Gary Catona Posted on Thursday, January 10, 2013 at 05:37PM 
A great singing voice is a chaotic affair to the extent that the forces of life and death do battle within its tonal colors, textures, and emotions.
Gary Catona Posted on Tuesday, January 8, 2013 at 05:08PM ;)
When does a singer arrive at greatness? What is it that an exceptional singer is able to accomplish in his performances that sets him apart from other, perhaps other equally gifted, vocalists? Total commitment to the task at hand: the courage to throw himself - body and soul - into the chaotic, topsy turvy, sensationalized world of the music, where the rules of public acceptability and decency are tossed aside for the sake of unfettered truth and pure, emotional unveiling.
Gary Catona Posted on Friday, September 14, 2012 at 03:03PM ;)
Despite the influence that acting technique may or may not have had on his style of singing, we must not forget the influence that the classic Italian Bel Canto singing tradition most likely had on him. After all, he was a first-generation Italian-American. Opera still had to be in the blood of his parents, as it was for all Italians in the first years of 20th century. It’s likely that Sinatra, being the fervent music enthusiast that he was, either consciously or subliminally, imbibed aspects of that tradition.
Gary Catona Posted on Thursday, September 13, 2012 at 03:44PM ;)
When I first began to register the qualities of Sinatra's voice and singing that I believed were exceptional, I realized that his art brings to American singing a much older tradition, a tradition that began in Italy several centuries ago. In his classic book, Early History Of Singing, W.J. Henderson describes how the art of singing evolved from its earliest roots in the choral music of the Middle Ages to its highest form of expression in the 17th and 18th (especially) centuries.
Gary Catona Posted on Wednesday, September 5, 2012 at 03:08PM ;)
What does purpose do? Purpose energizes, compels, calls forth, elevates, empowers, and enforces. Purpose holds us in place—while moving us from here to there; purpose is a series of "from-here-to-there" movements. Purpose confirms, establishes, points to, and propels. Purpose is a moving present that gathers up the past, impregnates the present, and gives birth to the future and to future futures. Purpose captures the imagination, releases its powers, and focuses its intensity. Purpose is the "ruling idea" and "guiding light." Purpose reconnects a human being to the world of humanity and opens new ways to thought, action, and passion. Purpose is what making sense of it all is all about.
