There are many different music anthologies and songbooks out there, so I thought I’d put together a list of the ones that I recommend for my students. I’m always looking for more music for my students, so I’ll keep adding to this list as my music library grows. If you have any favorite books, I’d love to hear your suggestions as well!
MUSICAL THEATER ANTHOLOGIES
The Teen’s Musical Theater Collection – Young Women’s edition or Young Men’s edition, with available piano accompaniment CD. Great collection of standard repertoire in a variety of styles and ranges. Recommended for beginners.
Broadway Presents: Teens’ Musical Theatre Anthology – Female Edition or Male Edition, with piano accompaniment CD. Slightly more advanced songs that venture outside of the standard repertoire, with some mature themes. Contains songs in a variety of vocal ranges, so not all of the songs will work for each singer. Recommended for older teens who may not have settled into a specific voice type yet.
Singer’s Musical Theatre Anthology Series – Several volumes available for each voice type: Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano/Belter, Tenor, and Baritone/Bass. Piano accompaniment CDs available. Volume 1 generally contains standard songs from classic musicals, while the later volumes have songs from newer musicals. Highly recommended for serious musical theater singers.
FOR CLASSICAL SINGERS
Easy Solos for Beginning Singers series – For Soprano, Mezzo-soprano/Alto, Tenor, and Baritone, with available CD of piano accompaniment. Edited and compiled by Joan Frey Boytim. A great starting point for students interested in classical singing.
First Book of Solos series – for Soprano, Mezzo-soprano/Alto, Tenor, Baritone, with available CD of piano accompaniment. Several volumes of songs for each voice type. Most songs are in English, with some in other languages as well. There is also a Second Book of Solos series with even more challenging songs. Edited and compiled by Joan Frey Boytim. This series is highly recommended for all high school age students interested in classical singing, but many of the pieces will be too difficult for absolute beginners (see Easy Solos for Beginning Singers series above).
26 Italian Songs and Arias – available for Medium High or Medium Low voice, with available accompaniment CD. Great collection of Italian songs for beginning to intermediate singers, and an essential part of the repertoire for young classical singers.
The Lieder Anthology – from the Singer’s Library series, available for High Voice or Low Voice, with accompaniment CD. Collection of German art songs for intermediate to advanced singers.
French Song Anthology – from the Singer’s Library series, available for High Voice or Low Voice, with accompaniment CD. Collection of French art songs for intermediate to advanced singers.
FOR YOUNGER STUDENTS
36 Solos for Young Singers – compiled by Joan Frey Boytim. Accompaniment CD available. Classical-type songs chosen to be accessible to younger singers, but may be too challenging for my youngest students or absolute beginners.
Contemporary Disney – collection of 50 songs from a variety of Disney movies. Great for young singers but some songs have vocal ranges that are too large for many young students.
Kids’ Musical Theatre Collection – 29 songs with CD of piano accompaniments. Good selection of songs from popular musicals that are appropriate for younger singers. There is also a second volume available with even more songs.
Broadway Presents: Kids’ Musical Theatre Anthology – with CD of piano accompaniments. Contains some of the same songs as the Kids’ Musical Theatre Collection above, but also has some more challenging pieces from a wide variety of shows and movies.