AN INFOGRAPHIC REPERTOIRE GUIDE FOR VOICE INSTRUCTORS AND DEVELOPING SINGERS Esteban José Zúñiga Calderón A lecture document submitted to the School of Music and Dance at the University of Oregon In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of: Doctorate in Musical Arts May 2024 Abstract The classical music industry is a complex and ever-changing landscape. Opera companies rise and fall, and musical programs open and close throughout the United States and the American continent. Hence, an efficient training process for future professionals is more crucial than ever to preserve and expand the art form of vocal performance in the classical Western tradition. At the heart of this training is the process of assigning, studying, and presenting vocal repertoire. This challenging endeavor requires years of knowledge, experience, and research, often producing mixed results. Repertoire guides and anthologies have attempted to ease this process, but many fall short of adequately preparing the reader for the nuances of a song. This document proposes an infographic repertoire guide designed to provide valuable insights to voice students and teachers about specific repertoire pieces by analyzing the needs of modern vocal instruction in classical music and examining the existing material. It offers an easy-to-understand evaluation of the technical demands of songs, enabling a more accurate judgment of their compatibility with a potential performer by comparing the different parameters of each selection of vocal literature. The guide utilizes a series of graphics, icons, and signs that can be interpreted at a glance, providing visual information about a song's challenges and qualities. Moreover, it has the potential to be expanded and adapted to various digital platforms, making it a versatile tool for the modern classical music industry. Table of Contents 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 1 2. Establishing the Foundations .................................................................................................. 2 2.1 The Importance of Repertoire for Singers ...................................................................... 2 2.2 What Makes a Song Performance Successful? .................................................................... 3 2.2.1 A Successful Performance is a Healthy Performance .................................................... 4 2.2.2 A Successful Performance is One Without (or Minimal) Struggles .............................. 5 2.2.3 A Successful Performance Provides Fulfillment............................................................ 6 2.2.4 A Successful Performance Connects with the Audience................................................ 6 2.3 Traditional Challenges of Assigning Repertoire in the Classical Western Vocal Tradition .. 7 2.4 Gender and Identity-Related Challenges in Assigning Vocal Literature ............................ 10 3. Devising an Improved Method to Analyze Repertoire ..............................................................11 3.1 The Role of a Repertoire Guide .......................................................................................... 12 3.2 The “Easy” versus “Hard” Issue ......................................................................................... 14 3.3 Analyzing Other Issues with Some of the Existing Guides ................................................ 17 3.4 What the New Guide Aims to Improve ............................................................................... 36 3.5 What the New Guide Aims to Achieve ............................................................................... 37 3.5.1 Establishing the Basic Information about the Songs ................................................... 38 3.5.2 Establishing the Song’s Parameters for Display .......................................................... 40 3.5.3 The Graphic Elements .................................................................................................. 45 4. The future of the guide .......................................................................................................... 53 5. Bibliography ............................................................................................................................. 55 6. Appendix ................................................................................................................................... 58 Zúñiga Calderón 1 1. Introduction This document outlines the process of creating a repertoire guide that utilizes some unique elements to help voice instructors and developing singers find the selections of vocal literature that best fit their objectives. This outline starts by defining notions that connect repertoire with technical and artistic success to extrapolate and distillate the main objectives the guide should aim for. It will dissect the concept of a successful performance and the implications that surround it, while revisiting the traditional challenges that repertoire guides seek to alleviate in selecting vocal literature and analyzing some of the challenges modern society is starting to identify. This text will take several samples of published repertoire guides. It will review and assess their content regarding how useful, easy to navigate, accessible, and inclusive they are to improve many areas where these are lacking. Once this analysis is complete, I will show my thought process behind classifying the different sections in the guide, the method to combine the visual and textual elements, and the systematic approach to making the final product. Finally, I will offer examples of how I apply my Infographic Guide to a group of popular songs traditionally assigned to young students, plus an experimental appendix of the formula applied to 100 songs in English, Italian, German, Spanish, and French. The resources to construct this entire text will be found alphabetically at the end of the document. Zúñiga Calderón 2 2. Establishing the Foundations To create a repertoire guide that stands out as a unique tool to support the development of future professionals in the complex and rich area of vocal performance, it is necessary to revisit some important concepts that connect the assignment of repertoire with the technical and artistic development of the singer. These concepts spring across the importance of repertoire as a tool through the parameters that qualify a successful performance and the challenges present when assigning vocal literature to developing voices. The goal of reviewing these is to set up the main pillars to construct the new repertoire guide, plus identify the main ideals it will aim to achieve. A repertoire guide for the sake of creating one more is not a significative task, which is why this one must be built with the objective of being helpful and exceptional. 2.1 The Importance of Repertoire for Singers A comparison can be drawn between athletes and their matches to understand the importance of repertoire for singers. Singers, like athletes, spend many hours a week performing training exercises, gaining control over their bodies, and expanding their capabilities. An Olympic skater or tennis player displays subtlety and poetic nuance as a consequence of disciplined control of motor responses. Unless the physical instrument is adequately developed and trained to meet performance tasks, there is little possibility of producing high-level artistry.1 In the vocal pedagogy arena, most vocal exercises stem from experiences, personal training, and input from multiple teachers2. However, the skills of both singers and athletes get to be fully 1 Richard Miller, Solutions for Singers (Oxford University Press, 2004), 169. 2 Wendy. D. Leborgne & Marci D. Rosenberg, The Vocal Athlete (Plural Publishing Inc, 2014), xiii. Zúñiga Calderón 3 displayed only when the individual puts their training to practical use. In these situations, the muscle memory of both singers and athletes activates and helps them navigate the challenges being presented to them. In short, an athlete is to their matches what a singer is to their performances, In the world of music, performers are presented with various situations with stakes ranging from low to high. Not every song performance is equivalent to a game being televised internationally, nor will it determine the performer’s entire career. Some performances will be more like a friendly match in front of a few people. However, even world-class athletes needed to train in minor situations first, which encouraged their development and helped them explore their skills. Similarly, every professional singer began with low-stakes performance challenges that gave them experience, knowledge, muscle memory, tools, and even failures to advance to higher ground. By assigning vocal literature to developing singers with specific goals, the voice instructor effectively provides them with the tools and challenges they need to achieve a successful performance. 