As the title states, these are books that a student can grow with. I believe that each of these books contain at least a few songs that a student could do right away. There are also several songs that it would be better to wait and do after a year or two. Remember too, that your repertoire choices should always take into account the specific technical, emotional, and musical needs of the individual student.
First up on the list is a relatively new book from Hal Leonard, The Student Singer. 11 of the 25 songs in this collection are folksongs or spirituals, many of which are the same arrangements found in other Hal Leonard publications. These are the songs that I would assign to a beginning student. When they were ready for them, I would then add in some of the art songs. My only disappointment with this book is that the art songs are so heavy on the early music side of things. While those songs are great for teaching young voices, I also have a harder time getting students excited about them. The songs by Ireland, Quilter, and Vaughan Williams seem to be easier sells. This book comes in High and Low Keys and includes an enhanced CD of accompaniments.
The Language of Song, Elementary is a new book for my studio. I've had friends recommend it before, but I had not purchased it because I had all of the songs in other books. I will be trying it out with students this year and seeing what kind of response I get. It comes in High and Low keys and includes a CD of diction lessons and accompaniments. Study helps include background on each song, IPA, and and idiomatic translation. My favorite part of the book is the wonderful key to IPA at the end of the book which shows the spelling, the IPA symbol, English examples, and examples in the language. With such clear examples, a student willing to take a little time should be able to use the CD and IPA to learn the words on their own and lesson time can be spent on refinement of the diction. I would definitely pair this book with a book of English songs and not teach from this book exclusively.
Another great way to find beginner level repertoire is to look at college class voice textbooks. Most have a folk song section, an art song section, and a musical theatre and/or pop section, so you get a lot of variety in one book. While some of the art songs may be too challenging for a beginner high school student, there will be many songs at their difficulty level, especially in the folk song area.
I never have my students buy these new. Full price is much too expensive for most of them. However, they can sometime be found for a very reasonable price at barnesandnoble.com, amazon.com or half.com. Half.com even includes a wish list where you can select the price range you would like and then they let you know if something becomes available. All items have a shipping rate of $3.99 so be sure to figure that in when deciding how much you are willing to pay. Because these books are not always available at the best price, I have purchased multiple copies of multiple editions for my Lending Library. Students can borrow a book until they are able to get one.
These four textbooks are the ones I use the most. The pictures below are of specific editions, but since the songs included changes a little with each edition, I have at least two copies of each edition that I was able to purchase for a good price.
- Adventures in Singing by Clifton Ware.
- I had the privilege of teaching class voice in grad school using this text and being supervised by Dr. Ware.
- Basics of Singing by Jan Schmidt
- The Singing Book by Meribeth Bunch and Cynthia Vaughan
I own several other hard to find class voice texts in my Lending Library, but I only use a few songs from them, so I don't have students buy them.
The next post will cover books designed specifically for beginning level women.
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