle Singing. Ward’s memoir of his time with the Swingle Singers is fascinating, and includes nice large chunks outlining his musical philosophy.
Tormé, Mel. My Singing Teachers. In addition to being a first-class jazz singer, Tormé was great student of other singers. Here he offers biographical sketches with heart.
Weir, Michele. Vocal Improvisation. Michi has written several excellent educational books, including this primer about vocal improvisation.
Last Updated: Oct. 11, 2018.