2.2 What Makes a Song Performance Successful? Given the crucial role of repertoire selection in a voice student’s development, to create an instrument that aids in setting the singer on the path to a successful performance, it is essential first to establish what performing a song successfully implies. Zúñiga Calderón 4 2.2.1 A Successful Performance is a Healthy Performance First, the singer must be able to perform the song from beginning to end. They must produce the notes written on the page and the text, both comprehensibly, regardless of the language. According to Brent Monahan, “By how freely we allow the larynx to do its work, we can color the pictures we offer our audience with either a six-hue or a sixty-four-hue box of crayons3.” The act of singing with a healthy and free-sounding phonation is often referenced and emphasized, as noted also by Monahan, who counts four hundred and thirty-four statements on this topic4. However, there is little mention of the psychological implications of vocal performance in literature related to vocal pedagogy and andragogy. Songs exist in the standard vocal repertoire that contain misogynistic, culturally insensitive, erotic, violent, or other questionable content. Songs and poems that are commonly found in the anthologies for developing voices may make references to self-harm, depression, sexuality, and other topics that young singers may either be completely unaware of or, at the opposite extreme, feel deeply connected to in ways that will affect their performances of these pieces. When all of these aspects are present in a song and then ignored (for whatever reason), what we get is a performer unquestioningly singing what is written on a paper, which may result in one or more of the following three outcomes: 3 Brent Monahan, The Singer’s Companion (Limelight Editions, 2006), 40. 4 Brent Monahan, The Art of Singing (Scarecrow, 1978). 72 Zúñiga Calderón 5 1. The singer fails to communicate the message of the song. 2. The singer communicates a message they do not understand or identify with. 3. The singer communicates the message successfully and gets mentally harmed in the process. 2.2.2 A Successful Performance is One Without (or Minimal) Struggles Undeniably, the multiplicity of muscular, mental, and emotional components of singing makes it a complex process. Singers train to channel these factors to unify their physical and artistic responses when they perform. Yet, such performance readiness comes only when technical proficiency is ingrained.5 Only then does the performance look like a simple act to the audience, regardless of the spirit of the song (dramatic, sad, joyful, and so forth.). A singer who is overwhelmed with technical issues has a difficult time being musically expressive.6 The audience should feel like the singer could perform optimally on any day given ideal circumstances and not feel like they are witnessing a physical struggle or a vocal passage on the edge of failure. They should also be left with the sensation of wanting to hear the singer perform again. In many cases, when the singer encounters a mental or physical struggle to complete one or more phrases, the audience feels the singer's struggles during a piece. This is the opposite of a successful performance. 5 Richard Miller, On the Art of Singing (Oxford University Press, 1996), 44. 6 Barbara Doscher, From Studio to Stage (Scarecrow, 2002), vii. Zúñiga Calderón 6 2.2.3 A Successful Performance Provides Fulfillment One important criterion of success is the sensation of progress and fulfillment that the singer should experience when studying a song meant to be performed in front of an audience. Difficult passages may initially appear challenging, time-consuming, and frustrating, but they should not feel impossible. Experienced singers can assess the technical demands of a piece at a glance. Singers in earlier stages of development, unfamiliar with their vocal capabilities, will not always spot a song with these difficulties. When a singer realizes too late that the song they are working on is incompatible with their instrument and skills, this often results in exasperation and discontent. Few singers can overcome the difficulties caused by repertoire that is not suited for their voice. 7 A singer who works on a piece that is well suited to their level of expertise and vocal qualities will experience a greater sense of satisfaction by studying it and performing it. Personal gratification is one of the most satisfying rewards one receives from a successful performance.8 2.2.4 A Successful Performance Connects with the Audience Committed vocal performers will always seek to communicate and affect the audience. Harry Plunket Greene asserts, “for the audience which the singer holds in the hollow of his hand, holds him as surely as in its own. Each acts and reacts on the other in ever-increasing degree.”9 7 Barbara Doscher, From Studio to Stage (Scarecrow, 2002), vii. 8 Shirlee Emmons & Stanley Sonntag, The Art of the Song Recital (Schirmer 1979), 20. 9 Harry P. Greene, Interpretation in Song (Macmillan and Co. 1931), 9. Zúñiga Calderón 7 Pieces of music dealing with more complex psychological material, multiple conflicting emotions, harsh topics, and complicated characters will often present a more difficult challenge to accurately portray the composer’s intentions and help the audience connect with the music. The performer's credibility will have a strong influence on establishing this connection. For example, a young child singing a song about the difficulties of a crumbling marriage may not be as effective as an adult executing the same piece, regardless of skill level or vocal qualities. Few singers at eighteen years of age, no matter how vocally gifted they may be, can draw upon their life experiences to understand and fully appreciate the Kindertotenlieder of Mahler10. An informed singer with enough experience, creativity, and magnetism will have a better chance of successfully communicating mature and complex topics through their performance. 2.3 Traditional Challenges of Assigning Repertoire in the Classical Western Vocal Tradition It is difficult to select a repertoire that facilitates the progress and success of a developing singer. A teacher can hamper a student’s rate of development or even tear down the technique they helped the student acquire by assigning inappropriate literature.11 To correctly assign repertoire that helps the singer connect with all the previously mentioned parameters of success, one must consider the singer’s skills, goals, and deficits, as well as the context in which the song will be performed. The work of a teacher consists not only of finding pieces of music that will help develop specific skills but also of balancing the overall repertoire list so it covers many of their needs as a performer. Songs that require improvisation, 10 Barbara Doscher, From Studio to Stage (Scarecrow, 2002), vii. 11 Doscher, From Studio to Stage, vii. Zúñiga Calderón 8 ornamentation, coloratura, extreme tessitura, complex melodies, intricate rhythms, and other elements will be better paired with students who have an affinity for these elements. Selecting appropriate repertoire has consequences for singers’ marketing potential and their ability to express themselves freely through their voices12Exposure to new genres, composers, and styles helps singers cultivate new interests while advancing their musical literacy. Often, the first songs a voice student gets assigned come from the traditional literature for developing voices, such as the Vaccai13 vocal method or the famous anthology of Twenty-four Italian Songs and Arias,14 both of which exist in many different keys and editions. These songs are often assigned to develop singers to explore the union between technique and musical execution. Often, art songs will be performed in the context of an audition, a jury, or a competition. Before choosing a song for any of these ¨high-stakes¨ performances, one must know what skills the song requires, what qualities it enhances the most, and what stylistic traits will be required for its accurate performance, as well as other contextual nuances about the piece not written in the score. The traditional canon presents advantages and disadvantages while performing in front of a panel. A song known by those making the decisions will allow them to know what to expect. On the other hand, there is a risk of performing the same song that five other singers have already sung the same day in front of the same judges. 12 Adriana Feșteu, “The role of operatic repertoire in young singers’ professional development”, Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov, Series VIII: Performing Arts, Vol. 13(62) No. 2 – 2020 13 Nicola Vaccai, Practical Italian Vocal Method (Schirmer, 1894). 