Hot Topics
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Songs and Singing
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Collections
The State Library has a comprehensive sheet music collection of songs covering all genres. Encompassing lieder, art song and opera, folk, rock, pop, jazz, songs from movies and Broadway, music hall, heavy metal, country and children’s songs, every singer’s need is met. The songs are in both single sheet and anthology format, and copies of complete vocal scores of operas and music theatre works ensure that the stage performer is well catered for. The collection has been indexed exhaustively, ensuring that clients can locate songs within anthologies. An online song index for songs acquired after 2001 is augmented by an extensive card index covering all song anthologies held in the library. A help sheet is available with tricks and tips on how to find songs, and there is an outline to the classification scheme for popular songs that may be of help to those visiting the library. Please contact the staff if you cannot locate the song you require.
The reference collection contains books on vocal technique and health, vocal pedagogy, musicianship, diction, interpretation, repertoire, auditioning, singing in languages other than English, the art of the song recital and songwriting. Use of these texts combined with scores containing exercises for both the classical and popular singer, ensures that technique and theory are covered for singing students of both genres, teachers, choral directors, composers and lyricists.
WA Musical Memories Online
Developed as part of the Australia-wide MusicAustralia project, WA Musical Memories Online gives access to digitised scores held at the State Library. Most of the scores are for voice and piano and give an insight into what West Australian events and places inspired composers to put pen to manuscript paper throughout the years.
Major References
Popular music
This multi volume workis an annotated guide to American popular songs from 1920 and is constantly being updated.It contains an index to lyricists and composers, important performances, awards and a chronological index. A no-fuss, one-stop resource, it is useful for those wanting to know who first recorded a song and when they recorded it.
American song : the complete musical theatre companion
These two volumes contain title entries of over 4,800 American musicals from 1877 to 1995. They include all Broadway, off-Broadway and some television musicals. Each listing includes when and where the show opened, those responsible artistically and the names of all songs in the original production.
Hollywood song : the complete film & musical companion
As part of the American song series, these volumes do for the film song repertoire what the above volumes do for the musical, and cover over 7,000 American and foreign films.
The Tin Pan Alley song encyclopedia
Contains information on over 1,200 songs that became the legendary Tin Pan Alley style of American popular music, from the mid-19 th century until the advent of rock and roll in the 1950s. Author Thomas Hischak delivers a highly readable and very informative guide to the genre, examining the songs, styles and performers that were woven together to create this unique and influential period of American musical history.
Sing us one of the old songs : a guide to popular song 1860-1920
This compilation covers nearly 18,000 song titles in the music hall repertoire of Britain. The repertoire of the genre’s most famous exponents is listed along with lyricists and composers, and indexes to shows, songs and sketch titles.
The great song thesaurus
Covering over 11,000 songs, this encyclopedia is a standard reference tool chronicling all aspects of popular songs from the 16th century to the mid-1980’s. Cross-referenced and with a key lyric index, this is a must for anyone compiling a program containing songs on a related topic.
The rock song index
Aims to list and give “essential information on the 7,500 most important songs of rock and roll”. Each entry features composer, producer, year-of-release, label, album, and songwriter information with and short histories giving added context to many of the songs.
Singer's repertoire
Of interest to the classical singer, each volume lists repertoire for a particular voice type. Works are listed by type (recital, operatic arias, song cycles, solo cantatas, and songs for specific occasions). There is also a classification for the nature of the work such as songs employing agile, sustained or spirited singing. Information on the range of the song and the publisher completes an invaluable resource for the recitalist or student.
Lieder line by line, and word for word
This book contains translations for the best-known songs of the great lieder composers. Each song has a literal word for word translation as well as a clear English prose version giving the mood and meaning of each poem. A great introduction to the poetry underpinning this repertoire.
A dictionary of opera and song themes
A thematic guide to over 8,000 melodies in operas, operettas, oratorios, cantatas, Lieder, art song and standard classical vocal repertoire. Using a unique Notation Index Key, you can identify almost any classical vocal composition even if you know only a few bars of the music.
