These guides help you navigate the various repertoires of vocal music. They can provide context and recommend pieces based on poetic themes, language, and difficulty.
Choral Repertoire by Dennis ShrockChoral Repertoire is the definitive and comprehensive one-volume presentation of the canon of the Western choral tradition. Designed for practicing conductors and directors, students and teachers of choral music, amateur and professional singers, scholars, and interested vocal enthusiasts, it is an account of the complete choral output of the most significant composers of this genre throughout history. Organized by era (Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Modern), Choral Repertoire covers general characteristics of each historical era; trends and styles unique to various countries; biographical sketches of over 500 composers; and performance annotations of more than 5,000 individual works. This book will be an essential guide to programming, a reference tool for program notes and other research, and, most importantly, a key resource for conductors, instructors, scholars, and students of choral music.
Call Number: Available ONLINE
ISBN: 0199716625
Publication Date: 2009-01-01
The Broadway Song: A Singer's Guide by Mark Ross ClarkTruly powerful vocal performance in musical theater is more than just the sum of good vocal tone and correct notes. As experienced teacher, director, and performer Mark Ross Clark lays out in The Broadway Song, powerful performance communicates the central function of a song within the contextof the surrounding narrative, or the "truth" of a song. Because unstaged performances of a song, such as auditions, are key to the success of all aspiring singers, Clark provides here the essential practical manual that will help performers choose the right pieces for their vocal abilities andidentify the key truths of them.Clark begins by walking readers conceptually through how a song's truth is based in contexts: what show is a song from? Which character sings it? When in the show does it occur? Answering these questions will lead readers to more convincing performances that are grounded in the text, music,character, context, and larger environment (setting, time frame, and circumstances).The Broadway Song provides a comprehensive guide to the formal characteristics of key Broadway songs on a song-by-song basis, including main voice type, secondary voice qualities (such as soprano-lyric oralto-comic), range and tessitura, as well as larger contextual materials about the source - from the musical's background, information about the character singing, and synoptic narrative information for the song - that provide the performer a way into the character. Clark moreover brings hiswide-ranging and extensive experience as a director, performer, and teacher to bear in his performance notes on the individual pieces. Additionally, he includes excerpts from short interviews with artists that provide insight into the song from the perspective of those who first created (orre-created) it. The interviews, conducted with composers, lyricists, performers, and - in one case - book collaborators, are snapshots into the creative process, and act as conduits to further study of the selected songs.
Call Number: Available ONLINE
ISBN: 0199351678
Publication Date: 2015-03-30
So You Want to Sing Music by Women by Matthew Hoch; Linda ListerSo You Want to Sing Music by Women opens wide a vast repertoire of vocal music written by women to advocate for widespread inclusion of this too-often neglected work in performance repertoire. Hoch and Lister provide a historical and contemporary perspective, chronicling the Western art music canon while also addressing contemporary trends in music theater and CCM. In addition to providing a historical overview and social context in which women created music, this volume explores the music of hundreds of historical and contemporary women composers, such as Hildegard von Bingen, Clara Schumann, Lili Boulanger, Cathy Berberian, Erykah Badu, and Sara Bareilles. In addition to discussions of art song, opera, choral music, and avant garde/experimental music, Erin Guinup and Amanda Wansa Morgan also contribute chapters devoted to music theater, CCM, and advocacy for women composers. Interviews with high-profile composers including Lori Laitman, Rosephanye Powell, Meredith Monk, Georgia Stitt provide accounts from the frontlines of today's composing world. Additional chapters by Scott McCoy and Wendy LeBorgne address vocal technique and health, and Matthew Edwards provides guidance for working with sound technology. The So You Want to Sing series is produced in partnership with the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Like all books in the series, So You Want to Sing Music by Women features online supplemental material on the NATS website. Please visit www.nats.org to access style-specific exercises, audio and video files, and additional resources.
Call Number: Available ONLINE
ISBN: 9781538116050
Publication Date: 2019-03-15
Solo Vocal Works on Jewish Themes: A Bibliography of Jewish Composers by Kenneth JaffeSolo Vocal Works on Jewish Themes: A Bibliography of Jewish Composers is a comprehensive and annotated compendium of stage, concert, and liturgical compositions written by Jewish composers from every known time period and country. Kenneth Jaffe has amassed nearly 3,000 large-scale musical works for solo voice(s) on Jewish themes, written by Jewish composers. The works include over 400 cantatas, 150 oratorios, almost 300 operas, more than 100 sacred services, 20 symphonies, and more than 350 stage works, including Yiddish theatre, Purim and sacred plays, multi-media pieces, and musical theatre. In addition, original song cycles and liturgical services arranged for a modest to large complement of instruments are also included. The works are organized by composer and subdivided by genre, and each entry is fully annotated, detailing the title, opus, voicing and instrumentation, text source, commission, year completed, year and location of the premiere, the year of publication and the publisher (if any), the location of scores, and the duration of the work. The works are then broken down by theme, such as Biblical themes, works for children, works of the Holocaust or Jewish suffering and persecution, interfaith works, and wedding music. They are then cross-referenced by voice type, arrangement, and by title. A list of libraries and publishing houses of Jewish music rounds out this invaluable reference.