14 Twenty-four Italian Songs and Arias of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, for Medium High Voice (Schirmer, 1967). Zúñiga Calderón 9 There will also be situations where the stakes are much lower, such as performing an hour's worth of music at an elegant dinner, where only half of the patrons will be paying attention while the other half are conversing and enjoying food and drinks. In these situations singers benefit from preparing repertoire other than their most potent songs and arias, as preserving their stamina throughout the performance is essential. Choosing repertoire for a song recital can also be challenging, as these can be much more difficult to execute well than singing an opera or an oratorio15. When a singer is asked to perform a formal recital, finding variety, balance, and coherence between the songs will require planning and knowledge to obtain the best results. Extended programs often benefit from grouping similar songs, which is why both teachers and singers must be aware of the connections between potential repertoires. Some ways to group songs are by compiling those written by the same composer or composers who shared geographical locations. Grouping the songs by language is also a widespread practice. Sometimes a long program will be put together in chronological order, putting the older songs at the top, and the more contemporary ones at the bottom of the list. These are all traditional ways to construct a concert or recital, but there are also many other creative ways to assemble a group of songs.16 15 Shirlee Emmons & Stanley Sonntag, The Art of the Song Recital (Schirmer 1979), 20. 16 Emmons & Sonntag, The Art of the Song Recital, 30-31. Zúñiga Calderón 10 2.4 Gender and Identity-Related Challenges in Assigning Vocal Literature Currently, minorities such as the transgender community still struggle to reclaim their place in society. Some transgender voice students may require repertoire selections that allow them to transition while continuing with their vocal training. Often, a student's repertoire must be adjusted while in the middle of hormone therapy to accommodate the transformations in their vocal physiognomy, allowing them to continue learning despite the struggles of dealing with a changing phonatory system. There are several situations where the psychological pressure of the gender transitioning process will be taxing for the voice student’s mental and physical health, which will directly affect the way they work on their songs. A piece of music that felt initially easy may become increasingly challenging as hormone therapy affects the body, therefore producing frustration and anxiety for the transitioning singer. In these situations, if the repertoire is not re-negotiated, transposed, or re-adapted to the student’s needs, this can discourage them from continuing their vocal training. Other situations may create conflict, such as when a student undergoing a gender transition no longer feels comfortable singing a song that references a specific gender. In the opposite case, some students may feel encouraged to sing repertoire that bends the ideals of gender or that better fits their gender identity. In agreement with Hearns and Kremer in their book The Singing Teacher’s Guide to Transgender Voices, taking into consideration the gender Zúñiga Calderón 11 identity of a student may contribute to deciding when a song fits them right and will help complement the artistic intent of both the composer and the author of the text.17 3. Devising an Improved Method to Analyze Repertoire The next step towards developing an improved system is to analyze existing resources and methods of assigning vocal literature. Let us examine some available means of finding new repertoire. Repertoire Book Anthologies: Print publications that contain song scores and sometimes text transcriptions. Many of these will be thematically organized by tessitura (often divided as Low, High, Middle Low, Middle High, or just Middle), voice type (songs for Bass, Baritone, Tenor, Soprano… etc.), genre, historical period, geographic location, or other forms of grouping. These anthologies may be published by editorials with a prestigious reputation, while others may be considered outdated or inaccurate. Modern collections are widely available, while out-of-print anthologies are often available at libraries. Databases: Some repertoire selections can be found in non-paper formats such as CDs, databases, websites, and even phone and computer applications. They (like printed sources) may come from sources with variable reputations. In a few cases, these may be legally acquired free of charge, while others will come at a monetary cost. Online resources have the advantage of 17 Liz Jackson Hearns and Brian Kremer, The Singing Teacher’s Guide to Transgender Voices (Plural Publishing INC, 2018), 44. Zúñiga Calderón 12 being available immediately upon purchase. Specialized websites, blogs, and pages like the Bach Leipzig Archive,18 the Women’s Song Forum,19 the Art Song Central,20 and many others are dedicated to dedicated to obscure and underrepresented classical repertoire. The IMSLP (International Music Score Library Project) Petrucci Music Library21 is a website that facilitates free music scores no longer protected by copyright. Streaming Platforms: Another way to discover new repertoire is to browse through streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and other content libraries. Some will be free, while others require a paid subscription. Some, like the Naxos Music Library22 will specialize in classical music. The more common platforms, like YouTube, contain many low-quality amateur recordings mixed with professional ones. These platforms do not always provide the user with the means to track a musical score. 3.1 The Role of a Repertoire Guide Repertoire guides are valuable sources for finding and selecting new vocal literature. Book anthologies, databases, and streaming platforms provide the user a score and/or recording; however, repertoire guides resemble annotated lists of songs with specific information about them. Some of these guides aim to inform the user about each piece's performance characteristics without having to track and analyze the scores by themselves. Just like repertoire anthologies, 18 Bach Archiv-Leipzig, accessed May 1, 2024, www.bach-leipzig.de/en/bach-archiv. 19 Women’s Song Forum, accessed May 1, 2024, www.womensongforum.org/. 20 Art Song Central, accessed May 1, 2024, www.artsongcentral.com/. 21 IMSLP Petrucci Music Library, accessed May 1, 2024, www.imslp.org/. 22 Naxos Music Library, accessed May 1, 2024, www.naxosmusiclibrary.com. Zúñiga Calderón 13 these may be specialized guides for a particular voice type or more general listings of songs for developing voices. A few of them will include the scores for the songs they list, turning them into a hybrid between a repertoire guide and a song anthology. Others will only be annotated guides with textual descriptions about the origin and background of the text, such as Carol Kimball’s Song. A Guide to Art Song Style and Literature.23 Some guides focus on specific elements. Guides like Ord’s Songs for Beginning Bass Voice24 list songs and arias specifically for a voice type. Other guides may concentrate on a single composer's vocal works, like Suzanne Rhodes Draayer’s A Singer’s Guide to the Songs of Joaquín Rodrigo,25 or Lucien Stark’s A Guide to the Solo Songs of Johannes Brahms.26 Books like The Broadway Song Companion by David P. DeVenney27 and The Broadway. A Singer’s Guide by Mark Ross Clark28 focus on a specific genre of music, rather than a composer or a voice type. It could also be said that books that provide International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) translations of the songs instead of their scores are also repertoire guides of their own, for example, Exploring Art Song Lyrics by Retzlaff and Montgomery29 and Lieder Line by Line by Lois Phillips.30 Some repertoire guides like the Aria Database31 are also a hybrid between a repertoire guide and a digital tool; this one, in particular, makes it possible to find operatic arias 23 Carol C Kimball, Song. A Guide to Art Song Style and Literature (Hal Leonard, 2005). 24 Alan J. Ord, Songs for Beginning Bass Voice (Scarecrow, 2002). 25 Rhodes Draayer, A Singer’s Guide to the Songs of Joaquín Rodrigo (Scarecrow, 1999). 26 Lucien Stark, A Guide to the Solo Songs of Johannes Brahms (Choice, 1996). 27 David P. DeVenney, The Broadway Song Companion (Scarecrow, 2009). 28 Mark Ross Clark, The Broadway. A Singer’s Guide (Oxford University Press, 2015). 29 Jonathan Retzlaff & Cheri Montgomery, Exploring Art Song Lyrics (Oxford University Press, 2012). 30 Lois Phillips, Lieder line by line and Word for Word (Oxford University Press, 1996). 