Complete handbook of voice training
A standard reference tool for teachers, therapists and choral directors, this book is recommended continually in literature on vocal technique and health. All aspects of singing are covered with chapters on breathing, pitch, forming vowel sounds, training singers, choral singers and changing voices.
Directories
Australian Yearbook of Music and Music Education
An invaluable resource for the whole gamut of consumers of music and music practioners in Australia. Listing arts organizations, funding agencies, copyright and legal information, resources, publishers and distributors, educational institutions, societies, groups and eisteddfods and competitions, the yearbook can assist singers by presenting choices for all the above.
Journals
Australian voice
The official journal of the Australian National Association of Singing Teachers provides a medium for articles and research papers on all aspects of the singing voice and vocal teaching. The annual journal also includes reviews of sheet music, recordings and texts.
Voice moves
The newsletter of Voice Moves WA (Inc) is a good newsy guide to all things choral in Western Australia. Reviews of events and concerts are complemented by a very thorough choir contact list.
Awards
The Australian Singing Competition
Australia’s premiere singing competition for the classical singer. Held annually, the ASC includes the Opera Awards and the Mathy Awards. The prizes are generous and the list of past winners is dotted with the names of singers now making their name on the international stage.
Fremantle Eisteddfod
Latest schedule and entry forms available in PDF format. The competition awards prizes in vocal solo, art song, lieder, folk song, sacred and oratorio, duet, ensemble, music theatre, barbershop and choral singing.
Ralph Thompson Memorial Scholarship
The Lieder Society of WA presents this scholarship annually to a young singer who must be a member of the Society. Applicants must present a short recital and prepare a study program. The scholarship is in memory of Ralph Thompson, late husband of well-known Perth singing teacher and accompanist Evelyn Thompson.
StarSearch
This competition raises money for Cystic Fibrosis WA and encourages young performers to compete in all areas of performing arts. There are both solo and choral categories and each year the competition culminates in a gala concert at the Burswood Theatre in Perth.
West Australian Eisteddfod Societies
Lists the contact details for local music eisteddfods and competitions.
Interest Groups and Organizations
Australian National Association of Teachers of Singing (WA Chapter)
The ANATS website keeps teachers up to date with happenings in the fields of vocal pedagogy, with great links to a whole host of information of use to both teachers and students alike such as buying music, copyright issues, computer software, teaching methods, educational institutions and other relevant organizations.
The Gilbert & Sullivan Society of WA
Gives lovers of the great duo’s works an opportunity to be involved as a performer, back stage crew member or as a member of the audience. The Society stages two productions a year and runs its own choral group, The Savoy Singers. Monthly meetings showcase local talent from a variety of sources.
The Lieder Society of WA
Is a non-profit organization seeking to enhance the musical life of WA through the performance and promotion of the concert vocal repertoire. A regular concert series features performances by experienced artists. Developing artists are nurtured by performance opportunities on the concert programs and the provision of an annual scholarship.
Theatre Australia
This database lists theatre companies across Australia that belong to the Independent Theatre Association. Many of these companies regularly stage musicals, and coming events and auditions are listed. A very thorough and informative website, it has a particularly strong West Australian component.
VoiceMoves WA
A community group existing to promote singing and choirs by developing skills, promoting community involvement and sponsoring festivals, workshops and competitions.
Websites
MusicAustralia
Is a project developed by the National Library of Australia in conjunction with the National Sound and Film Archive. WA Musical Memories Online gives access to digitised scores held at the State Library of Western Australia. Most of the scores are for voice and piano and give an insight into the West Australian events and places that inspired composers to put pen to manuscript paper throughout the years.
Sheet Music Consortium
The Sheet Music Consortium is a US based group of libraries that is building a digitized archive of sheet music in libraries around the world. Large collections such as the American Memory project and the Los Angeles’ Public Library’s Allsong have either song indexes, or digitized images of historic collections of sheet music.