Finding New Repertoire

If you are reading this blog, you've already found a great place to learn about repertoire or share your knowledge of repertoire.  In the next few months, many of the posts here will be repertoire related.  

I love finding new repertoire.  One reason for that is my passion for finding the best possible songs for each student.  (See the last post on Choosing Vocal Repertoire).  The more music I know, the better my chances are of being able to assign exactly what a particular student needs.

What else can you do?  

• Talk repertoire with your colleagues.  If you work alone, start networking.  
• Like JMR Voice Notes on Facebook.
• Join the self-employed voice teacher discussion group on Facebook. 
• Get involved in professional organizations like NATS.    
• Keep up on new material as it comes out.  
• Both Alfred and Hal Leonard have mailing lists and send emails announcing new publications.  
• Go to your local music store and see if there is anything on the shelves that you are not familiar with.  
• Pull out the books from the pre-Boytim era.  What songs have fallen off the list you teach from just because it’s easier to pull out the same one or two books?
• Make students buy music, but make it worth it.  
• Are there songs in the books that you haven't taught simply because you were not familiar with them yet?  Learn them.  
• Octavos are great and inexpensive options.  (Watch for a whole post on this in a few weeks.)
• Scan the unison and two-part listings at Alfred, Heritage Music Press, and BriLee for options.  
• Better yet, ask the local school music teachers if you can look through their catalogs for ideas.  If you like the music they are teaching, you may like what is in their libraries.   Plus, with this option, you can usually look at the music before purchasing it.  
• At half.com you can purchase older editions of class voice texts for next to nothing.  Barnesandnoble.com and amazon.com are also great resources for used and/or discounted music.  
• Attend NATS Auditions, recitals of other studios, etc. to hear what songs other teachers are using.  
• Attend repertoire and reading sessions at conferences.  Take notes.
• Look up repertoire lists for MMTA Contest, NFMC festival, and State Solo and Ensemble Contests.  Not everything on these lists should be, and I don’t always agree with the level that songs are placed in, but it is a great place to get new ideas.  

I love finding new repertoire because I am passionate about finding the best possible songs for each student.  (See the last post on Choosing Appropriate Vocal Repertoire).  The more music I know, the better my chances are of being able to assign exactly what a particular student needs.

How do you find new songs for your students?

Choosing Appropriate Repertoire

I'm taking a short break from the posts about voice books to talk about choosing repertoire.  I will admit  that I have very strong opinions about choosing music.  I don't think there is one song that will work for ALL sopranos.  I don't believe that you can buy a book of tenor songs and have that tenor sing every song in the book.  Sure, there are songs that will work for most voices, but there are some wonderful songs appropriate for high school students that will only fit a few of them.  And there are a few singers who will not be able to do the songs that work for most singers.  I believe in finding songs that bring out the best in our students, and that means an unique repertoire plan for each student.  


These are a few guidelines for choosing repertoire that I put together for a workshop a couple of years ago.  

• Does the song fall not just within the student’s range, but also within a comfortable tessitura?  Have you tried multiple keys to find the best option for that student?
• Does the song offer opportunities for growth AND does it also show the voice at its best?  Are the technical demands appropriate to where the student is today?
• Does the student like the song?
• Are the student’s musical skills advanced enough for the difficulties of the melodic line and rhythms?
• Is the text appropriate for a student this age?  Do they understand what they are singing about and can they communicate the meaning to an audience?
• Does the language of the song enhance the technical concepts you are trying to work on, or is the student so freaked out about how to say the words that they can’t even start to think technique? 
• Don’t fall into the trap of assigning men all sailor songs.  Yes, they like them, but given an opportunity to hear other things, some students will also choose the more intimate, lyric songs. 

Lastly, do not limit the songs you assign to the things that you worked on in your lessons or to the things that you love.  I am the queen of slow, depressing songs in minor keys, but if I really want to serve my students, I can't teach them just that.  I also need options for the baby coloratura with the bubbly personality.  I could live forever in Lied written between the time of Schubert and the time Strauss died, but my students need French and Spanish.  And they sometimes need those sappy songs that just make me cringe. Repertoire choices are about what the student needs, not what the teacher needs.  And sometimes by exploring those horrid songs they find on their own and ask to sing ("The Lost Chord"), I learn something important about that student, and I learn to appreciate the songs more.  

*stepping down from soapbox now*

What criteria do you use when selecting songs for students?  Please share.