- 296 pages
- English
- PDF
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF
About this book
In Blues Mamas and Broadway Belters, songwriter, scholar, and dramatist Masi Asare explores the singing practice of black women singers in US musical theatre between 1900 and 1970. Asare shows how a vanguard of black women singers including Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters, Pearl Bailey, Juanita Hall, Lena Horne, Eartha Kitt, Diahann Carroll, and Leslie Uggams created a lineage of highly trained and effective voice teachers whose sound and vocal techniques continue to be heard today. Challenging pervasive narratives that these and other black women possessed "untrained" voices, Asare theorizes singing as a form of sonic citational practice—how the sound of the teacher's voice lives on in the student's singing. From vaudeville-blues shouters, black torch singers, and character actresses to nightclub vocalists and Broadway glamour girls, Asare locates black women of the musical stage in the context of historical voice pedagogy. She invites readers not only to study these singers, but to study with them—taking seriously what they and their contemporaries have taught about the voice. Ultimately, Asare speaks to the need to feel and hear the racial history in contemporary musical theatre.
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Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Yes, you can access Blues Mamas and Broadway Belters by Masi Asare in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Media & Performing Arts & Music History & Criticism. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Contents
- Warming Up
- Note on Phonetic Transcription
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: Citing the Vocal-Possible
- 1. Vocal Color in Blue: Learning the Song with Blueswomen, Shouters, and Belters
- 2. Beyond the Weary-Bluesy Mammy: Listening Better with Midcentury Character Divas
- 3. “A Little Singer on Broadway”: Exercising American Glamour with Golden-Age Starlets
- 4. Secrets of Vocal Health: Voice Teachers and Pop Vocal Technique
- Playoff
- Appendix: More Exercises for Voice Practice
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index