I can't imagine learning to sing from a book....but certainly there are some You-Tube videos that could give her a start...

If she doesn't have time for lessons, obviously she's not interested in a career in vocal music.
you say she's into musical performance....doing or watching? If she's doing certainly the musical director can give her some guidance.
She into opera or modern rock and ballads type of thing?

She's in a teen touring show group. She doesn't have time for lessons after school because she has rehearsals. She has had some basic instruction. I thought she'd enjoy a book, not that it would prepare her for a professional career.

Thank-you! I wouldn't have a clue how to know if a book is good, or a bad seed of wrong information.

LOL, I sound pretty good in the car if the volume is up, alone. DH is forbidden to sing in the car together with me or anyone. : )

A good friend is a voice coach/music teacher. I did arrange for DH to lesson with her a few one-on-one sessions to better understand voice communication. (musician and song writer) but he can't sing.

My voice coach friend would say nothing is more important than a personal lesson or three. To better understand how an individual voice works.

Might be some books more autobiography in nature to dig deep into the path to entertainment. Hopefully bbstx will have a recommendation or two.

We have 7 nieces/nephews. We gift randomly and not necessarily on a birthday or holiday or graduation. All have an engraved chef knife they will have for life hopefully...and all have a fender ukulele....great gift

@plllog, here is my cousin’s response:

I can't imagine that there would be a book that would work, albeit there are many who have tried to profit from a lack of understanding of the proper way to teach someone. While one can be instructed, even properly, in the technique, there must be a live ear to know if the technique is being properly duplicated.

I have asked what she thinks of coaching by Face Time. My nephew went through extensive coaching of many things in preparation for his MBA interviews. All of his speech coaching sessions were by Face Time (he got into the Ivy of his choice). His sister had an acting coach using FT (she’s still struggling in Hollywood). I’ll let you know what my cousin response to FT is.

ETA: I’ve already heard from my cousin. She says FT might well work, but she would still need to set aside the time for the lesson. My take is that while she would need to set aside time for the lesson, she would not be losing time in traveling to the coach’s studio. Plus she could perhaps use a coach that is farther away than she could drive. Maybe even eke a few more hours out of the day using a coach in a different time zone.

How about DVDs? Check the singers.com site for options.

Bbstx, I can't tell you how much I appreciate your getting the straight answer from your cousin. That's exactly why I wanted a recommendation--not to end up with a rag that would do her more harm than good. I'll find her some heavy, obscure, out of print novel to read. Facetime is an interesting notion, but as you say, she'd still have to have time. She sticks her nose in a book any time her attention isn't otherwise engaged, but a live professional can't work like that. :) Finding a good pro in SoCal isn't a problem for when/if lessons become a priority.

F2BH, I think DVDs would fall under the same problem of not having the live coach there to correct the problems. It's an interesting idea, however.

Thanks to all of you.

I learned to sing from Miranda Sings tutorials.

OMG! She could teach face morphication (not a word), but right off the bat she didn't teach breathing right!

I am glad someone else spoke up, nancyjane. I watched 2 of her videos (yes, I had a cocktail in my hand at the time) and came to the conclusion that it was parody.

Oh yeah it’s a parody. A funny but somewhat depressing show that started on YouTube and is also on Netflix. It was big a couple years back among girls about to hit double digits in age.

What's an inspiring classic novel about a great singer?

Trilby? Um, no. LOL. I was thinking more of unabridged Ulysses, or maybe some Dostoyevsky

jc: there are NO shortcuts to music. Lessons and practice. there are how-to books for musical instruments, but unless you spend the time ...

instruments demand at least at an hour a day, if you wanted to be just proficient ...

you could buy her lessons from a local college

you can't learn how to be a good quarterback by reading a how to book.

I think the point is love and support. The best of intentions. I had the worst support at that age and hid my interests and talent. Thrived far away from a horrid small town education and those non-believers be it family or teachers at the time. Not all educators are good at their job.

Connecting to an inspiration for the young can come from so many places even y-tube.

Dave, I'm not arguing with you. I still think my niecely would love reading about the mechanics of singing, but given the feedback from Bbstx's cousin, I wouldn't want her trying things out and learning wrong. People actually can and do learn to play instruments from books, but there's far more involved with learning to use one's voice. If you're tuning the instrument correctly, have the correct posture, etc., it's just down to the practice. The exception, I'd guess, is brass (including flutes). Embouchure and breath are important the way they are in singing. As I said above, the girl has singing experience and previous instruction. It's not a Do-Re-Mi moment in playclothes made from curtains! (And in the real story of the Trapp Family Singers, the children sand hymns and other religious music, and Maria taught them secular music.)

Sleevendog, that is terribly sad! But I know your work is creative and that you enjoy it, so bravo New York! My niecely has family support and attends an arts and academics school. Her parents are happy to let her find her own direction. I think her biggest obstacle is not enough time to do everything she's interested in. The biggest problem for me is finding something that isn't jewelry and doesn't have a screen that will be a nice present. :) Maybe I really should get her Trilby. But she'd probably be as impatient with Trilby as I was with Scarlett O'Hara at that age. I thought Scarlett was an idiot and had no patience with her, nor with so many of my friends who were gaga over her, as well as the foul romanticisation of antebellum society. Maybe she'd appreciate Svengali, but fostering megalomania isn't the point either. :)

@plllog, I knew I liked you for a reason! GWTW was required reading when I was in high school. I thought Scarlett was the most vapid female I had ever encountered. My sister, who I dearly love and who is 16 times smarter than anyone I know, loves GWTW. She’s seen the movie so many times, she can recite entire scenes verbatim. I’ve seen it once and it was a slog for me.

The only books I can think of that have to do with singers are Bel Canto by Anne Patchett and Phantom of the Opera.

How about "Bubbles" by Beverly Sills?
Does she want to be Anna Netrebko ?Or Adina Menzel?

LOL! Menzel. Today, She has a good voice, in general. Her grandmother was a musician, so if these talents have a genetic component, she has some. I haven't seen any aspirations to opera, but I don't see her enough to know what her secret heart desires. All these book ideas are appreciated!