Call Number: Available ONLINE
ISBN: 1461664292
Publication Date: 2010-01-01
The New Broadway Song Companion by David P. DeVenneyThis is a completely revised and expanded second edition of The Broadway Song Companion, the first complete guide and access point to the vast literature of the Broadway musical for the solo performer. Designed with the working actor in mind, the volume lists every song from over 300 Broadway shows, including at least 90 more than the first edition. Organized by show, each song is annotated with the name of the character(s) who sing(s) the song, the vocal range, and a style category, such as uptempo, narrative ballad, swing ballad, moderate character piece, etc. Several indexes are supplied, organizing the songs by voice type (soprano, baritone, etc.) and song style, vocal arrangement (duets, trios, chorus, etc.), and composer and lyricist, allowing increased access to the repertoire. For instance, a soprano looking for a ballad to sing will find every song in that category in the index. All solos, duets, and trios are indexed in this manner, with quartets and larger ensembles listed by voice type. Furthermore, the instant breakdowns (how many lead characters, who sings what song, and the range requirements of each character) will be a valuable resource to directors and producers.
Call Number: ML128.M78 D48 2009 and Available Online
ISBN: 9780810869431
Publication Date: 2009-07-29
Art Song in the United States, 1759-2011 by Judith E. Carman; Rita M. Resch; Harriet Myers; William K. GaeddertThis fourth edition of Art Song in the United States, 1759-2011 covers songs for solo voice and piano by American composers from the mid-18th through the early 21st centuries. The book is structured as an annotated bibliography with approximately 2,850 numbered entries listed alphabetically by composer and title and indexed in various ways to help teachers and singers locate the particular song they require for practice or performance. This edition adds eleven years' worth of new works, anthologies, and collections (about 450 new entries), reflecting the relatively recent outpouring of song compositions by American composers and a wealth of new song anthologies and collections. This bibliography features information on each song or song cycle or set. Users will find critical data on the poet, publisher and copyright date, key, vocal range, vocal tessitura, meter(s), tempo, length, difficulty of vocal line and piano score, most suitable voice type, mood and subject of the text, and brief description of the vocal line and piano score. It also includes commentary on special difficulties for performers and possible uses of the song in programming. In addition, individual titles of composite works are given, and those that appear in collections are indexed to the list of collections in the front matter. Composer, poet, special characteristics/subject, and title indexes--and even discographic lists recordings where available--all aid researchers in finding songs. The primary audiences for this bibliography are voice teachers and singers in search of appropriate art songs for their students or themselves, as well as libraries with collecting interests in music and American literature.
Call Number: ML128.S3 C37 2013
ISBN: 0810883074
Publication Date: 2012-12-27
Recent American Art Song: A Guide by Keith E. Clifton; Paul Sperry (Foreword by)"Recent American Art Song: A Guide is devoted to songs with English texts by American composers written for solo voice and piano. The book focuses exclusively on art song since 1980, a substantial period largely ignored by scholars. This is the first study to examine this repertory in detail, and many of the songs and composers are covered in print for the first time." "Keith E. Clifton has examined approximately one thousand songs by nearly two hundred composers; Many songs employ musical idioms well beyond traditional classical styles, including jazz, musical theater, rap, and rock and roll, and several songs blur the boundaries between recital and stage works. Organized alphabetically by composer, entries contain complete biographical and bibliographical information, with major works and links to print resources and composer websites when available. In addition, Clifton provides detailed information on the vocal range, musical style, and appropriate voice type for individual songs. The book concludes with a full discography and bibliography, as well as indexes listing the works by poet, song cycle, title, voice type, and level of difficulty."--BOOK JACKET.
Call Number: ML128.S3 C65 2008
ISBN: 0810859408
Publication Date: 2008-09-05
A Guide to the Latin American Art Song Repertoire by Maya HooverA reference guide to the vast array of art song literature and composers from Latin America, this book introduces the music of Latin America from a singer's perspective and provides a basis for research into the songs of this richly musical area of the world. The book is divided by country into 22 chapters, with each chapter containing an introductory essay on the music of the region, a catalog of art songs for that country, and a list of publishers. Some chapters include information on additional sources. Singers and teachers may use descriptive annotations (language, poet) or pedagogical annotations (range, tessitura) to determine which pieces are appropriate for their voices or programming needs, or those of their students. The guide will be a valuable resource for vocalists and researchers, however familiar they may be with this glorious repertoire.
