Secrets for Great Singing: John L. Lester: Pedagogy and Life

“Secrets for Great Singing” combines John L. Lester’s knowledge of the physical structure of the singing voice with his peculiar ability, as he described it, to identify what singers ought to do to sing correctly. He taught singers to manage their voices properly and healthily, enabling them to sing with vital musical, linguistic, lyrical and dramatic energy and to discover the true potential of their voices as expressive, dramatic and musical instruments. This book reveals a pedagogy that leads teachers and their students to decisive improvement of their singing voices and, thus, to more satisfying and successful careers as voice teachers and singers.The pedagogical lexicon that forms the first half of this book is useful to voice teachers and singers. It clarifies Lester’s physical and conceptual approach to training successful professional singers and more effective voice teachers. The second half of the book is a biography that shares the Lester family's covered wagon journey from Iowa to Texas, the discovery of Lester’s remarkable singing voice and his studies with the great Jean de Reszke in, Nice, France. Lester established a voice studio in New York City that provided singers, radio personalities and even famous athletes the opportunity to study with him. Lester moved to Montana where he established a strong tradition of voice training and opera production. Over his years as a voice teacher, he helped to train successful opera singers such as Marilyn Zschau, Otoniel Gonzaga, Donald George and Judith Blegen.