No comments about Angel of Death: True Story of a Vietnam Vet's War Experience and His Battle to Overcome PTSD, the "Cancer of the Soul".

No comments about Mediterranean Mitchells.

No comments about Memoires of Admiral Sir Sidney Smith, K.C. B., &c: Volume 2.

No comments about Working Thin Waters: Conversations with Captain Lawrence H. Malloy, Jr.

1 comments about Soprano Voice.

1. Anthony Frisell, world-renowned teacher of voice for singers wishing to pursue careers in the field of international opera, has updated and reissued his three voice manuals: The Tenor Voice, The Soprano Voice and The Baritone Voice. They are intense, in depth and completely responsive to those individuals who wish beginning and advanced training for a serious career. My review is geared toward The Soprano Voice, however, the basic concepts are the same for all three voices.
   
   For far too many individuals who surround themselves with music and perhaps even learn to imitate some of today's stars, they begin to consider a singing career. While reality shows abound implying that there is an easy path to success, this is just not true. The professional singer must be trained, practice and learn to protect their new voice!
   
   To find the path to success, Frisell first explains the "Mental Image Approach." That is, "all vocal exercises must be indirectly applied, through mental concepts." (p. 7) The beginner then realizes what is expected to attain professional status. It was not at all surprising to me that even though I've been singing in various groups most of my life that I had never learned to sing correctly. Learning and maintaining vocal standards is a lifetime study in a professional environment and by a master!
   
   There are fixed rules that form the correct mental image. Grand opera began in Italy and the first rule requires that all vowel sounds, in order to ensure singer communication to her audience, must ensure purity of vowels. Specifically, "each of the five Classic Italian vowels, u (oo) i (ee), e (eh), o (oh), and a (ah), as pronounced by native Italians, must be mastered in their purest form throughout the entire voice range." (p. 8)
   
   The next fixed rule applies to Control for without control our voices are unreliable. The book covers breath-force dynamics, range, flexibility and shading of tones--all results of control.
   
   There is also a requirement that professional singers must become familiar with the rudiments of music and the ability to play a musical instrument, preferably the piano. Additionally, it is necessary to learn several foreign languages.
   
   For many of us, we do not understand how and why we can reach some notes sometimes, but not at others. This is simply explained by the requirement to identify the vocal registers for the individual. Frisell notes that "to master the art of refined singing one must know the function of the two vocal registers and fully develop them, so they function together as a single unit of quality and strength." (p. 11) This is not easily done. However, Frisell effectively takes each of the issues in this process, identifies and explains them, and then proceeds to illustrate how the single unit is developed.
   
   Using a keyboard illustration, the breaks for females are identified. The lower register are those that come from the "chest voice" while the upper range is the "head voice." A ruling principle is provided because there is constant antagonism between these registers. "The conflicting muscular responses that occur, between the two vocal registers, when attempting to produce pure, superior vocal tone, represent the natural responses to the energy of the motor force (breath tension) being applied to the muscles of both registers." (p. 16).
   
   For an individual to advance from routine singing to a professional, there are years of muscular control development through exercises, practice, and by listening and studying those professionals already proficient in opera. This manual takes you through the mechanics of this study and provides an outstanding array of exercises, detailed illustrations of where the sound should be located, how the tongue and throat are affected, etc.
   
   Frisell has provided "a personal guide to acquiring a superior singing technique." Indeed, the only thing lacking is that Frisell is not there, helping the individual in this effort. This is a must-read for serious students of voice. As a final contribution, Frisell has included a copy of a recent article entitled, "Is There an "American School" of classic voice training? If so--has it failed American singers?"
   
   By the way, the author gives master classes and is located in New York City. In my opinion, only very serious students need apply! This man will either accept you as a potential great singer...or you will come to know the answer to the question he poses in the above article.

1 comments about Chickasaw, A Mississippi Scout for the Union: The Civil War Memoir of Levi H. Naron, As Recounted by R. W. Surby.

1. Chickasaw the Scout is a relative of my wife and the story is family legend. It describes in detail how a Southerner is conflicted about the WBTS and how important preservation of the Union was to Levi Naron. Chickasaw was Chief of Union Scouts (spies) for the Southern Campaign and served Sherman, Grant, and others in the TN, MS, AL, GA theaters of operation. Needless to say, he could not return to Chickasaw County, Mississippi after the war because of retaliation from his neighbors so he relocated to Kansas on government land grants where his family still resides.

No comments about The Hero.

No comments about Angel in the Cockpit.

1 comments about JOCK LEWES: Co-Founder of the SAS.

1. A major contribution to the early history of the SAS, this outstanding biography of Jock Lewes persuasively argues that he was the real founder of the elite British commando corps in World War II not David Stirling. Lewes had not only developed the concept of the corps but had begun training his men before he was joined by David Stirling. Lewes was a brilliant innovator, experimenting with early parachute techniques and creating the Lewes bomb, who was initially sceptical of enlisting Stirling.

   Written by his nephew, with access to family friends and unused private papers, the biography successfully argues its case without doing an injustice to Stirling. On the contrary, it shows that the ultimate success of the unit was due to a successful partnership in which the two men played distinct but essential roles. Stirling was crucial in promoting support for the formal adoption of the SAS among doubtful commanders at HQ.

   The biography reads like a good thriller maintaining suspense throughout. Well over half the book is devoted to the years before the war, beginning with his boyhood in Australia. There are memorable vignettes of Oxford in the 1930s, where Jock led the Oxford University Boat Club in its first victory against Cambridge in many years, and the Berlin Olympics. Jock emerges in these early chapters as a charismatic and visionary leader long before his founding of the SAS.

   "Jock Lewes" is a work of revision which will change the text book accounts of the origins of the SAS.

No comments about U. S. Dragoon: Experiences in the Mexican War 1846-48 and on the South Western Frontier.