31 The Aria Database, accessed May 1, 2024, www.aria-database.com/. Zúñiga Calderón 14 by putting in the desired range and voice type. This website even includes a section to find ensemble songs: duets, trios, quartets, etc. 3.2 The “Easy” versus “Hard” Issue Many repertoire guides take their role very seriously as aids to finding repertoire for developing voices. These include information about each song's required vocal range, speed, tessitura, and text. In other cases, the guides may include several labels and judgments, such as sorting the songs into different categories, to help teachers and students choose the songs appropriate to the singer’s skill. One of the most recurring labels in repertoire guides is the “easy” or “hard” label. Sometimes, these will be rephrased as “low difficulty” or “for advanced students,” yet the classification is often present. A singer's journey can be simplified by saying they start learning “easy” songs and gradually move into “difficult” ones. The concept of “easy versus hard” can often be problematic in music, as there is always more than one skill at play when a musician performs. While performing, a singer will utilize such skills as breath support, vocal range, resonance, facial and physical expression, language and diction skills, dynamic control, and musicality. Some singers will have one or more of these skills at a higher level than others. The skills a singer utilizes may also be hard to quantify, as some can be subjective to the audience's perception. Some developing singers may have developed a wide vocal range, but their dynamic control may be limited. Others may have a versatile voice that can quickly move Zúñiga Calderón 15 between low and high notes, yet they are hard to hear without amplification. Other singers have great vocal and musical skills, but their lack of dramatic skills hinders them from effectively communicating with their audience through a song. Looking at a song is not enough to correctly determine how accessible it will be for a specific student. Indeed, an experienced teacher will estimate more accurately if one of their students can tackle the challenges of a specific song by glancing at the score, yet in many cases, only a deeper analysis of the music, research, and testing will reveal if the song and its text will be a good fit for an individual. All of this is to say that a song that may be cataloged as “easy” may be challenging for many students and produce undesired results. One of the most familiar songs given to voice students in their first stages is Caro Mio Ben, attributed to Giuseppe Tomasso Giordani, the edition traditionally taken from the Twenty- four Italian Songs and Arias32. The song possesses qualities that might qualify as undemanding. The short song lasts only a little more than two and a half minutes and does not require more than a ninth of vocal range to be sung in its traditional form. The text is only eight lines of two or three words each. Plenty of professional and amateur recordings offer students new to the piece a way to quickly get it into their ears. It is written in Italian, one of the most popular languages for developing voices in classical music. When a voice student in their first stages attempts to perform this song, the results often stray from the above-mentioned criteria for a successful performance. Many students struggle to sing this piece, even after working on it for several 32 Twenty-four Italian Songs and Arias of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, for Medium High Voice (Schirmer, 1967). Zúñiga Calderón 16 weeks, despite how “easy” it is considered to be. Once they can sing the song from beginning to end without physical or mental struggles, the song rarely produces a feeling of fulfillment. Audiences tend to show some degree of condescension when it is performed as part of a program. Since the song's text is often overlooked, it is rare to encounter performances that integrate a careful reading of the poetry with expression and musicality. This disregard for the meaning of the words makes it hard for the audience to feel any connection with the Italian text when they hear it. Indeed, the song is pretty and has exciting potential to be performed with mastery, and even be the subject of many artistic and creative choices through the application of historical performance practice, yet it’s reputation often suffocates these possibilities. The song is widely available in two keys— “Middle Low” and “Middle High”—which are C major and E-flat major, respectively. Many singers will find both traditional keys highly uncomfortable to their voices, as their tessituras may sit in a different place. This problem would be easily solved by transposing the piece, yet people commonly stick with the same two keys found in the Schirmer yellow books and other anthologies. The abovementioned issues can be applied to many songs in the famous “yellow book,” and other standard repertoire pieces in different languages and anthologies. Zúñiga Calderón 17 3.3 Analyzing Other Issues with Some of the Existing Guides To propose a new model that aids in the search and selection of new repertoire, it is essential to determine which aspects of the existing materials have the potential for improvement or which present problems that can be fixed by rethinking their method of operation. Many of the available repertoire guides fulfill one or more of the following purposes: 1. Extracts information that can be inferred from the score and makes it easily visible and understandable—for example, the song’s key, tempo, language, and required vocal range. 2. Interprets some of the information in the score for the user, providing categorization systems, labels, and other display systems for the extracted specifications. Some guides, like the one by Ord, will categorize the songs as Low Bass, Middle Low Bass, or High Bass. As previously mentioned, this is also one of the guides that sort the songs as Easy, Moderately Easy, Medium Difficulty, Moderately Difficult, and Difficult. These and other labeling systems provide the user with a pre-made judgment of the qualities of each song so that they avoid having to arrive at the same conclusions by going through the score themselves, which would take much longer. Zúñiga Calderón 18 3. Provides the user with information that is not on the score. Repertoire guides like Song, A guide to Art Song Style and Literature by Carol Kimball33 and The Art Song by James Husst Hall34 provide the reader with valuable information about a song's text and composition history. They offer some knowledge about the song's style, context, and conception to enrich the singer's understanding of the piece. The need to consult a repertoire guide may stem from two situations: Either the user already knows the song title they are trying to learn more about, or they are trying to browse for new repertoire. When looking for a song's history or pronunciation, the guides specializing in this kind of content will be helpful in most cases. The Internet is also a valuable tool for these purposes. For example, guides like A Singer’s Guide to the Songs of Joaquín Rodrigo35 by Rhodes Draayer, as seen in Illustration A, and A Guide to the Solo Songs of Johannes Brahms by Lucien Stark36, as seen in Illustration B, only contain references to the text and no indications about the vocal range required to sing the pieces, nor any other musical information that can lead a singer or voice teacher to discard or consider adding a particular song to their repertoire. 33 Carol Kimball, Song, A guide to Art Song Style and Literature (Hal Leonard, 2006). 34 James Husst Hall, The Art Song (University of Oklahoma Press, 1953). 35 Rhodes Draayer, A Singer’s Guide to the Songs of Joaquín Rodrigo (Scarecrow, 1999). 36 Lucien Stark, A Guide to the Solo Songs of Johannes Brahms (Choice, 1996). Illustration A37 Illustration B38 37 Rhodes Draayer, A Singer’s Guide to the Songs of Joaquín Rodrigo (Scarecrow, 1999), 242. 38 Lucien Stark, A Guide to the Solo Songs of Johannes Brahms (Choice, 1996), 158. Zúñiga Calderón 20 Two very complete repertoire guides are Singer's Repertoire by Berton Coffin, from 1956,39 and Songs for Young Singers by J. Arden Hopkin, from 2002.40 Despite the almost half a century of time difference between the two books, they share much in common. Both books do an excellent job sorting the songs into categories so users can easily find similar songs. Coffin's29 guide —as seen on Illustration C— lists categories like songs for recitals, recital openers, recital closers, sacred songs, songs for weddings, patriotic songs, and so forth. Conversely, Hopkin sorts the songs by anthology, pointing the user to the sources where they can find each piece. When examining the specific songs, Coffin lists the composer, title, anthology, and two additional parameters to evaluate whether the song may be suitable for a particular voice type: “Height” and “Range.” 39 Berton Coffin, Singer’s Repertoire (Scarecrow, 1960). 