New Book: The Boy's Changing Voice

The Boy's Changing Voice is the newest of Hal Leonard's books for the student singer.  It is designed to meet the needs of those boys right in the middle of the voice change, with songs in that range that is so hard to find music in:  F below middle C to the G above middle C.

If you are like me and own most of the Hal Leonard books for beginning and intermediate students, you already have all these songs, just in different keys.  Like most Hal Leonard products, this comes with a CD that allows you to change the key, which can be especially helpful for these young voices who may need a different key each week.

To help you get the most from this book, here's a list of the songs in the book and what keys they are in, plus where each songs shows up in other Hal Leonard publications.

• All Through the Night, Key of Bb.  
• The Student Singer, High Voice, Key of Eb
• The Student Singer, Low Voice, Key of Ab
• Aura Lee, Key of C
• Easy Songs for the Beginning Baritone/Bass, Key of F
• Barbara Allen, Key of F
• 15 Easy Folksong Arrangements for the Progressing Singer, High Voice, Key of G
• 15 Easy Folksong Arrangements for the Progressing Singer, Low Voice, Key of Bb
• Bendemeer's Stream, Key of C
• Easy Songs for the Beginning Tenor Part II, Key of A
• Bill Groggin's Goat, Key of D
• Easy Songs for the Beginning Tenor Part II, Key of D
• Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie, Key of Bb
• 36 More Solos for Young Singers, Key of F
• Come Again, Sweet Love, Key of Bb
• The Student Singer, High Voice, Key of A
• The Student Singer, Low Voice, Key of F
• Drink to me Only with Thine Eyes, Key of G
• 15 Easy Folksong Arrangements for the Progressing Singer, High Voice, Key of Eb
• 15 Easy Folksong Arrangements for the Progressing Singer, Low Voice, Key of C
• The Erie Canal, Key of gm/Bb
• Easy Songs for the Beginning Baritone/Bass, Key of cm/Eb
• I Gave My Love a Cherry, Key of Bb
• 15 Easy Folksong Arrangements for the Progressing Singer, High Voice, Key of G
• 15 Easy Folksong Arrangements for the Progressing Singer, Low Voice, Key of Eb
• It was a lover and his lass, Key of F
• The Student Singer, High Voice, Key of F
• The Student Singer, Low Voice, Key of D
• The Jolly Miller, Key of b flat minor
• Easy Songs for the Beginning Baritone/Bass, Key of f minor
• The Lark in the Morn, Key of Bb
• Easy Songs for the Beginning Baritone/Bass, Key of Bb
• Pastime with good company, Key of b minor
• The Student Singer, High Voice, Key of b minor
• The Student Singer, Low Voice, Key of g minor
• The Rambling Sailor, Key of F
• Young Ladies, Shipmates, and Journeys Baritone/Bass, Key of D
• It is also in the Tenor book of the same title, but I don't have that book.  
• Shenandoah, Key of F
• 36 More Solos for Young Singers, Key of F
• The Silver Swan, Key of F
• The Student Singer, High Voice, Key of Eb
• The Student Singer, Low Voice, Key of C
• Simple Gifts, Key of Bb
• Easy Songs for the Beginning Baritone/Bass, Key of E
• Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child, Key of b minor
• The Student Singer, High Voice, Key of g minor
• The Student Singer, Low Voice, Key of e minor
• The Streets of Laredo, Key of Bb
• 15 Easy Folksong Arrangements for the Progressing Singer, High Voice, Key of G
• 15 Easy Folksong Arrangements for the Progressing Singer, Low Voice, Key of Eb

I have one boy that I will be sending to get this book.  The keys aren't perfect for him (and I probably won't find a book that is perfect), but with my other books and the ability to choose the best key when using the CD, I feel like this will be something that we will be able to use until his voice matures a little more and I know whether to have him get tenor or baritone/bass books.  

Another great bonus of this book, although it might be slightly confusing to students at first, is that all the songs are written in treble clef.  It means that students will have to get used to reading as low as F in ledger lines, but it also means that these songs look low, and that has a major psychological effect.  Many boys at this age are anxiously awaiting their lower voices.  I think it will make a big difference in how a student approaches the song if he things of the ledger lines in treble clef as low notes as opposed to seeing ledger lines in bass clef as high notes.  

