A Practical Guide to Develop Your Authentic Singing Voice Written by musicologist Dr. Karin Wettig, Bel Canto in Theory and Practice is for singers who want to dive deeper into the secrets of true bel canto (an Italian word meaning "beautiful singing"). Its practical advice and discoveries about vocal functions can be used by a hobby singer, choir member or soloist on his way to a professional career in pop, musical, theatre or opera. All the exercises are simple and well described with photos. If you are ready to breakthrough with your voice on stage, dive into these lessons and learn from the life story and personal discoveries of the author who says "After 20 years of voice practice, I have learned that awareness is the key and is my best teacher because awareness changes in 10 minutes what 5 years of voice exercises cannot do." Even non-singers who would like to develop more vocal expression power for their everyday life or business purposes will find lots of good tips. As you practice the exercises you will dive deeper into your personal natural vocal power and develop your true authentic voice over time. The whole body yoga approach and breathing exercises will strengthen your body (especially the rib cage and pelvis), develop a correct posture for standing, sitting and moving on stage and enable you to sing longer phrases easily and effortlessly. Your vocal cords and stiff tongue will relax. The low and high range of your voice will be bound together without the usual passage break and singing will become more powerful and effortless as the natural beauty of your voice shines through. Bel Canto in Theory and Practice also offers professional singers, who are curious to discover more about the secret behind the voices of opera singers like Maria Callas and Enrico Caruso, technical details about the structure of the voice box and an analytical approach to the function of the human voice and her relationship with emotion. The musicological approach of the history of singing and voice development in opera will give the reader a deeper understanding about the ideal of vocal beauty working throughout four centuries of opera creation and its deep connection to the renaissance of ancient Greece and Rome. After losing her voice following a traumatic divorce, the author searched for a way to get her voice back. When voice therapy didn't heal her, she looked for a cure through singing. She left her life behind to pursue her dream to be a bel canto singer and her journey to becoming a coloratura soprano began. Studying bel canto videos, spending nights and weekends in churches alone with CDs of Callas and others, and pursuing classes for opera singing and workshops in Europe, she dove deeply into the physical aspects of opera singing, while her musicological curiosity made her travel to the origins and sources of bel canto in the Renaissance. Observing minuscule body and throat movements brought her a breakthrough. After two decades miracles started happening: her teeth aligned, her chin and jaw movement became smoother, her stiff tongue melted. In the end, she enjoyed an upright posture, better proportions, 1.5 cm more in height, emotional balance, cured sinusitis and healthy self-esteem. Her efforts were rewarded with a brilliant coloratura soprano voice. "Behind every weakness hides a talent!" is her motto now. Asked for a transcript of her voice classes, she wrote her personal method down. That was the moment Bel Canto in Theory and Practice was born. Her students' voices radically changed during her classes within ten minutes of training. The result is this book: an intuitive, heartfelt, yet practical approach to achieving excellence in bel canto through effortless singing. Order your copy today.

Renowned teacher presents the "vocal alphabet," or basic instructions and exercises that formed the voices of her own students, who included Melba and Calvé. Topics include breathing, attack, registers, voice management, and projection.

Bel canto, or 'beautiful singing, ' remains one of the most elusive performance styles vocalists strive to master. During the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, composers routinely left the final shaping of recitatives, arias, and songs to performers, and singers treated scores freely so that inexpressively notated music could be turned into passionate declamation. In other words, vocalists saw their role more as one of re-creation than of simple interpretation. Familiarity with the range of strategies prominent singers of the past employed to unlock the eloquent expression hidden in scores enables modern performers to take a similar re-creative approach to enhancing the texts before them. In this first ever guide to bel canto, author Robert Toft provides singers with the tools they need not only to complete the creative process the composer began but also to bring scores to life in an historically-informed manner. Replete with illustrations based on excerpts from Italianate recitatives and arias by composers ranging from Handel to Rossini, the book offers discussions of the fundamental principles of expressive singing, each section including a practical application of the techniques involved. Drawing on a wealth of documents from the era, including treatises, scores, newspaper reviews, and letters, this book captures the breadth of practices singers used in the bel canto period. Complete with six scores (recitatives and/or arias) for performers to personalize through the old methods, and a companion website offering demonstrations of the principles involved, Bel Canto is an essential resource for any singer or vocal instructor wishing to explore and master historical techniques of interpretation and re-creation from the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

"Behind every weakness hides a talent!" is Dr. Karin Wettig's personal revelation. With her divorce came an almost total loss of her speaking voice. When voice therapy didn't heal her, she decided to look for a cure in singing. Mozart Arias & her passion for Belcanto, Maria Callas, Adelina Patti and the divas of Caruso's time found a home in her heart, never to depart. She left her home, her career, her husband, her friends and her business in northern Germany to pursue her dream to be a Belcanto singer. Once settled in Munich, her adventurous journey from a lost speaking voice to becoming a coloratura soprano began. Personal voice trainers, Belcanto teachers & Opera Schools from all over Europe were as disillusioning as her experience in a famous local choir. An inspiring master class with Ann Reynolds gave her the impulse to write her first Belcanto Guide for singing. Still not satisfied with her voice, she started modeling Maria Callas and exploring body therapies such as Alexander Technique, Rolfing, Cantieni and Yoga. The way to her authentic voice was a path paved with lonely nights in dark churches, practicing Belcanto repertoire from Farinelli to Mozart, Bellini, Rossini and Verdi. Studying Belcanto videos, she dove deeply into the physical aspects of opera singing, while her musicological curiosity made her travel to the origins and sources of Belcanto in the Renaissance. Suddenly miracles started happening: Her teeth aligned, her chin and jaw movement became smoother, her stiff tongue melted. In the end, she enjoyed an upright posture, better proportions, 1.5 cm more in height, emotional balance, cured sinusitis and healthy self-esteem. Her efforts were rewarded with a brilliant coloratura soprano voice. Asked for a transcript of her voice classes, she wrote her personal method down. The result is this book: An intuitive, heartfelt, yet practical approach to achieving excellence in Belcanto through effortless singing. "Body & voice awareness is the ke