40 J. Arden Hopkin, Songs for Young Singers (Scarecrow, 2002). Zúñiga Calderón 21 Illustration C41 41 Berton Coffin, Singer’s Repertoire (Scarecrow, 1960), 25. Zúñiga Calderón 22 In this particular case, the guide is limited since it will only provide information about the vocal range required to perform a particular song in a specific anthology. It does not showcase any other characteristics of the piece. The user can only search for the suggested anthology, find the score, and only then try to decide how appropriate it will be for their purposes—that is if they do have the anthology suggested by the book at hand. Despite the more than twenty thousand entries, the book does not help find new songs for one’s repertoire. Arden Hopkin’s42 guide does a similar job as Coffin’s43 by suggesting several anthologies for finding each song. The book also classifies the songs into three difficulty levels: Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3. In the book's second section, Hopkin provides lists of the songs grouped by anthology on the even pages. On the odd pages, they provide a chart with a ranking from 1 to 3 that measures the difficulty of the song using seven different musical parameters: Melody, Phrase, Rhythm, Text, Accompaniment, Harmony, and Dynamics, where 1 is the “easiest” and 3 is the “hardest.” Each of these parameters is added and the resulting number is then calculated within the 1 to 3 scale. The applications of this system can be appreciated in Illustration D, which corresponds to an index page of the songs listed under the Level 3 category, and Illustration E, which lists the songs by the anthology where the user can find them. 42 J. Arden Hopkin, Songs for Young Singers (Scarecrow, 2002). 43 Berton Coffin, Singer’s Repertoire (Scarecrow, 1960). Zúñiga Calderón 23 Illustration D44 44 J. Arden Hopkin, Songs for Young Singers (Scarecrow, 2002), 201. Illustration E45 45 J. Arden Hopkin, Songs for Young Singers (Scarecrow, 2002), 206-207. Zúñiga Calderón 25 There are several issues with this system. Although the analysis protocol seems well planned, it is also vague in classifying all 300 listed songs in this volume into only three difficulty levels. Categorizing all young singers into three categories in an unhelpful oversimplification, as human voices are inherently complex and their processes uniquely diverse. Many of these parameters have been evaluated in inherently problematic ways. For example, according to the book, the Text parameter gives a grade of 1 if the text is in “native language” and 2 if it is in a “foreign language.” This parameter’s explanation in the book is misleading; the real way Hopkin’s system works is 1 for “English” and 2 for “Everything else.” This way of ranking the text assumes all users of the guide will be native English speakers, and this does not work equally well for singers who could benefit from the book but speak fluent Italian, French, or German. It also shows disregard for the difficulties of the English language itself and the use of regional and historical variants of this language to perform specific repertoire, which can easily prove to be challenging, even for native English speakers. The ranking of parameters in this system is similarly arbitrary and problematic. It oversimplifies the ranking process and ignores variations. For example, the association Hopkin makes is that the difficulty of a melody can be measured by the vocal range required to perform it. This simplistic approach suggests that a melody will be easy if it moves within an octave or less, which may not always be the case in songs with jumps, chromatic alterations, musical indications, or other factors unrelated to the singer's vocal range. This highlights the need for a more comprehensive and objective evaluation method that takes into account the various complexities of a song. Zúñiga Calderón 26 Hopkin’s book has the same issue as many other guides: the numeric representations of difficulty are arbitrary and often complicated to read. As seen in Illustration F, the numeric nature of the rankings makes it so that the reader must be fully acquainted with Hopkin’s system to interpret it correctly. In many cases, it will force the user to go back and forth between the song listings and the explanation of the analysis protocol at the beginning of the book. The guide also forces the reader to visually align the parameters with their corresponding songs, as the charts organized by columns do not have lines that connect the rankings with their songs. On some pages, the ranking numbers disappear altogether. Even after fully understanding the numeric system Hopkin proposes, the guide and those like it provide the reader with an “easy versus hard” ranking pre-interpreted by the author. As it can be appreciated in Illustration F, according to Hopkin, Bononcini's Per la gloria d'adorarvi is a “medium difficulty” song with a 2 out of 3 in the total rank. The song has a 1 on “phrasing,” yet those who have dealt with the song know that the execution of the phrases of this song can be complex and requires skill and planning. The song has multiple tight places where breathing will require skill and premeditation rather than instinct. The text's repetition invites the singer to play with the phrasing to keep the piece interesting. The song also got a 2 (highest ranking in this case) in the text parameter, even though the song has only five short lines in Italian that repeat multiple times. This song is often given to beginning students, yet its beautiful melody is more exciting and powerful than it is often credited for. Illustration F46 46 J. Arden Hopkin, Songs for Young Singers (Scarecrow, 2002), 300-301. Zúñiga Calderón 28 Other guides deal with similar issues by leaving information out or being hard to read and interpret. Another specialized guide is Maya Hoover's A Guide to the Latin American Art Song Repertoire.47 This guide includes the range required to perform each song but in a settled key. It consists of a low to high voice classification of the songs and an anthology to help you find them. As seen in Illustration G, the guide covers an extensive quantity of repertoire and does a respectable job of classifying the songs by geographical location. The problem with this publication is the lack of additional information. This guide does not include any additional data about the songs’ characteristics and challenges, so the users need to do the analysis themselves. Attributes regarding the text, speed, or other contents of the songs are omitted. In cases where other arrangements and transpositions of the songs are available, listing the specific vocal range required loses its relevance. Another issue is the inconsistent recommendations throughout the guide regarding voice types that may perform the song. Some pieces include a label such as “mezzo-soprano or baritone,” while others omit this element entirely. Some of the notations that point the reader towards recommended anthologies are confusing, such as symbols like “—” and “+,” meaning that the reader needs to be familiar with Hoover’s language to understand the symbols properly. 47 Maya Hoover, A Guide to the Latin American Art Song Repertoire (Indiana University Press, 2010). Illustration G 48 48 Maya Hoover, A Guide to the Latin American Art Song Repertoire (Indiana University Press, 2010), 210 - 211. Among the guides that focus on a specific genre is one authored by Victoria Etnier Villamil, which specializes in art songs written in the United States.49 Villamil’s guide displays information on the exact vocal range required to perform each song by providing the top and bottom pitches in a specific key. As mentioned before, this way of portraying vocal range will lose its relevance when confronted with the possibilities of digital transposition. It also includes "mood/speed" descriptions and a few lines commenting on the song's character. The guide organizes the pieces by composer and includes a paragraph or two about their style. The descriptions of the songs also suggest existing recordings of them; this is one of the few guides that point to that kind of resource. The guide judges the “most appropriate” voice type for many of the pieces. Some of the labels include indications such as “best for tenors” or “Rec. (recommended) high lyric voices,” which disregards the possibility of a variety of singers making a good rendition of the piece despite their voice type. This judgment is significantly limiting, as it excludes performers with voice types not pointed out by Villamil as capable of doing justice to the music listed in the guide. Also, by doing this, the guide withdraws the invitation to sing these songs from those voice students who are still in the process of being vocally classified, as many young voice students will not get sorted into categories such as “high lyric soprano” until later in their training and development. As seen in Illustration H, there are also some harsh judgments of the text. For example, in the comments to the song cycle The Children by Leonard Feeney, the reader will encounter words such as “insipid” and “insubstantial” in the description. 