Cornelius L. Reid

Cornelius Lawrence Reid (Jersey City, NJ, February 7, 1911 - New York City, NY, February 3, 2008), was a well-known vocal pedagogue in New York City, specialist in the bel canto technique, and author of books on bel canto.

Childhood

As a boy of nine Reid became a chorister in the choir of Trinity Church, New York. This time of regular singing in a good choir at a young age had a profound influence on him: "Retrospectively, one of the great advantages of the training given the choirboys of Trinity Church at that time was that the technique of tone production was never a matter for discussion. To the contrary, we were simply encouraged to sing musically and to pronounce the words distinctly. Singing itself was the object of study, not the mechanics of singing. Looking back over the many decades I have been teaching singing, this has been a continuing emphasis, the purpose being to communicate through the act of singing itself."

Vocal fatigue

When his voice changed from soprano to baritone, he had voice lessons with various teachers in New York, including the vocal scientist Dr. Douglas Stanley for whom he was an assistant from 1934 to 1937. Through vocal strain brought on by confusing and contradictory voice training, he was forced to abandon a career in singing. He began to question the teaching methods being used and this induced him to develop his own ideas on functional vocal training, which, while completely based on earlier Italian methods, were combined with insights afforded by modern science. "...I spent hours at the New York Public Library researching books on vocal pedagogy. I had been so outraged because of the incompetence of the teaching I had experienced and witnessed that I was determined to search for better answers. I had come to realize that my vocal situation was not unique in that many promising young singers had been victimized. Indeed it appeared to be the rule rather than the exception." Dr. Stephen F. Austin also supports the researching of earlier books on bel canto: "...there are wonderful sources that can help us get back on track. Tosi's Observations on the Florid Song, Mancini's Practical Reflections on the Art of Singing are two great places to start. At first you may find the lack of detail frustrating. Specific exercises are rare, but the principles are stated clearly, and therein lies their greatest worth. These early writings lay the foundation for the work of C. Reid. He didn't invent the two-register theory, but he certainly rediscovered it and has made it available and useful. There are many valuable resources that every voice teacher should know: the writings of the Lampertis, García, , and of course, Cornelius Reid."

...
Wikipedia