| To: "VOCALIST" <vocalist> Subject: Re: musical theatre fachs Date sent: Sat, 29 Jan 2000 17:12:13 -0500 Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>
I think that the Singers Musical Anthology Books purport to be in the original show keys and yes, it is a bother if you only want to buy one book. In one silly instance, the songs of a medium soprano role were split into the Soprano and Mezzo/Alto books. I lent out my Soprano book, so I can't say which role, but these books should not be considered the best word on what voice should be singing which role - take it as a suggestion. Their system appears to have been devised more from the ranges of the pieces than actual voice type. Julie Andrews was clearly not an alto, but her songs from Sound of Music are in the Mezzo-Soprano/Alto book (perhaps because Mary Martin also did the role?).
They do have some nice things but are getting pretty dated. Time for Volume 3!
As for whether or not it's appropriate to sing a role perhaps a bit out of your fach, perhaps Lorraine Goodman can share some experiences. Lorraine don't you have quite a bit of Broadway under your belt?
Laura Sharp
From: I have used the Singers Musical Theater Anthology books too. My only problem with them is that many of the songs that I sing as a baritone are in the tenor book. "On The Street Where You Live" comes to mind. One more thing to consider is that you can also change the key of a song to suit your voice if you have a good piano player. Irving Berlin could only write music in one key, so the arrangers placed the music for " Annie Get Your Gun" in a key that suited Ethel Murman's voice well. I also found Fred Silver's "Auditioning for the Musical Theater" to be a valuable resource.
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