49 Victoria Etnier Villamil, A Singer’s Guide to the American Art Song (Scarecrow 2004). Illustration H50 50 Victoria Etnier Villamil, A Singer’s Guide to the American Art Song (Scarecrow 2004), 94-95. Zúñiga Calderón 32 The guide Solo Voice Repertoire written by Noni Espina51 which can be appreciated in Illustration I, includes much information in a few lines. It gives the exact range required in a set key, a commentary about the speed and mood of the song, and other valuable notes. It does leave some arbitrary judgments about the “ideal” voice types that should sing which songs, as in many cases, the reader will encounter lines like “Best for men's voices” or “Best for heavy voices.” It also uses outdated and inappropriate vocabulary to describe some of the composer's ethnicity and heritage. The guide ignores many possibilities for the performance of many of its songs and leaves little room for other interpretations. Gary Lynn Ferguson's guide titled Song Finder52, which is depicted in Illustration J, offers an outstanding list of thirty-two thousand popular songs and where to find them. Still, it fails to provide any other information except indications of a language other than English in some cases. It is a notable example of an extensive compilation of song titles, yet not particularly useful for selecting new songs to add to a singer’s repertoire. It lacks any information about the song's speed, tonality, text, or any other parameters to be considered when looking for specific selections for a developing voice. 51 Noni Espina, Repertoire for the Solo Voice, (Scarecrow, 1977). 52 Gary Lynn Ferguson, Song Finder (Greenwood Press, 1995). Illustration I53 Illustration J54 53 Noni Espina, Repertoire for the Solo Voice, (Scarecrow, 1977), 141. 54 Gary Lynn Ferguson, Song Finder (Greenwood Press, 1995), 66. Zúñiga Calderón 34 Steven Rickards’s Twentieth-Century Countertenor Repertoire55, depicted in Illustration K, offers a thorough amount of information about the songs. While listing songs for specific voice types, plus encapsulating that list in 100 years of musical composition, the guide offers very specific data. It lists each song’s composer, poet, duration, singer who premiered the song, language, required vocal range and tessitura of each piece. The differentiation between tessitura and vocal range is something very few guides have acknowledged. The guide also contains a few comments and notes about each song, making it a very complete one. Regardless, the way it is organized is sometimes confusing, as the space is divided into two columns per page, and sometimes, the information of a song bleeds in between columns and pages. Barbara Doscher’s From Studio to Stage56 guide is similar to Rickard’s in how complete and detailed it is. As can be seen in Illustration L, it includes information about the language, author of the text, required range, required tessitura (there is an established difference like in the previous guide), tempo/mood markings, and a comment section with valuable notes. Doscher explores many genres within the classical Western vocal repertoire, including opera, Lieder, musical theatre, Spanish songs, songs with orchestra, solo cantatas, and so forth. It includes several indexes by alphabetical order, vocal range, poet, and difficulty level. The body of the guide is organized in three columns like in the last guide, making it difficult to follow and interpret at first glance. This one also establishes the concepts of "easy versus hard" and “intermediate versus advanced” in an arbitrary way that leaves little room for questioning. In this guide the required range to sing a song is written in the exact octaves. For example, Bononcini's Per la Gloria d’adorarvi is said to go from B3 to D5, D4 to F5, or E4 to G5. 55 Steven Rickards, Twentieth-Century Countertenor Repertoire, (Scarecrow 2008). 56 Barbara Doscher, From Studio to Stage (Scarecrow, 2002). Illustration K57 Illustration L58 57 Steven Rickards, Twentieth-Century Countertenor Repertoire, (Scarecrow 2008), 166. 58 Barbara Doscher, From Studio to Stage (Scarecrow, 2002), 91. Zúñiga Calderón 36 3.4 What the New Guide Aims to Improve The previous analyses reveal a need for a repertoire guide that acknowledges the individuality of singers while providing them with the necessary data to make informed choices of new vocal literature. This can be done by avoiding limiting judgments regarding which singers can perform what songs. The guide should be precise, informative, and easy to navigate, not by compressing large amounts of information written in small font types but by benefiting from the use of graphic representations and a user-friendly visual distribution. Hence the name Infographic Repertoire Guide. As mentioned at the start of this document, one important aspect to consider when assigning vocal literature is acknowledging the existence and necessities of the transgender community and other minorities. As noted by Adriana Feșteu59, the selection of repertoire for young singers encourages both the development of their artistic personality and their vocal identity. This aspect has not been incorporated in the previously analyzed repertoire guides, which contributes to the fact that creating a portfolio and building toward a professional singing career is a unique challenge for trans and nonbinary singers60. The guide will offer tools to aid in recognizing these factors in accordance with modern society's standards of cultural sensitivity and diversity. 59 Adriana Feșteu, “The role of operatic repertoire in young singers’ professional development”, Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov, Series VIII: Performing Arts Vol. 13(62) No. 2 – 2020 60 Liz Jackson Hearns and Brian Kremer, The Singing Teacher’s Guide to Transgender Voices (Plural Publishing INC, 2018), 51. Zúñiga Calderón 37 The guide should be flexible and informative regardless of the singer’s voice type, vocal range, or stage of vocal development. It should also recognize the existence of modern tools such as digital transposition, databases, streaming services, and electronic purchases. 3.5 What the New Guide Aims to Achieve This infographic repertoire guide was devised with the intention of letting it grow and adapt to different needs and formats. This intention should hold to the following ideals:  The guide should provide relevant information.  The guide must be user-friendly.  The guide should have the potential to grow and adapt.  The guide must offer tools and resources to help prioritize the singer’s mental and physical wellbeing.  The guide should work best when the user knows the target singer’s abilities.  The guide should be a resource to aid singers in integrating their identity with the vocal arts.  The guide should be able to expand and gradually cover larger amounts of repertoire, genres, and languages.  The guide should welcome flexible ways to portray its information. If different graphic or numeric representations prove to be more useful, these should easily adapt to the main body of the guide. Zúñiga Calderón 38 3.5.1 Establishing the Basic Information about the Songs Making a guide informative should be the central goal. As we noted in many of the existing guides, some of these offer a significant amount of precise information. The problem is that this information is not always consistent, relevant to the singers, and easy for the reader to understand. To do this, one must decide what knowledge will be included and what others are better left off for those more curious researchers. For example, listing the composer’s name and date of birth is a bare minimum, yet listing the song’s date of composition or premiering, as in Rickards’s guide 61, may not be as relevant. Knowing a song in depth will often contribute to a better performance, yet listing every detail associated with every piece of music would make for a great encyclopedia of songs rather than a useful repertoire guide. Another aspect that may not be as relevant anymore is the song key. Decades ago, many songs were available in only one or two keys. Many song anthologies follow the traditional format of being released in “Low Voice Edition” and “High Voice Edition.” Yet, many other print and digital publications may offer the same song in several different keys. Furthermore, the democratization of technology makes it possible for a song to be uploaded to websites and applications such as MuseScore62 for anyone to freely transpose and download. Websites like Sheet Music Plus63 and Sheet Music Direct64 offer several keys of the same song for a price that rarely surpasses 10 USD. This growth in the variety of keys renders this information irrelevant in 61 Steven Rickards, Twentieth-Century Countertenor Repertoire, (Scarecrow 2008). 62 Muse Score, accessed May 1, 2024, https://musescore.org/en. 63 Sheet Music Plus, accessed May 1, 2024, https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/. 64 Sheet Music Direct, accessed May 1, 2024, https://www.sheetmusicdirect.com/. Zúñiga Calderón 39 modern times. Establishing the structure of the guide can be divided into the following objectives:  Establish the ground the guide will cover. o Genres. o Scope.  