In this post, I will cover a few of many collections that are available for intermediate to advance high school singers. If you don't see your favorite books, please comment and tell us about them. When I've completed the regular posts of this series, I will also do a blog listing many of the other books in my Lending Library that I use with students.
Standard Vocal Literature is a series that a really love. Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano, Tenor, Baritone, and Bass volumes provide music specifically chosen for that voice type. There is some overlap from book to book, with the same songs, just in different keys, but this happens less than in The Young Singer. Standard Vocal Literature is not for every student, and there are several songs in each volume that high school students should not sing, but overall it is a great book for intermediate to advanced high school singers that really love classical music. Dictions lessons and accompaniments on the CDs that come with the book are very helpful for students in the learning process. Each book contains art songs in English (heavy on the Renaissance to Baroque side), French, German, Spanish, and Italian. It also includes a few arias from operetta, opera, and oratorio. Generally, I only use the arias with my most advanced high school singers, and even then, not all the arias are appropriate for high school singers. I have not yet had students purchase the Baritone and Bass volumes, but there are several songs from these books that I have students sing from other collections. "Vado ben spesso cangiando loco" is one of the songs in these books that you don't see often, but it is a good song for young singers.
The Young Singer is a borderline collection for me. (Scroll to the bottom of the page of the link for the full song list. The contents listing at the top is not correct for each edition). There are several songs in the collection that I love, but finding the student who loves them and whose voice is right for them is harder. The books now come only as a book/CD package, but this year I had a student find an older copy of the book at half.com for a much lower price. A few songs overlap from book to book, but the books for different voice types are not just different keys of the exact same songs.
The soprano book contains high key versions of "Nymphs and Shepherds" and "Who'll Buy My Lavender" which I've only seen in other books in lower keys. "I've Been Roaming" and "When Love is Kind" are others that I use frequently with students. "When Love is Kind" is available in many other books however, so if that is the song I want a student to do, I often check to see which book contains the most songs they like. I don't use the tenor and baritone volumes of these as much as the women's volumes. Most of the songs that I like in these books are available in other collections where the student will have more options that they like. I mostly use them as other key options for songs like "Rolling Down to Rio", "Silent Noon", "Where'er You Walk", "Passing By", and "Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal".
Classical Contest Solos is another book that I do have students buy, but because there are only a few songs in the collection, I try to make sure that they are songs that the student likes and that fit the voice well. The CD contains both demonstrations of the songs and accompaniments, so it is a helpful learning tool. I see these books more as a resource for teachers who are not sure what kinds of songs to assign students for contest. I tend to use the tenor and baritone/bass books the most in this series because the songs seems to fit many voices well, whereas, in the soprano and mezzo books, I don't see as many of the songs covering middle ground. The songs tend toward either big voices or light, flexible voices. "Adela" a simple, yet beautiful Spanish song is in both the Tenor and the Baritone/Bass books.
The following books are ones that I have in my lending library and use frequently, but don't often send students to buy for one reason or another.
- Pathways of Song
- This series contains 4 volumes available in High and Low keys. Now published by Alfred, new accompaniment CDs are also available.
- The Best of Pathways of Song is also available in High and Low keys, with or without CD's.
- Overall, I like much of the repertoire in this series. I just don't like enough of it in one volume or students don't like enough songs in one volume (or the Best of Pathways book) to have them buy it.
- The New Imperial Edition
- Unique collections for each voice type: Soprano, Mezzo-soprano, Contralto, Tenor, Baritone, Bass. Accompaniment CDs available.
- There is wonderful repertoire in these books and a few songs that I love to give to high school students, but as a whole, I find the book contains repertoire that is too advanced for most high school students.
- The Mezzo-Soprano volume is a truly for middle sopranos and much of the repertoire included here is seen in other soprano collections.
- Resonance series Vocal Repertoire books 4-8
- Generally the repertoire in books 4-6 of the 3rd edition is appropriate for high school students. I've had a few students purchase them over the years. However, finding enough songs that the student likes to justify the cost is more difficult in this book. I've not yet purchased these volumes in the 4th edition, but will be adding them at some point in the future.
Next we will cover Italian books for the high school singer.
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