Alexa: It's just little old me on my Todd today. So I thought, why not make a cup of tea, get in my comfies and have a good old catch up with you, and to tell you about this exciting new feature that we are introducing to the podcast.

So, first of all, I hope teaching is going well for you. For me, I've just moved house, which was hellish to be honest with you. I naively thought it was going to be a breeze, but right at the last minute, I found myself running around the house with a kebab stick in one hand, a pencil sharpener in the other, trying to pack some red onions into a suitcase.

So... we we're almost there though. We're almost there. We've got a few boxes to unpack and including the ones right under my eyes.

Anyway, this exciting new feature is going to be based around repertoire. I'm sure there have been times where we've all been stumped for a song suggestion, turning to Professor Google or the various voice forums to ask for some [00:01:00] advice and to find that song that hits the spot.

And that's what we are here for, for ideas, for song sharing across style and even targeted to vocal challenges that we might be working through with our students in the studio. Today I'm going to give you a countdown or rather a count up of 10 songs that I've banked over time and where they've been helpful.

So should we get into it then?

Some teachers might argue that it's not an exclusive responsibility of the singing teacher to assign repertoire to their students. It might just feel like there's no creative accountability on the part of the singer, or maybe it will feel like they're just dictating what happens in the studio rather than being student led.

But there are some teachers who might find that it's a really integral part of their role.

These days I like to have a bank of songs that I can suggest if asked, or maybe even [00:02:00] bring to the awareness of the singer if I think they might enjoy it, or that it might help them with something specific. So I keep a repertoire list. I keep a playlist on Spotify, which I can then share out when it suits.

I'm sure we'll get into more detail about this in future episodes, but there are some considerations we might want to make when we are selecting or suggesting repertoire for our singers. One could be, what are we actually using this for? Is it going to be for a performance? Is it something that you just want to sing for fun? Is this going into a competition? Are you taking this to an audition?

Equally ability, is that song within the singer's capabilities right now? That's not to say that singers shouldn't bring songs that are challenging in some way. And I know Kaya Herstad-Carney, one of the lovely BAST trainers here, talks about having your Snowdonia song and [00:03:00] your Mount Everest song, although might not be those particular mountains, and I'm not trying to downplay people who have climbed Snowdonia, by the way. It's just really an analogy for having a song that is 90% within your wheelhouse and 10% challenging so that you don't lose interest or passion or confidence, versus having your Everest, which is one that is a real uphill climb at the minute, but there might just be about 10% of that song that feels really good, again, so you're challenging yourself, and it's not something you're gonna take to a performance necessarily just yet, but you might work on it in the sessions and take that through to some practice exercises, for example.

We also might want to consider the age of the person. If we're working with a younger singer, are the lyrics and the content appropriate? Equally, technically, does it push the boundaries of what their limitations might be right [00:04:00] now? I think it's in Dr. Jenevora Williams's first edition of her book, teaching, singing to Children and Young Adults, where she mentions that if a child is singing something challenging at home, then is it more beneficial for us to help them do that safely and healthily in the studio?

Some teachers might say that to bring it to the child's attention that the lyrics are not appropriate can tarnish that innocent view that they might have of it. And then equally, are they able to connect to the song if it's about something more adult in experience?

And to add to that, when we had Joanne Bozeman on the podcast, we were talking about the ways in which menopause impacts the female voice. And so we might want to consider some of those songs too, where they might be sitting for our older students.

Another consideration is equality, diversity, and inclusion. It's probably [00:05:00] not appropriate for somebody like me to sing 'I'm Here' from The Colour Purple when that is sung by a person of colour. But then some teachers might say that if you are taking a passage of the song to work on it technically

for a particular reason, but you're not performing it or putting in your rep folder or going to audition with it, then maybe that's different.

We might also want to be aware of content triggers. That's not to say that we are going to know absolutely everything that might trigger our singers, but just to make them aware that there are swear words or certain subjects that are discussed that they might not be comfortable with, which then they can just veto without any other explanation to you.

Casting. If our singers are going to musical theater auditions, maybe they have a younger playing age, they would be great in Matilda, it might not be so helpful for them to be working on more mature pieces.

I don't mind when somebody brings [00:06:00] an obscure song to an audition. It's quite nice to be introduced to something new and a story that I've not heard before. Some people might say that taking something too obscure might not be so helpful. When it's that obscure, is the sheet music available? Particularly if you suggest something, work on it, and then you realise, ah, you are going to need a pianist in your audition, and there is no sheet music available. And then there's that extra cost of having the sheet music made.

I'm sure there are many more considerations that we all make when we are picking our repertoire. Let's get into some of the songs.

I asked ChatGPT, good old ChatGPT: what's the estimated number of songs there are in the world, because there's so many to choose from, and obviously there wasn't an exact answer, but with about a hundred thousand new songs being added to Spotify [00:07:00] every day ChatGPT gave me the estimated figure of anywhere between 97 million and 230 million songs. So it's no wonder that too much choice gets us a little bit thrown. It's a bit like going to the Cheesecake Factory and having to read a Victor Hugo novel of a menu to make a choice.

These are just 10 of my selections and I'd love to hear yours. So please make a comment on YouTube, over on Instagram or Facebook, or drop us an email we'd love to know what your students really like singing.

My first song choice is Beautiful Little Fool from the new musical, The Great Gatsby, which is just about opened, I believe, at the London Coliseum.

It has music by Jason Howland, lyrics by Nathan Tyson, and a book by Kate Kerrigan based on the wonderful novel, The Great Gatsby by F [00:08:00] Scott Fitzgerald.

This is Daisy's last song in the show, happening in act two, where she talks about her daughter and the limitations of women at the time. It gives off Parade vibes by Jason Robert Brown, and it's really good for an excellent actress.

