Diversifying Vocal Repertoire

Your instructors have put several song anthologies on course reserve. You can see the list of anthologies here.

If there is an anthology you would like to look at, write down the call number and ask the worker at the music library circulation desk to bring it to you.

The Database for Historically Underrepresented Composers is specifically for music available in Halvorson Music Library. Follow the tutorials on the Database homepage to learn how to search for vocal music in the DHUC.

Records in the DHUC link back to the music's record in Catalyst; follow the link to find the call number for the score.

The Art Song Database is part of the Institute for Composer Diversity. The Art Song Database pulls a lot of its information from the Kassia Database and SongHelix, so it is a useful one-stop database. However, the search interface in ASD is pretty barebones compared to Kassia and SongHelix, so you may prefer to work in those databases instead.

Note: Materials listed in Art Song Database may or may not be available in Halvorson Music Library.

The Art Song Database is good for:

• searching a wide variety of gender/sexuality/ethnic groups
• finding music by early-career composers (they are more likely to be listed here than in some other reasources)

To use the Art Song Database:

• Tick the "form sections" you wish to search. Each section gives you different fields you can search. Your best bets will be "vocal criteria," which includes things like range, and "composer criteria," where you can specify demographic characteristics like gender or ethnicity.
• Records may include links to purchase the score and links to sample performances.  The "score link" is NOT for Catalyst; it is usually for purchase options.

• Before buying the score yourself, check to see if the score is already in Halvorson Music Library by searching for the composer and the title in Catalyst.  If the song is a movement within a larger work, be sure to use the title of the whole piece, not just the individual song.
• If we do not already have the score, you can either use Resource Sharing to borrow it from a partner library or use the Johann Suggestion Bachs to ask our library to purchase it. If using the Johann Suggestion Bachs, please include your name and indicate you are part of the voice studio project. That way, the library staff can prioritize processing the score and let you know when it is ready.

Kassia Database specializes in art song by women composers. Most items in the Kassia Database are also in the Art Song Database.

Note: Materials listed in Kassia Database may or may not be available in Halvorson Music Library.

The Kassia Database is good for:

• finding art songs by women composers
• use the "developing singer" tab to find repertoire suitable for beginning students
• use the "listen" tab to find performances of songs to decide if you like them

To use the Kassia Database:

• Use the voice type, era, nationality, level, and language filters to set parameters for your searches.
• Records will indicate the range (the melody's lowest and highest notes) and tessitura (the range where the melody usually lies), so you can decide if a song suits your voice.
• Records will sometimes include links to places to purchase the score, to records for the score in WorldCat (a big online library catalog), or to free scores on IMSLP.  Note: check with your instructor before using a score from IMSLP. Some IMSLP scores are badly edited and your instructor may want you to use a better version.

• Before buying the score yourself, check to see if it is already in Halvorson Music Library by searching for the composer and the title in Catalyst.  If the song is a movement within a larger work, be sure to use the title of the whole piece, not just the individual song.
• If we do not already have the score, you can either use Resource Sharing to borrow it from a partner library or use the Johann Suggestion Bachs to ask our library to purchase it. If using the Johann Suggestion Bachs, please include your name and indicate you are part of the voice studio project. That way, the library staff can prioritize processing the score and let you know when it is ready.

SongHelix began as tool to help singers find songs based on subject matter (tragic love, cats, friendship, etc.), but they have expanded it to include demographic data about the composers.

Note: Materials listed in SongHelix may or may not be available in Halvorson Music Library.

SongHelix is good for:

• finding songs about themes you find interesting
• searching by highest or lowest pitch
• searching by composer's demographic characteristics

To use SongHelix:

• Use the tick boxes to check the demographic identities that interest you. Note that you can set these for the composer (left side of search interface) and/or for the lyricist (right side of search interface).
• Set the dropdown menu to indicate whether you want the results to contain at least one of boxes you checked or all of the boxes you checked. For example, if you checked African American and Woman and set the results to "contain at least one," you might find music by Libby Larsen (a white woman), Florence Price (an African American woman), and William Grant Still (an African American man). If you changed the dropdown menu to "all", then Florence Price would appear, but not Still or Larsen, because she is the one who matches all the demographic categories.

• Use the keyword menu on the right to browse topics that interest you. NOTE: you can't search both by topic keyword and composer demographic tag. If you care about both, start with the topic keywords, and then check the composers to see if they match your demographic preferences.

• Records for songs may indicate the composer's demographic group(s), the thematic keywords, links to recordings or videos, and the vocal range.
• Records will sometimes include links to places to purchase the score or to free scores on IMSLP.  Note: check with your instructor before using a score from IMSLP. Some IMSLP scores are badly edited and your instructor may want you to use a better version.

• Before buying the score yourself, check to see if it is already in Halvorson Music Library by searching for the composer and the title in Catalyst.  If the song is a movement within a larger work, be sure to use the title of the whole piece, not just the individual song.
• If we do not already have the score, you can either use Resource Sharing to borrow it from a partner library or use the Johann Suggestion Bachs to ask our library to purchase it. If using the Johann Suggestion Bachs, please include your name and indicate you are part of the voice studio project. That way, the library staff can prioritize processing the score and let you know when it is ready.