Exploring Vocal Repertoire: Baby Beginners Part 2 (Young Men)

As I've mentioned before, one of the most challenging aspects of teaching voice is finding songs for middle school and high school age boys.  Finding books, as opposed to just single songs, is even more challenging.  A couple of years ago I put together a list of songs available as sheet music and octavos  that work well for this age.  I will share that when I get to the sheet music and octavo post.

I also did a list of songs with a range of one octave or less.   It's a work in progress and may have some errors, but you are welcome to use it.  Go to my website at www.jeanninerobinett.com, click on the Resources tab, and then scroll down almost to the bottom of the page.

When I can find a book, or in this case a series of books that works for young men new to voice lessons, I consider myself very lucky.  BriLee Music, known primarily for their choral music, has also released five books for developing/changing voices, and three of those five are for men.

These books are what I refer to as "user friendly."  My young men that aren't sure they like classical music will still sing these and like them.  The CDs that come with the books are especially helpful for these younger students whose music learning skills are not strong yet.  The CD contains both a vocal demonstration and an instrumental track for each song, so students can listen, then sing along with the demo, and then as their confidence grows, they can try it with the accompaniment.  

As a teacher, I also appreciate the fact that both in the table of contents and at the top of each song they indicate the range of the song.  

Each volume starts with a few songs written in treble clef, with ranges that fall between the G below middle C and the A above it.  These songs are intended for the unchanged voice or a very high tenor, but I also use them with some of the basses whose voices have dropped but they haven't yet figured out how to get back up to middle C yet.  

After the songs for the unchanged voice, there are several songs for the newly changed tenors or high baritones that fall between F and E, with one optional high note of G.  The songs intended for bass tend to fall between C and C with an occasional D.  There is no specific designation as tenor or bass or unchanged voice, so you can move around and choose the songs that work best for the student at that time.  

Another bonus of using these books is that several of the songs in the books are also available as unison or two-part octavos, so if a student doesn't like all the songs in the book, I can still have him do a single song.  

Heroes and Vagabonds by Mark Patterson is probably the book that I use the most.  "Give Me Wings" is a wonderful new text by Patterson set to the tune of "O Waly Waly".  Like it's more famous sibling, "The Water is Wide," "Give Me Wings" is a great song for working on long breath phrases and keep the tone alive on long notes.  It is presented in this book in D but the octavo version is in G, so I have multiple key and octave options with this song.  

In "Sing to Me Once Again Thy Song,"Patterson again sets new words to an old friend, this time "Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes."  Students connect with this text better and by changing the high note in the B phrase (the high note is now optional), Patterson makes the song a little easier to sing as well.  This is one of those rare books that I pretty much like every song in the book. 

The second book to be released in this series, Traveling On is by Ruth Elaine Schram.  I love her arrangement of "Kum Ba Yah", and the kids usually do too if they are not too sick of it from singing it at camp.  My favorite song in this book is "The Song That Nature Sings."  The range is just E to C, and the song is also available as an octavo, so I use it with many of my students both male and female.  The majority of the songs in this book are folk song or spiritual arrangements.  

Mark Patterson returns with Tales of the Land and Sea.  This book is about equally split between slow songs and more up-beat songs which is great for those kids that just don't connect yet with slow and pretty.  Kids love the energy of "The Battle of Jericho." "Never Far From Home" is my favorite of the slow songs and actually the first song that one of my middle school students selected from this book.  

When I use this book with my high school guys whose voices have already changed, I usually just have them buy one of the books, whichever one contains the most songs that interest them and fit their voices.  The goals there is to use the book as a springboard into more challenging classical repertoire.  

For voices that are unchanged or changing, I recommend having students purchase 2 or 3 of the books. This gives you more options for wherever the voice seems to be that week.  I currently have a student working out of 2 of the books.  He started with the songs for unchanged voices, but now his voice has dropped enough that those are not comfortable any more. We still have several options by moving to the middle range songs.  

Don't let yourself or your students get discouraged about finding music.  There is a song out there for every student, sometimes it just takes a little digging to find the right song in the right key.  Luckily BriLee has given us lots of options.