Select the information the guide will include. o Basic information about the songs and their composers. o Traditional parameters such as vocal range, speed, language, etc. o New parameters that consider psychological sensitivity and diversity.  Design the visual aspects of the guide. o System. o Icons. o Visual distribution. The guide's genre and scope will focus on solo Art Song genres for voice and piano, such as Lieder, Mélodie, Canción Latino-Americana, English Art Song, etc. The guide will cover groups of ten to twenty-five songs, assembled by topic, composer, genre, or language. The operatic solo repertoire will not be included, as it follows different rules regarding transposition, gender, and accompaniment. Songs that were originally composed as operatic arias but became part of the standard Art Song repertoire (such as Per la Gloria or Schubert’s Ave Maria) will still be included, as they are traditionally not staged anymore and are conventionally performed with piano accompaniment. For every song listed in the new guide, the user should be able to quickly identify at least: Zúñiga Calderón 40  The song’s name.  The composer’s name.  The composer’s dates.  The language of the song.  The song’s musical characteristics and potential challenges. 3.5.2 Establishing the Song’s Parameters for Display This is probably the most essential body part of a song guide. Many of the previously examined guides show the same parameters: vocal range required to sing the song and level of difficulty. Other guides include additional information about rhythm, phrasing, and other musical aspects, but the first two seem to be the ones that most guides deem valuable to include. The new guide should also include information about the songs’ required range. However, recognizing the existence of new technologies, multiple editions, and emerging arrangements, the guide will not provide the reader with information about the song in the context of a specific key. To better illustrate this aspect, an analysis of Bononcini’s Per la gloria d’adorarvi can be conducted as it appears in 24 Italian Songs and Arias 65. As noted on Illustration M, on page 33 of Coffin’s guide66, Per la Gloria is listed under “Italian Recital Songs for Coloratura Soprano.” 65 Twenty-four Italian Songs and Arias of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, for Medium High Voice (Schirmer, 1967). 66 Berton Coffin, Singer’s Repertoire (Scarecrow, 1960), 33. Zúñiga Calderón 41 Illustration M67 67 Berton Coffin, Singer’s Repertoire (Scarecrow, 1960), 33. Zúñiga Calderón 42 In this entry, the information provided is that the song is available in a low key and a high key and that the required range to sing it goes from a C to an E-flat. Yet, the song as it is listed in the High Key edition of the 24 Italian Songs and Arias 68 goes from an E-natural to a G-natural, which would be more appropriate for a coloratura soprano to sing, yet it is not what Coffin69 gives us. When looking for other keys, a quick search on the Internet reveals that Sheet Music Direct has the song in G-flat major, and Sheet Music Plus has it in F major, both arrangements for under 10 USD. For those looking for even more unusual keys, the song is also available on 8Notes.com70 and both MuseScore’s71 website and phone app. These two platforms offer options to transpose the song to any desired key. Displaying the required range to sing a song in exact notes, as in Coffin’s guide or as in exact octaves as Doscher’s72, may become irrelevant in the presence of arrangements in different keys than the ones they list. Now, some guides like the ones by Doscher, Ross Clark73, and Rickards74 include a differentiation between range and tessitura. Rickards wrote the specific notes where they thought the tessitura to sing the aria needed to start and end, Doscher wrote indications like “Low,” “Middle,” and “Middle High,” and Ross Clark wrote general indications like “Within the Octave” or “Low Middle Staff.” A song’s range is indeed only one part of the puzzle, as is the tessitura, where the voice will linger for most of the piece, will also affect how comfortable it is for the singer; therefore, 68 Twenty-four Italian Songs and Arias of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, for Medium High Voice (Schirmer, 1967). 69 Berton Coffin, Singer’s Repertoire (Scarecrow, 1960). 70 8Notes, accessed May 1, 2024, https://www.8notes.com/. 71 Muse Score, accessed May 1, 2024, https://musescore.org/en. 72 Barbara Doscher, From Studio to Stage (Scarecrow, 2002). 73 Mark Ross Clark, The Broadway. A Singer’s Guide (Oxford University Press, 2015). 74 Steven Rickards, Twentieth-Century Countertenor Repertoire, (Scarecrow 2008). Zúñiga Calderón 43 addressing it becomes essential. For this purpose, given the variety of keys a song can appear on, this should not be done by listing specific notes just like the required range. Some guides have included useful musical information, such as the melody's characteristics. Many of these have done so in prose, such as the guides by Doscher and Villamil. Although these comment sections about the melody are helpful, they are not organized in a way that is easy to find or retain. To distill the essential components of a melody, these can be described as qualifications about its organization (syllabic versus melismatic), its movement (sequential versus intervallic), its relationship to a gravitational center (tonal, modal, chromatic), and its speed. The speed quality has been addressed using many words and labels such as fast, live, presto, calm, moderato, and grazioso. Many of these labels are traditionally both associated with speed and mood, sometimes lighting up debates as if a song can be allegretto (“little happy”) and slightly slow simultaneously, rather than the conception of “allegretto” as a fast tempo. A simplified description of speed is the best option for the new guide. This means that instead of going for "live," "allegro," or other variable adjectives, the proposed new guide will say "slow" or "fast" with two "in-betweens." Slow - Slightly Slow - Slightly Fast - Fast Some parameters that have not been included in previous guides but represent important factors while executing a song are the length, the amount of text that needs to be dealt with, and the opportunities the largest musical intervals the singer must resolve. Some of the components related to stamina and concentration can be measured in numbers such as half steps, minutes, or Zúñiga Calderón 44 word counts. Other information that should be included in the guide will not be easily measured or is not the kind of characteristic you portray with a number but with a quality or adjective. This guide also aims to respect diversity and culture, helping the user be aware of potential content that may be inappropriate or hard to deal with in specific situations. Songs that reference sensitive content should be easily identified for either excluding them or acknowledging and properly communicating these messages. The same goes for songs with potentially delicate cultural content or strongly referencing a specific gender. After reflecting on these conditions and listing the desired parameters that can be listed in the new guide, these can be divided into three groups: • Quantifiable • Non-Quantifiable • Content Warnings ◦ Length of the Song ◦ Predominant speed ◦ Cultural content ◦ Range required ◦ Modal/Tonal/Chromatic ◦ Mental Health Content ◦ Unique word count ◦ Syllabic/Melismatic ◦ Adult Content ◦ Largest leap ◦ Sequential/Intervallic ◦ Gender ◦ Predominant Tessitura The elements of speed and tessitura, while quantifiable, work better represented as icons than numbers, given their flexible nature. Zúñiga Calderón 45 3.5.3 The Graphic Elements The most valuable tool that will be used to differentiate this guide from others is its visual aspect. At the time of producing this text, closing the first quarter of the first century of the new millennium, technology and entertainment have evolved together at a significantly accelerated rate. Our society significantly favors visual nourishment and quick amounts of information. Social media constantly pushes quick and loud content that gets quickly replaced by the next bit of information. The professional world is slowly adapting to these trends, and the professional world of vocal music is no exception. A more visual approach is favorable to adapt this new repertoire guide to the changing minds of our society. It is also an excellent alternative to clustering large amounts of information into two or three lines of text, as done by many of the previously analyzed guides. The Infographic guide also seeks to benefit from the possibility of visual comparison between songs, which none of the previous guides have taken advantage of. Given that tessitura is a quality that is harder to portray as a number, it is worth taking a different approach when representing it. To display the tessitura