From Caccini to Cipullo, voice majors spend their undergraduate degree learning art songs in the romance languages, English, and possibly other languages if the student is ambitious. Students of classical singing are challenged to master the styles of Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Contemporary genres. Mastering the styles includes preparing proper diction in the original language of the song and understanding the meaning of the words.
The combination of music and poetry lends each song unique qualities that may enamor one student but not another. If you aren’t in love with your music, then ask your teacher for something different. There are so many scores (pun intended) within every genre, it would be tragic to spend your practice time on music you do not at least respect.
As a teacher, I love the repertoire challenge. Finding songs students love to sing is one of the more rewarding aspects of teaching voice.
There is more competition than ever among young artists for scholarship and prize money. So please resist the urge to sing an oratorio or opera aria beyond your level. The development of a voice does not happen on demand. Each voice is unique and all voices will mature with time and study. More young singers win competitions and scholarships with beautiful performances of Italian art songs or charming early American songs than arias composed for mature voices that must hold up over thick orchestration/piano reductions.
Take your fate into your own hands and look up repertoire suitable for your voice type and age. Before the days of YouTube and iTunes, students spent hours in music libraries looking through collections of songs and listening to records. I’m fairly certain those libraries are still there. Ask your teacher for composer suggestions and go search for music that inspires you.
Suitable Repertoire for Developing Voices
Many younger students want to sing “big girl” or “big boy” arias right away. There are respected pedagogues who will explain in anatomic detail why this isn’t vocally healthy—but, of course, there are occasional exceptions to the rule. The most general way I explain this to my students is that a complex aria for a mature voice type will demonstrate your struggle rather than showcase your potential. Good teachers will guide students to repertoire that represents the voice at its current best.
How do we solve the mystery of deciding which songs are suitable for any given student? The clues are in the music, and it does not take a doctoral degree to solve the case. Components of art songs to consider for younger voices include range, tessitura, language, piano accompaniment, and level of difficulty. The range and tessitura of the song should be comfortable when sung with the student’s best breath support. Many art songs are available in different keys and going up or down a step can make a beautiful difference. Just because you can “hit” a note in a song doesn’t mean you can “sing” the note. The entire range of the piece should be considered.
Foreign language songs are foreign to young singers that only speak English, and students often express how songs make more sense after taking diction courses. Italian songs may be introduced early on, but understanding text is essential for developing musical interpretation. Freshmen in college may need foreign language art songs with shorter poems that include repetition. If you have studied another language or speak a second language at home, tell your teacher. We want students to sing in languages they understand and build a foundation for learning songs in other languages.
Piano accompaniments are part of the song, and the student should identify when the vocal line is doubled, buried in the chord, or creating tension/resolution in the tonality. How the piano accompaniment aids or challenges the vocal line often determines the level of difficulty of a song.
More complex/difficult songs include changes in meter, modulation of tonality, and shifts in registration. These components require technical skills to anticipate, plan, and execute artistically. The piano prelude, postlude, and interludes are important moments for the presentation of the work as a whole. Understanding the partnership of the vocal line with the piano part will aid in the understanding of the musical structure and enhance the performance.
Some teachers will not allow a student to sing in a language before they have taken diction in that language. Others will give students a foreign language poem to master before they give them the music. I encourage students to accept their assignments, learn the music, and be courageous about asking for more. The student willing to spend time singing “Tu lo sai” will build the technical skills that will help them move on to songs with bigger intervallic leaps, melismas, and longer phrases.
The typical Mozart concert aria, Handel oratorio aria, and other operatic arias can include huge interval leaps, endless coloratura phrases, or long sustained notes in difficult vocal registration. This music is incredibly demanding but can be a long-term goal after a few semesters of successful work on the Twenty-Four Italian Songs and Arias and many other standard songs for voice and piano.
This seems a good time to mention the importance of studying languages. All voice majors will study diction, but if there is a fondness for French mélodie or cabaret, it will only become more musically accessible when there is extensive understanding of the language. German ballads are strophic and, without a foundation of the language, it will be much more difficult to tell the story let alone memorize all those verses. And Italian? There are thousands of pages of recitative in a performer’s career. By studying Italian in the undergraduate years, a singer will save a lot of money that they would otherwise pay coaches later.
American opera singers are known worldwide for being well trained in the French, German, and Italian languages. Language study often begins with avidity for a genre. Love Susan Graham’s recording of Reynaldo Hahn? Does Renée Fleming’s Four Last Songs of Strauss complete you? Begin studying the language of your favorite music and you will find that your crush on art songs turns into a lifelong devotion.
Find Your Cup of Tea
Love cabaret? Love story telling? Sad songs, witty songs, or Bel Canto? There are treasure troves of classical art songs waiting for singers to bring them to life. The great opera composers all created songs for singer and piano. Young singers longing for Wagner can find drama in DuParc mélodies and Wolf Lieder. Before young singers are ready for Mimì, they will find much to love in Puccini’s art songs. Lighter voices that move will enjoy the art songs of Rossini and Donizetti. Young lyric voices will swoon over the Bellini, Verdi, Donaudy, and Tosti songs. If you are taking acting, use arrangements of folk songs by John Jacob Niles to analyze beats and deliver the text as a character. These are just a few examples of literature that just might be your cup of tea.
YouTube has changed the way many young singers are introduced to music. I am absolutely pro-YouTube—but encourage its use for good, not evil. When you listen to a performance online, you will see recommended videos in similar categories by artist, composer, genre, etc. This is a great way to discover new songs. Remember that anyone can open a YouTube channel and post poor renditions of songs, so peruse with caution. You use YouTube for evil when you listen to the first version you find of your assigned song and sing along. YouTube is your inspiration, and the practice room is your destination.
Gender-Specific Repertoire
Occasionally particular Romance language art songs are better suited for either male or female voices, but there is not a black-and-white list of gender-specific repertoire. Both genders sing most of the classic art songs. “Lydia” by Fauré, for example, is as magical for females as males. Italian songs and arias are either written in the masculine or feminine, so usually females sing “Se tu m’ami” and males sing “Vittoria, mio core!” but many art songs are suitable for all voices. In many early English and American art songs, it is simple to substitute pronouns such as his or hers, but consult your teacher or coach to ensure you make changes with good taste.
In her book Art Song: Linking Poetry and Music, Carol Kimball advises singers to investigate the original publication, their comfort level with the text, and their desire to sing the song. She addresses the “thorny” issue of transposing keys by stating that original keys are preferred, and if two keys are published, then there is more room for choice. If the composer marked, “for tenor and piano” then the octave displacement might be tricky for a female voice vs. a marking “for high voice” or “for medium voice,” in which case the composer may not have had a specific voice type in mind.
Lesser-Known Songs
Singing lesser-known songs is exciting for singers, teachers, and adjudicators alike. We all love the tried-and-true songs of the repertoire, but something we have not heard can be the highlight of our day. With innovative research on composers you love, you can find songs from their juvenilia or songs that are not often performed.
Not only should students study historical art song, but also pay attention to what is being written now in the 21st century. The songs of Jake Heggie, Richard Pearson Thomas, Ricky Ian Gordon, and many more are beautiful, entertaining, and brimming with musical excitement. Sing something by your composition professor or a local composer, or find new settings of contemporary poets. Our living composers are giving us a new chapter in song style, so we can forever create music and sing on!
