The Oxford Handbook of Singing

• Provides a lifespan perspective. Whatever your age or experience, there will be something about singing that relates to you, your family and your experience
• The authors represent scientists, doctors, teachers and performers. This is a comprehensive, multi-faceted perspective on singing which offers content for a wide audience
• The text has been designed to be accessible, informative and useful. Whether you are a teacher, scientist or clinician, the content will enable you to understand more clearly what singing is and why it is important in our human lives

Singing has been a characteristic behaviour of humanity across several millennia. Chorus America (2009) estimated that 42.6 million adults and children regularly sing in one of 270,000 choruses in the US, representing more than 1:5 households. Similarly, recent European-based data suggest that more than 37 million adults take part in group singing.

The Oxford Handbook of Singing is a landmark text on this topic. It is a comprehensive resource for anyone who wishes to know more about the pluralistic nature of singing. In part, the narrative adopts a lifespan approach, pre-cradle to senescence, to illustrate that singing is a commonplace behaviour which is an essential characteristic of our humanity.

In the overall design of the Handbook, the chapter contents have been clustered into eight main sections, embracing fifty-three chapters by seventy-two authors, drawn from across the world, with each chapter illustrating and illuminating a particular aspect of singing. Offering a multi-disciplinary perspective embracing the arts and humanities, physical, social and clinical sciences, the book will be valuable for a broad audience within those fields.

Table of Contents

PART 1: The Anatomy and Physiology of Singing
1: Structure and Function of the Singing Voice, Gillyanne Kayes
2: Voice Dysfunction and Recovery, Tara K Stadelman-Cohen and Robert E Hillman
3: The Healthy Voice, Lifestyle and Voice Protection (including Exercise, Body Work and Diet), John S Rubin and Ruth Epstein
4: Physiology and its Impact on the Performance of Singing, Filipa M B Lã and Brian P Gill
PART 2: The Acoustics of Singing
5: Breathing in Singing, Alan Watson
6: The Sound Source in Singing: Basic Principles and Muscular Adjustments for Fine-tuning Vocal Timbre, Christian T Herbst, David M Howard and Jan G Svec
7: The Vocal Tract in Singing, Brad Story
8: The Acoustics of Different Genres of Singing, Johan Sundberg
9: The Developing Voice, Desmond Sergeant
10: Perceptual Features of Singing, David M Howard and Eric J Hunter
11: The Impact of Location on the Singing Voice, Harald Jers
PART 3: The Psychology of Singing
12: The Neuroscience of Singing, Boris A Kleber and Jean Mary Zarate
13: Intonation in Singing, Johan Sundberg
14: Singing and Emotion, Eduardo Coutinho, Klaus R Scherer and Nicola Dibben
15: Perceived Quality of a Singing Performance: The Importance of Context, Evangelos Himonides
16: Defining and Explaining Singing Difficulties in Adults, Karen Wise
17: Vocal Performance in Occasional Singers, Simone Dalla Bella
18: Singing as Inter- and Intra-personal Communication, Graham F Welch and Costanza Preti
19: Digital Libraries for Singing: The Example of the AIRS Project, Annabel J Cohen and Karen M Ludke
PART 4: The Development of Singing across the Lifespan
20: Socio-cultural, Acoustic, and Environmental Imperatives in the World of Singing, Robert Walker
21: Fetal, Neonatal and Early Infant Experiences of Maternal Singing, Sheila C Woodward
22: Mothers as Singing Mentors for Infants, Sandra E Trehub and Helga Rut Gudmundsdottir
23: Singing and Invented Song-making in Infants and Young Children's Early Learning and Development: from Shared to Independent Song-making, Margaret S Barrett
24: Children Singing: Nurture, Creativity, and Culture. A Study of Children's Music-making in London, UK, and in West Bengal, India, Valentine Harding
25: Singing and Vocal Development, Graham F Welch
26: Boys' Singing Voice Change in Adolescence, Jenevora Williams and Scott Harrison
27: Adolescent Girls' Singing Development, Lynne Gackle
28: The Effects of Gender on the Motivation and Benefits Associated with Community Singing in the UK, Diana Parkinson
29: Voice Management and the Older Singer, Jane Davidson and Lynne Murray
PART 5: Singing Pedagogy
30: Systematic Development of Vocal Technique, John Nix
31: Addressing the Needs of the Adult "Non-Singer" ("NS"), Susan Knight
32: Teaching the Professional Singer, Jean Callaghan
33: Mental Preparation for the Performer, Alma Thomas
34: Conservatory Teaching and Learning, Mary King and John Nix
35: Pedagogy of Different Sung Genres, Jeremy Fisher, Gillyanne Kayes and Lisa Popeil
36: The Extra-normal Voice, Michael Edward Edgerton
37: Vocal Music and Pedagogy of Chinese, African and Indian Genres, Yang Yang, Aaron Carter-Enyi, Nandhu Radhakrishnan, Sophie Grimmer, and John Nix
PART 6: The Collective 'Choral' Voice
38: Contemporary Concepts and Practices of Choral Singing, Ursula Geisler and Karin Johansson
39: The Youth Choir, Joy Hill
40: Cultural History and a Singing Style: "The English Cathedral Tradition", Timothy Day
41: Perspectives on Choral Conducting: Theory and Practice, Colin Durrant and Maria Varvarigou
42: Group Singing and Social Identity, Jane Davidson and Robert Faulkner
43: Intonation and Staying in Tune in A Cappella Choral Singing, David M Howard
44: Choral Singers' Perceptions of Musical Leadership, Dag Jansson
PART 7: The Wider Benefits of Singing
45: Can Singing have a Beneficial Effect on Lung Function and Breathing for People with Respiratory Illness?, Stephen Clift and Rebekah Gilbert
46: Singing and Psychological Needs, Jane W Davidson and Sandra Garrido
47: The Effects and Benefits of Singing Individually and in a Group, Töres Theorell
48: Unchained Melody: The Rise of Orality and Therapeutic Singing, June Boyce-Tillman
PART 8: Singing and Technology
49: Historical Approaches in Revealing the Singing Voice, Part 1, Harm K Schutte
50: Historical Approaches in Revealing the Singing Voice, Part 2, Harm K Schutte
51: Ave Verum Pentium: Singing, Recording, Archiving and Analysing within the Digital Domain, Evangelos Himonides
52: Practical Voice Analyses and their Application in the Studio, Garyth Nair (decd), David M Howard, and Graham F Welch
53: Future Perspectives, Peter Pabon, David M Howard, Sten Ternström, Malte Kob and Gerhard Eckel