EGW looks back

Reflections on a dedicated life

Towards the end of Sinus Tone Production, White’s last book, written only a couple of years before his death, he looks back over the forty years he has spent researching, teaching, publicizing and fighting for his ideas on voice production.

He clearly still finds it surprising that a project he thought he might spend two or three years on has occupied his whole working life. He can’t hide his disappointment that his theory of vocal production has not been more widely accepted in musical and scientific circles. But he is pleased that he has had the opportunity to dedicate himself to a cause he feels so passionately about, and that through the technique that is the practical result of his theory he feels he has been able to serve both God and humanity.

Ernest George White died on 10 January 1940, and was buried in Lewisham cemetery next to his first wife Ethel. He was survived by his second wife Edith and his three daughters. None of his daughters seemed particularly interested in their father’s work, but Edith carried on supporting the cause until her death in 1969 at the age of 84.

In 1944 the Guild became the Ernest George White Society, formed to promote research into White’s Technique, train teachers in the method, and encourage their students through workshops and recitals. This work it still carries on today.

Source of information on the life of Ernest George White

Correllus, J.F. (1989). The Life and Times of Ernest George White, Founder of the School of Sinus Tone Production: An Archival Research. JFC Publisher, San Francisco, 1989.
Hewlett, A.D. (1981). Think Afresh About the Voice: A General Theory and Guide to Practice, revised and enlarged edition. Classical Music Consultants, London. [Click here to buy paperback from Amazon]
Wells, R. (1997). The relevance of metaphor in voice teaching: a comparative study of sinus tone production and vocal cord theories. PhD thesis, University of Reading, Berkshire, UK.
White, E.G. (1930). Light on the Voice Beautiful. James Clarke & Co., London.
White, E.G. (1938). Science and Singing, 5th edition. J.M. Dent, London. [First published as Science and Singing 1909. Revised and reprinted three times as The Voice Beautiful. Fifth edition, revised and reset, as Science and Singing 1938.]
White, E.G. (1938). Sinus Tone Production. J.M. Dent, London.