Friday, June 28, 2013

Exploring Vocal Repertoire: Overview

Today after I finished teaching, I sat down to outline how I wanted to approach this project of writing about music for the young voice student.  I originally thought that this would be a series of 3 to 5 posts,  but as I added more books and ideas to the list, I quickly realized that if it was only 3 to 5 posts, those posts would be so long that you would never want to read them.

So here is the plan.  I've broken down the list into categories and then difficulty levels within those categories.  By the time the series is completed, I will have blogged about:

  • books that could work for both young men and young women,
  • books created specifically for young women,
  • books created specifically for young men, 
  • octavos that can be used as solo songs and sheet music, 
  • musical theatre repertoire for young singers, and 
  • Italian anthologies for young singers.  

Although I will be covering a great deal of material, these posts will not come close to listing all the possible books that are available.  One of my criteria for including a book in this project is that it must be a book that I would send a student to purchase.  I believe strongly in having students purchase their own music whenever possible.  When I find the perfect song for a student, but it is the only song in an  collection that that student would use, I have them use something from my Lending Library.  I have a "NO PHOTOCOPIES" rule in my studio.  In addition to helping me feel more honest, it also saves a lot of time that I used to spend at the copy machine.  

Finally, I want to remind you that I am accepting guest blogs related to vocal repertoire. Please tell us a little about your studio--who you teach, what styles you teach, etc.--and then share 1-6 of your favorite books or songs and why you like to use them in your teaching.  My posts are dealing with young and/or beginning singers, but you are welcome to share about any age or experience level.  If you are interested in participating, please send your post to me at robinejm@msn.com.  

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