Student Blog: Tricks to Build Your Repertoire

BUILDING YOUR BOOK:

And no, I don't mean the make-shift burn book you made during your Mean Girls phase. Over the past few years, I have culminated many, many ways to scope out hidden musical theatre gems for that next audition. Nowadays, some musicals are doing Jukebox shows, where you have a plethora of songs to choose from said featured artist. In most cases, you will be fishing through every song you've sung since high school to find the perfect fit for your character. Just like Cinderella and her glass slippers! Here are my special secrets that, as a Capricorn, I am doing every.single.day.

YouTube Playlists: One of my favorite hobbies is typing in a song that I already know I like for myself, and deep-diving into the recommended songs that follow inside the Youtube playlists. In fact, almost all composers and lyricists, especially contemporary ones, have Youtube pages filled with content. You can spiral for hours just picking up breadcrumb after breadcrumb. Many of my friends found their senior showcase songs this way!

Broadway Star's Albums: Many of your favorite Broadway performers have hidden albums on Spotify where they cover their favorite songs ranging from overdone classics to things you might never have heard. My favorite albums are Rebecca Luker's "Leaving Home," Judy Kuhn's "Rodgers, Rodgers & Guettel," and Sierra Boggess' "Awakening: Live at 54 Below." Could you guess I'm a soprano? ;)

Movie and Television Scores: This tactic is one of my favorites. "Siri, what song is this?" So many shows and movies have incredible soundtracks. The most recent rom-com I watched called "The Map of Tiny Perfect Things" had such fun, upbeat songs. All of the classic teen drama series like Euphoria, Grand Army, The Politician... they all have ranging, fantastic music. While you may not find your perfect 16 bar cut, you can find artists that you like, and brainstorm the possibility of singing things out of your comfort zone. My favorite discovery was the Disney Channel tv spinoffs for Tangled, Toy Story, Hercules, and even more. Absolutely perfect for finding a never-before-sung Disney cut!

Spotify Playlists: My new obsession is speeding through as many random cast recordings as I can, adding all the female solo songs to my "Repertoire" playlist, and weeding through it all when I am having a lazy Sunday in bed. It is so helpful to have a never-ending list, (one that you made for yourself), at the drop of a hat. This semester, I am singing through about four to five new songs a week. When ever I need to brainstorm for new material, all I do is press play on my Rep playlist, and search through hundreds of spectacular songs. It's that easy.

I used to feel that before I considered singing a song, it would need to check every box on my list. But now, I choose material that makes me infinitely happy, and challenges me just the same. I also used to dread trying to find new songs that were a good fit for me, but now it is a mindless activity I do almost every day. And I love it. We are so lucky that our trickiest homework of the week might just be that we need to find that perfect jazz standard for class. Revel in it!

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