Student Blog: Preparations Across Summer

Not a few days ago, my best friend and I, in the straits of Melaka, received an email detailing our summer homework for 3rd year. The email had been titled, ‘Summer Singing Challenge,’ followed by the warning that it was compulsory work. I can only assume that this would be for our repertoire module for next year as we are still awaiting the details of our modules but our teachers have always had a knack for making sure that we are more than prepared to have at least more than one song per genre. The repertoire building could not wait as there is much else to do as we prepare to set off into the world after our final year. Not a thought I would like to entertain at the moment but it’s somewhat comforting to know that my repertoire folder is growing at least, with its breaking spine. With new musicals premiering in the recent months, there is so much more to explore which I am thrilled about.

Truly, I was grateful to receive an impending task. After the massive work load in 2nd year, being left with nothing has been a weird feeling since the summer break began in June.

So, the work entails the search for 7 new songs, with incredibly heavy emphasis on ‘a new song we have not heard before’. While I have a list already of songs I am considering, I’m still searching for more songs I could add just because this task has given me more motivation than ever to get through my entire collection of musicals I have yet to listen to. They have just been sat there, waiting for me to get to them. Hopefully, if any of you reading this are in need of songs, this selection gives you some ideas and perhaps new musicals to check out!

Right off the bat, the first song on the list of 7, as numbered, is to learn a completely new song that you have never heard before that suits your casting. This needs to be contemporary, written approximately in the last five years and not had a major production so it is relatively unknown. My niche has always been off-Broadway so this was the perfect category for me. For this, I have ‘Dusk’ from Dave Malloy’s Moby Dick. I have been a fan of Malloy’s work since I listened to The Great Comet and I’ve made it a mission to listen to all of his musical. Moby Dick is of few that I have no listened to, alongside Clown Bible and Beowulf, so maybe I might end up considering songs from those musicals instead.

The next one on the list is a song new to you by a female identifying composer or lyricist. The challenge is that we are not allowed anything from Six or Waitress, as they are too mainstream. For this, I have ‘Ladies’ from Suffs. I have gotten quite accustomed to playing male characters that go against my natural casting, but this casting felt a lot more different as Suffs portrays a male-identifying character with a female-identifying performer in order to tell their story about women as it is a woman’s narrative to tell. It felt empowering so I thought I would give it a go. Suffs is a beautiful show. If the song doesn’t work out for me, there’s plenty that the incredible Shaina Taub has written that I have in my hands.

Learn a song that’s new to you in your own accent but if I have a song that is in my own accent in one of the two songs above, I have to choose one in a contrasting accent instead. Typically, it’s the American and British accent our teacher looks for, even for international students like me so that would mean I don’t necessarily have to look for a song in a Malaysian accent. For this, I don’t have any songs on my list that might fit this category and I don’t think I have a musical in mind at all for this. We had a similar category in first year for our very first vocal assessment and I’d struggled the very same. Initially, I was considering songs from Cabaret, but I believe I’ve done about every song that Sally Bowles sang in the musical so I must continue looking.

A classic category in everyone’s rep books is Stephen Sondheim. For this, I was considering last Midnight from Into the Woods. It is currently the only song I know at the top of my head but I am still heavily considering seeing as I have just done Moments in The Woods very recently for my vocal recital in May. This one has been a little tricky as well because of the limits my voice type pose as an alto since I sound older than I look. Once, I’d brought in ‘Everything’s Coming Up Roses’ to which my teacher told me it was great in my voice but it was not at all my casting since I was not exactly the right age. I have much research to do in this category but thankfully, I’ve still got plenty of time left to explore. I should get into the habit of listening to more Sondheim, that’s for sure since it’s a genre of its own which I found incredibly fascinating.

Straying away for from the musical theatre genre, we are required to bring a one-minute cut of an up-tempo pop song and another one-minute cut of a pop ballad. We have dabbled in some pop in second year but very briefly as our teacher had wanted us to learn some of the technique to bring forward into another occasion. For this, I only have options for the pop ballad category. It is currently a battle between Magnolia by Laufey and She by dodie, and I’ve had to fight the impulse to add more options to my current dilemma. As for the up-tempo pop song, it’s as if I had forgotten every pop song in the world to exist. This has been the one category I’ve been struggling with since most pop singers I listen to are very much out of my range. Our teacher isn’t limiting us to singers of the same gender as us so I’ll have to take some time to browse through songs I have been listening to recently on the radio. If I’m in dire need, I may need to plague my brother for some help since he’s got the better taste in pop than I do.

Lastly, we have to learn a 2-minute cut of a gender swap/miscast MT song. I was considering quite a few songs for this one.  This category is truly an alto’s dream and it’s honestly one of my favorite things to endeavor into. It spans from Stars from Les Misérables, Epic II from Hadestown, Dust & Ashes from The Great Comet Never Ever Getting Rid of Me from Waitress to You’ll Be Back from Hamilton. Like the pop ballad genre, I’m fighting the overwhelming urge to add more songs to consider since there are so many options for me to choose from easily; and thank goodness for transposing.

As I pack for my road trip for tomorrow, I’m currently listening to my playlists for inspiration in hopes I will find the right songs for this checklist. I do enjoy the grind when I get to do one of the things I love most. It’s not like I am not surrounded by music every day either so I’m bound to pick something up from somewhere. Hopefully, I will be attending a performance hosted by my previous theatre school. I may be able to steal songs there.

Having been in university for 2 years already, it’s really taught me to learn from everything around me, especially in the creative sense. There’s always something to take from wherever it is I go, either from the people, the places or the experiences. With songs, there’s always the right one for the right occasion, like an association of sorts. Maybe then a song I’ve never thought of might come to mind then.

I hope these categories might help with your repertoire if you’re looking to expand yours! Finding the right songs will just lead you to more discoveries as it will for me.

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