Call Number: ML128.S3 H85 2010 and Available Online
ISBN: 0253221382
Publication Date: 2010-04-29
Exploring Twentieth-Century Vocal Music: A Practical Guide to Innovations in Performance and Repertoire by Sharon MabryThe vocal repertoire of the twentieth century--including works by Schoenberg, Boulez, Berio, Larsen, and Vercoe--presents exciting opportunities for singers to stretch their talents and demonstrate their vocal flexibility. Contemporary composers can be very demanding of vocalists, requiringthem to recite, trill, and whisper, or to read non-traditional scores. For singers just beginning to explore the novelties of the contemporary repertoire, Exploring Twentieth-Century Vocal Music is an ideal guide.Drawing on over thirty years of experience teaching and performing the twentieth century repertoire, Sharon Mabry has written a cogent and insightful book for singers and voice teachers who are just discovering the innovative music of the twentieth century. The book familiarizes readers with thenew and unusual notation systems employed by some contemporary composers. It suggests rehearsal techniques and vocal exercises that help singers prepare to tackle the repertoire. And the book offers a list of the most important and interesting works to emerge in the twentieth century, along withsuggested recital programs that will introduce audiences as well as singers to this under-explored body of music.
Call Number: MT820 .M129 2002 and Available Online
Catalogue of Vocal Solos and Duets Arranged in Biblical Order by James H. Laster; Diana Reed Strommen (Translator)The second edition of A Catalogue of Vocal Solos and Duets Arranged in Biblical Order serves as a companion volume to A Catalogue of Choral Music Arranged in Biblical Order (Second edition, 1996, and supplement, 2001, both published by Scarecrow Press). It is a necessary tool for the church musician to coordinate music with the scripture readings and/or the sermon topic and a valuable aid to the vocal soloist seeking a work using a particular biblical text. The work serves as a working document for the church musician, soloist, or voice teacher. Titles are arranged in the same order as found in the Bible. Each entry contains title, composer, voice range/type, and publisher information. Two indexes are also included: a title index and a composer index.
Music for the Voice: A Descriptive List of Concert and Teaching Material by Sergius KagenSergius Kagen's encyclopedic guide to music for the voice has been a standard reference work for singers and teachers for nearly 30 years. For each of several thousand works, the singer can find the compass and tessitura, the vocal type to which the song is suited, as well as remarks on the character or challenges of the piece, with occasional advice to the accompanist. Headnotes give general information on some major composers and important song cycles. This single volume helps the performer find works by hundreds of composers from Europe and America, from the Renaissance through the mid-20th century, and genres ranging from folk airs to bel canto. Entries are arranged by composer within larger categories: Songs and Airs before the 19th Century, Songs of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Folk Songs, and Operatic Extracts. An index of composers makes access to listings even easier.
Call Number: PAC Ref. ML 128.V7 K3 1997
ISBN: 0253211425
Publication Date: 1997-11-01
Library Resources for Singers, Coaches, and Accompanists by Ruthann B. McTyreDesigned to aid the student, librarian, teacher, or professional singer, this annotated bibliography provides access to more than 500 books, journals, and electronic resources. Included as well are chapters listing dictionaries and encyclopedias for opera and musical theater, biographical sources, guides to vocal literature and repertoire, and resources for vocal pedagogy and for the stage. Equally helpful are sources that list plots and synopses, translations, diction, travel and education. Providing ready access to a variety of topics and resources necessary for vocal study, this important reference will introduce music students to reliable, essential sources for their study, assist teachers and coaches in finding reference tools, and assist reference librarians in locating sources for patrons. The alphabetical organization within subject makes this reference easy to understand and easy to access. Three indexes allow for convenient cross-referencing.
Call Number: PAC Ref. ML 128.V7 M4 1998
ISBN: 0313302669
Publication Date: 1998-07-23
The Comprehensive Catalogue of Duet Literature for Female Voices by Richard Lalli; Marilyn S. M. Newman; Maurice HinsonVocal chamber duets for female voice are some of the most beautiful and pedagogically useful vocal literature. Nevertheless, they are often overlooked because of difficulty procuring them. Many vocal catalogues do not specify duet literature, and existing catalogues and appendixes addressing duet literature are limited. This catalogue contains 8,800 entries representing over 2,000 composers. It enables interested parties to access titles and composers of works with information pertaining to specified voice parts and publisher. Works are accessible by composer and by title of work. They are also searchable through opus or piece number, voices specified, and accompaniment if other than piano. The catalogue also provides comments significant to each work, cross-reference tables that specify the voice types listed, and the language of the work. Appendixes list composers and publishers, and an Index of Song Titles makes all of the works easy to locate. The Catalogue provides singers, students, teachers, coaches, and accompanists with information that will help obtain specific chamber music duet literature for female voices. Music historians may also benefit from this volume which includes many composers who have contributed to this vast genre.