where a song lingers the most without using a numeric parameter, it is first necessary to reflect on what must be portrayed. A singer's tessitura is that place of their range where they feel most comfortable and in control of their voices; however, in the case of a song, it is the area where the song seems to concentrate most of its melody, making this a hazier area to determine. To portray this in a way that the user understands and retains quickly, I have developed a tessitura icon with five different variants: Zúñiga Calderón 46 The green areas represent where the vocal line concentrates the most, while the yellow zones are where the melody barely goes or does not go. This representation of tessitura is designed to respect the individual melodic context of each song, valuing the unique aspects of each piece rather than the singer's vocal spectrum. Other parameters may be displayed similarly. Their classifications will play a key role in turning the different pieces of information the new guide aims to display into visual representations. Out of the three designated classifications —Quantifiable, Non-Quantifiable, and Challenges & Warnings— the latter ones are the best candidates for icon representations: Cultural Content Gender Mental Health Content Adult Content The icons for these representations have been designed in a way that does not fall into copyright infringement by using simple and universal shapes. They are also designed to look Zúñiga Calderón 47 good in either color or black and white. The "warning triangle" is only one of the elements already in multiple infographic media and Western society's subconscious. The Cultural content icon is minimalistic and designed with a person in the middle, symbolizing the human element of culture. Songs with religious content, regardless of denomination, will also be tagged with this icon, as well as those with culturally sensitive, historical, nationalistic, or ethnic content. The mental health content icon utilizes the Greek letter “psi,” often used to represent this field. This icon will be utilized to warn singers of references to self-harm, depression, and other potentially triggering topics. This icon will also mark songs with lyrics that revolve around death, mourning, severe illness, and similar themes. The adult content icon uses a “+18” as a representation of the textual material that may be inappropriate for minors, such as sex, nonconsensual relations, misogyny, alcohol or substance consumption, etc. Songs with subtle references to adult situations will also be covered. The gender icons utilize the traditional symbols for gender: Venus and Mars, plus an icon symbolizing gender neutrality. Songs with lyrics that use specific gender pronouns to the second person in a romantic way will receive the opposite gender. For example, a song that expresses a desire for a man’s embrace will be cataloged as female. This classification springs only from tradition and has no intent to limit the genre of potential performers of any song. Singers should Zúñiga Calderón 48 always feel free to tackle any repertoire selections regardless of gender identity. The labeling aims to inform the user since many song texts will be in foreign languages. The non-quantifiable parameters, often binary or ternary options, can be represented as “on and off” signs. Here are some of them, continuing with the example of Per la Gloria: The four rows represent the approximate speed, tonal center, the text's melodic distribution, and the melody's predominant nature. Finally, the numeric nature of the quantifiable parameters of the guide makes it possible to display them as graphics. Since numbers are more useful when compared with others, these graphics can be put together in big groups. If, for example, we were to determine the vocal range required to interpret the 24 Italian Songs and Arias75 If we translate that into half-steps and establish a comparison between them, we will get a table like the one depicted in Illustration N. 75 Twenty-four Italian Songs and Arias: of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries: for medium high voice. (Schirmer, 1967), 3-7 Zúñiga Calderón 49 We can also do the same with other values like the unique word count, length of the piece, largest leap, and breaks. Illustration N This spreadsheet will quickly transform into a graph, such as the ones shown below in Illustration O and Illustration P. These graphic representations offer information about the songs yet encourage the reader to draw conclusions about their difficulty and suitability. Illustration Q shows the template for the icons’ distribution. Illustration R depicts the guide being applied to Per la Gloria. Zúñiga Calderón 50 Illustration O Illustration P Zúñiga Calderón 51 Illustration Q Zúñiga Calderón 52 Illustration R Zúñiga Calderón 53 4. The future of the guide This new proposal for a guide may aim to solve the problems of navigability and usability of previous guides. However, its visual nature requires considerable visual space to work correctly. This means a print format like Ferguson's guide76 with thirty-two thousand entries would be impossible to print. Therefore, as this guide grows, it will eventually have to migrate to a 100% digital format. The guide can be easily translated into a website, yet a phone app adaptation is also on the horizon. In both proposed digital formats, the guide has the potential to increase its accessibility features. For example, people who are blind or have low vision could navigate the guide by enlarging the graphics or icons or listening to an audio description of them. Another benefit of digital platforms is the possibility of incorporating a “comments” section, where the singers can directly inform other potential performers of additional challenges or discoveries about the songs. They could also request new additions to the guide or correct potential editing mistakes. Digital platforms can also include digital media such as audio, video, and hyperlinks, making it possible to link songs to recommended recordings on streaming platforms. The guide would also be more accessible to share and distribute in a digital format rather than a print book. Teachers and voice students alike may use it to expand their horizons, break the frontiers of the musical canon, and take the art form of the Classical Vocal Arts into new and exciting places by simply singing more new songs. 76 Gary Lynn Ferguson, Song Finder, (Greenwood Press, 1995). Zúñiga Calderón 54 The guide currently analyzes between ten and eleven parameters (depending on the sensitive content in the songs). However, a software version of this method could potentially increase the amount of information the user receives. Though a titanic task, a guide that contributes to the fulfillment of young singers and their objectives in a respectful and versatile manner is attainable. As art and society continue to grow and evolve, so will the tools accompanying us to become better humans and artists. Creating tools that adapt to our modern realities and necessities while preserving the knowledge and tradition of the performing arts is essential for classical singing to endure the passing of time. I look forward to expanding this Infographic guide so it can prove its value by helping many young singers discover their best potential through singing their most suitable songs in a successful way. Zúñiga Calderón 55 5. 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The vocal athlete: Application and technique for the hybrid singer. San Diego, CA: Plural Publishing, Inc, 2014. “Sheetmusicand Resourcesfor Activemusicians.” Free sheet music on 8notes.com. Accessed May 27, 2024. https://www.8notes.com/. “Sheetmusicdirect.Com.” Download Sheet Music | Piano, Choral & More | Sheet Music Direct. Accessed May 27, 2024. https://www.sheetmusicdirect.com/. Stark, Lucien. A guide to the solo songs of Johannes Brahms. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1995. Stras, Laurie, Marian Wilson Kimber, Playlist, Christopher Reynolds, Emily Milius, Natasha Loges, Nicole Panizza, Guest Blog, and Stephen Rodgers. Women’s Song Forum, March 13, 2024. http://www.womensongforum.org/. Twenty-four Italian songs and arias of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, for Medium Low Voice. New York, Milwaukee, WI: G. Schirmer ; Distributed by H. Leonard, 1967. Vaccai, Nicola, Theophilus Marzials, and Theodore Baker. Practical Italian vocal method. New York: G. Schirmer, 1894. Villamil, Victoria Etnier. A Singer’s Guide to the American art song. Lanham: Scarecrow Press, 2004. “Welcome to Art Song Central! • Art Song Central.” Art Song Central, November 21, 2022. http://www.artsongcentral.com/. “The World’s Most Popular Notation App.” MuseScore. Accessed May 27, 2024. https://musescore.org/en. Zúñiga Calderón 58 6. Appendix The Infographic Repertoire Guide applied to 101 songs in 5 languages. How to Use this Guide Cultural Content Gender Mental Health Content Adult Content