The vocal range is approximately between G3-D5 with a lower belt around the Bflat4 popping up to the D5 which is a range that we might have experienced more in the standard Broadway repertoire, compared to the F5s and G5's that we see in contemporary musical theatre like Mean Girls, for example.

Equally, there are some singers who find belting on the transition actually more difficult than belting the Fs and the Gs.

But that's my number one.

The great thing about pop music in comparison to musical theatre is that there's not as much of a rule when it comes [00:09:00] to gender material.

This next song I've chosen is Budapest by George Ezra, and I should pronounce that much better seeing as I'm married to a Hungarian. But hey, ho! This could be sung by a female presenting voice or a male presenting voice, given that it's in the appropriate key.

This song has about an octave range between the F3 and F4, if we are going with that original key and here we can use it to establish chest voice and to keep us within that kind of more comfortable zone of chest voice whilst introducing more of a falsetto or head voice flip on that chorus oh for you, you, hmm. She needs to warm up!

So I've used this with students who maybe have never explored falsetto before. Maybe we are doing a little bit of falsetto work, and I just want them to experience what it's like to get in and out of chest into that lighter [00:10:00] coordination. Equally, we talk about how stylistic it is that we are doing a bit of a yodel flip so that they feel like an artist.

We also have a great podcast with Kaya Herstad-Carney about style versus technique, and we do do a little study of George Ezra. So if you're interested, go check it out.

Song number three is another pop one this time from Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell. It's The Greatest. This is a song that a student bought to me in a session and I thought it was beautiful. If you're working with musical theatre singers who need to explore pop, keeping a little bit of that MT influence in their story and acting through song, then I think this is quite a good one. It's got a lovely journey in the story and a lovely vocal build. We hear some of that breathy aspirate vulnerability that we know from Billie so well, but it also has sections of ascending pattern. There's also belt in there up to about a C five I believe [00:11:00] that the total vocal range is around B3-C5, but when you play with style and then change up bits of melody, maybe that would change in accordance with whatever the facility of the singer is.

Song number four is a personal favourite. You can bet when this comes up on my playlist in the car, I'm cranking that up and pretending like I'm in the ensemble, and that is In the Air Tonight from the musical American Psycho. Now I know what you're thinking. It's a Phil Collins song and it belongs to the Monkey Drummer in the Cadbury's advert.

We probably know the film American Psycho, which features Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman, which is actually based on a book by Brett Easton Ellis.

This is a great song for those group and choirs because it has some wonderful harmonies, equally, some solo features, and there's a good acapella vibe going on in there too.

Up next is a song for our little voices, and that is, I Belong from Disney's [00:12:00] Sofia the first. It was written by Craig Gerber and John Kavanaugh, and it's about Sofia who was a peasant child, but who then had to get used to the life of a princess when her mother married a royal. In this song, she is talking about the princess test, how she studies hard, and she reads all the books and how she really wants to belong in this new role.

Next up is a song from a jukebox musical that celebrates the catalogue of Elvis Presley. It's all shook up. This musical tells a story of attraction and love, as we witness confused feelings, lust, love at first sight, forbidden love, and some unrequited bits in there too. This song is sung by the character Natalie, who's a mechanic, and it comes about when Chad needs to get his motorbike fixed and Natalie gets smitten by him, and offers a helping hand with this song.

The vocal range is around [00:13:00] C4-D5 according to music notes, and this is the type of song that would be great for a 'Grease' audition, for example.

Then there's the song Michelle by Indie Rock Band, Sir Chloe. I find this is a really good song for singers who feel more comfortable in their chest voice, in their lower range, but who are developing and wanting to establish more of a head voice, as it pops up there for a little bit of time and hangs around a bit.

The vocal range is from approximately E3 , and the content is driven by this idea of desire and lust. It kind of gives me, , radiohead vibes like Creep.

Next is a really beautiful song from the song cycle Myths and Hymns called Awaiting You. This is for quite a skilled singer because it moves through mee like sequences.

We have [00:14:00] a thicker growth, a bigger build, and then it pulls back into something a little bit lighter, and that note is sustained.

There's some real drama to the song as well, so asking for a great storyteller.

I really recommend you go and check out Billy Porter singing this song. He has an incredible range in it from around the G3 up to an F5 so that is a wonderful, perhaps tenor song for your male singers, and also a really great range for the female singers as well.

Alexa: If you're working with singers who are new to the skill or who don't have a lot of confidence or experience and need something maybe a little bit more manageable, something like, How Long Will I Love You by Ellie Goulding, it can be a good choice.

The range is about just over an octave from about a G3-A4, but again, in pop keys don't really matter. We can put it [00:15:00] where we need it.

I love a song that gets us to yodel flip. It's asking us to cue those registers and to get stylistic. So another one for that is what baking can do from the Sarah Barellies musical Waitress.

There is a wonderful 12 step riff in the beginning of the song, which I sometimes use in isolation to help people break it down, be a bit Natalie Weiss about it, and to introduce them to the skill. And

I think we've hit the 10: Beautiful Little Fool from the Great Gatsby. Budapest by George Ezra, The Greatest by Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell in the air tonight from American Psycho, Michelle by Sir Chloe, Sofia the first with I Belong. How Long Will I Love You by Ellie Goulding, Awaiting You from Myths and Hymns What Baking Can Do, and One Night With You [00:16:00] from All Shook Up.

Yes, I know. I've just said them all in the wrong order.

Thank you for hanging out with me and listening to some of my rep options. As I said earlier, I'd love to hear some of the things that you are working on with students now.

The first conversation that we'll have in this series is going to be on pop repertoire, and that will be with Hannah Smikle in a few weeks time. So keep your eyes peeled. But for now, thank you for hanging out with me and happy listening.