The teachers’ manual to accompany Sing & See software.

Published by Cantare Systems, Sydney, 2004
ISBN 0-646-42925-6

Over 260 songs dated from 1920 to 2011, with composers ranging from Peter Allen to Maury Yeston. This resource book is designed to help anyone who wants to find appropriate music theatre solos for younger performers. It does not pretend to be comprehensive; I admit to reflecting my own preferences and interests in this selections, while listing from several readily-available anthologies as well.

I feel passionately about the rich, lively and diverse range of material available to artists from the field of music theatre,. It spans all imaginable musical styles within the standard Western traditions – and a few more besides! There are music theatre songs that demand a solid classical technique and styling, there are great jazz songs, rock-and-roll songs, pop songs, country-and-western songs, Gospel songs… and all from musicals.

With younger singers, teachers tend to be concerned about the vocal and emotional appropriateness of material for their students. It is for these reasons that I have collected this range of songs, most of which I have enjoyed worked on with students over the last 25 years or so.

Here’s the range of information that is presented about each song title:

1. The voice type for which it was originally written (although some songs are written for a ‘child’ in the show or film from which they come, the character is played by an adult; this information is very useful when assessing the suitability of a song to a developing voice)

2. The style of the music (up-tempo, ballad, waltz, character, comic…)

3. The name of the character who sang it in the show

4. The name of the show or film from which it comes

5. The name of the composer/s

6. The date when the song was composed.

If the song is printed in any of the widely-available song collections anthologised for this book, symbols indicate in which book/s the song appears.

Songbook Collections

Boytim, Joan Frey, ed.
The First Book of Broadway Solos
Published by Hal Leonard
(Issued in four volumes: Soprano / Mezzo / Tenor / Baritone)

Broadway Songs for Kids
Published by Hal Leonard

Great Songs from Musicals for Teens – Young Women’s Edition
Published by Hal Leonard

Great Songs from Musicals for Teens – Young Men’s Edition
Published by Hal Leonard

Kids’ Broadway Songbook
Published by Hal Leonard

Popular Solos for Young Singers
Published by Hal Leonard
(Issued as a follow-up to Kids’ Broadway Songbook)
Walters, Richard, ed.

The singer’s musical theatre anthology
Milwaukee, WI, Hal Leonard.
(Issued in 12 volumes: Soprano / Mezzo-soprano/Belter / Tenor / Baritone/Bass)

A few facts:
•Over 200 separate song titles listed
• Songs from stage and film musicals
• Songs suitable for singers aged from tiny-tots to ‘teens’
• Because there are many different occasions for which we need to find appropriate repertoire, all the songs are indexed in four separate lists –
Alphabetical, by Title
Alphabetical, by Composer
Chronological (date of composition)
Alphabetical by Voice Type (i.e., the voice type for which the song was originally written)
• Includes a bibliography of research and reference books

For singers, singing teachers, musical directors, course programmers, researchers and everyone who loves music theatre.

The text of a song matters a lot. It is easy to be seduced by a familiar tune that you enjoy… too easy to let it waft you through the words of the song so that you get to the end and say to yourself ‘What was that all about?’ And if you don’t know, your audience will have even less of an idea.

This WorkBook offers a way of making sense of song lyrics, by giving a three-step text preparation technique. Once these steps have been completed, it then provides eleven different games to play with the song words;

• Springboard
• Through Phrase
• I Say, I Say… The Dialogue Game
• Colour Me Emotional
• Action!
• Hot Words
• Graph of Temperature and Pressure
• Song Without Words
• Language of Intent, or Ad. Slogans

Using at least four of these eleven games should guarantee a very clear actor’s grasp of the importance of the song lyric to the singer.

The intention of this graphic-rich WorkBook is to provide a thorough, easy-to-use system to make a singer’s lyric preparation as imaginative and thoughtful as possible.

‘If the words didn’t matter it wouldn’t be a song.’

“The Singing Voice: An Owner’s Manual” (2^nd edition)

Practical hints, advice and information for training and trained performers who need to keep their singing voice in working trim. Not a how-to-sing book!  The writing is clear and down-to-earth, spiced with a sense of humor. Witty illustrations, coupled with the author’s warm voice, guide the reader through wide-ranging topics vital for singers, actors and other professional performance practitioners.  What’s the right song for me? Which microphone should I buy? How do I cope with asthma? Eating do’s and don’ts for singers? Can I overcome my stage-fright? What to wear to an audition? How does air travel affect my voice? These pills won’t harm my voice, will they?

Pat Wilson addresses these practical questions, and many more, in the updated 2^nd edition of this popular handbook. Well-indexed and reader-friendly, its professionally-focused information is accessible to students, performers and voice teachers alike.

What the experts say:

“Pat Wilson has written the essential guide for singers of all styles of music.”Robert Marks (Broadway vocal coach)

“A useful manual with sound advice and many fresh ideas for students, teachers and performers.”

Australian Journal of Music Education (review)

“The text is highly engaging, underpinned by scholarly research, yet very accessible and helpful – a joy to read!”

Prof. Graham Welch (Chair of Music Education, Institute of Education, University of London)

“It is an unbelievably clear account of what a singer must do in order to survive. Every kid going through … whatever learning institution should have a copy of this book glued to his or her hand. It’s concise, intelligent, helpful, correct, funny, and eminently readable. Maybe not everyone should have this book, but everyone who sings should.”
John O’May

“Worthwhile and informative… there’s great advice, great facts, and great humour.” Dean Carey

“I am sure that your readers will enjoy your charming, chatty style and will learn much from your book.”
Robert Thayer Sataloff, M.D., D.M.A., Professor of Otolaryngology, Thomas Jefferson University

“I love Pat’s courage in stating her point of view. It’s a resource book which should be in (performance) school libraries … Its strength lies in its readability. I think it’s an excellent book.”
Isobel Kirk