The Race of Sound by Nina Sun Eidsheim, Duke University Press, 2019

Abstract

The Race of Sound gives an insight into topics related to African American music from the perspective of politicized listening, timbre and vocality. Everyone can sing a song and speak a language, but only talented singers and orators are exceptional to their audience.The singers‟ performances analyzed by the author of “The Race of Sound” come from the rich history of African American music. While Eidsheim tells the stories of both very and less famous singers, and focuses on the remarkable voices of Billie Holiday, Jimmy Scott and Marian Anderson, the book is not about their innate talent.It is about those vocal traits that are socially acquired either as part of a linguistic community or as part of culturally marked training techniques.Indeed, the author explains that when singers improvise, their performance appears spontaneous and natural, but it actually is the result of a lifetime enculturation process. Moreover, Eidsheim claims that,regrettably, vocal training is often influenced by pedagogical preconceptions based onpolitical ideology.