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SINGING FOR THE JOY OF IT
Joan Goddard Maloney
Reviewed by Joan Weller
Volume 22 Number 3
In Emile his educational treatise, Jean-Jacques Rousseau stressed the value of vocal training for the child. The voice, the child's most natural instrument, was a gift to be developed; vocal music was to be appreciated at an early age. But this natural voice must be exercised, according to singer, teacher and author Joan Goddard Maloney in order to over come five main problems: shallow breathing, unnecessary muscle tension, inability to release the rhythmic impulse, damaged vocal image, and difficulty in relaxing. Overcoming these problems allows the student to "sing freely." In five sections Maloney outlines specific exercises (resembling yoga and general relaxation exercises) to help singers and, as a spin-off," automatically enrich our whole life." If these exercises are the remedy for better singing, only personal experience and the author's experience will tell. But the exercises are many and detailed, some requiring space to lie down, stretch out; others are standing exercises. Most suitable for advance voice students, singing teachers and possibly some junior and senior classroom teachers. Joan Weller is an Ottawa librarian whose children's book review column "Kids Books" appears weekly in the Ottawa Citizen
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