Week One: Taking Stock
Overview
Take stock of your vocal repertoire, evaluate what’s still working, organize your materials, and discover new music to inspire your artistry. This intensive invites you to reflect, share, and connect with fellow singers as you refresh your repertoire toolkit.
VIDEO
Week One: Taking Stock
Monday – Start Your Rep List
Let’s kick things off by getting everything down on paper (or screen). If you already have a repertoire list,
update it and share a screenshot or outline. If you don’t, this is your invitation to start one! Include:
- Title
- Composer
- Language
- Genre (opera, art song, oratorio, etc.)
- Era (Baroque, Romantic, Contemporary…)
Tuesday – What’s Working, What’s Not?
Now that you’ve listed everything, take a good look at it. Which pieces are still serving you vocally and
artistically? Which ones feel like old shoes that no longer fit?
Post your keepers and let-go-ers with a few sentences explaining why.
Wednesday – Find the Gaps
Zoom out: Is your repertoire balanced? Are you leaning heavily on one language, genre, or era? What’s
missing?
Share what types of pieces you’d like to explore.
Thursday – Organize Your Scores
How do you keep your sheet music organized? Share your system—binders, Dropbox folders, notebooks,
whatever works for you. Ask for tips or share your own hacks.
Friday – Sing Something That Still Resonates
Pick one piece that still feels like home and post a short video or audio clip. Tell us why it’s stayed in your rotation.
Saturday – Community Roundup
Engage with other posts—cheer someone on, recommend a piece, or share a great recording or resource.
Sunday – Reflect & Reset
Take a rest day. Scroll, listen, and reflect on what you’ve learned so far.
43 replies
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I don't have a repertory list, but I share here the list of what I would like to work on and sing the next time I sing in concert.
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I like the program of Sunday ! 😉 I hope it will be sunny !
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My rep list is pretty short since I'm just starting out:
- Tantum Ergo, Latin chant, St. Thomas Aquinas
- O Salutaris Hostia, Latin chant, St. Thomas Aquinas
- Panis Angelicus, Latin chant, St. Thomas Aquinas (music Louis Lambillotte, SJ) ...are we sensing a theme here?
- Yesterday for Mass I was asked to sing "O Beauty, Ever Ancient" based on a prayer from St. Augustine, composed by Robert F. O'Conner, SJ 2004, in English (this will probably become a regular part of my church repertoire)
- Caro mio ben (Italian) from the 24 Italian Arias book
- The Green Cathedral, English, 2005, Carl Hahn (just beginning this), art song
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Tuesday :
Here are some pieces I'd like to sing but I didn't hold in the program :
- Chausson "Chanson perpétuelle" : I think this a very beautiful and moving piece, but quite long. As an artist, this not easy to keep the listeners' interest until the end, and I'm afraid of this. I'm also afraid about the low notes in the piece, the manner to manage them. But it would surely be interesting to work on it.
-Tosti "Chanson de l'adieu" : another very moving text, absolutely beautiful. I would like to sing this song, but I'm afraid perhaps it would be to large for my voice.
- Tosti "Non t'amo più" : same remarks.
-Tosti "Ninna nanna" : lovely piece with lovely melody, but a lot of d at the bottom of head voice, and my voice is not very powerful there
- Bellini "Malinconia, ninfa gentile" in F minor, a little to high for me, I think.
- Some pieces of Rossini that I feel a little to tricky in the high range, or with a fast tempo, or to large : "La pastorella delle alpi", "Nizza" (song in French), "Il trovatore" (this is a song, not the opera), "Canzonetta spagnuola" (this one is very quick, and in Spanish), "L'invito".
- Donizetti, "Me voglio fa 'na casa" : I like the melody but I find the text strange...
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Tuesday: the only piece I'm ready to let go of is Caro mio ben. We've used it in lessons for several months, I've learned A LOT from it, but even though it's enjoyable to sing I think it's time to move on to something with different challenges. I'm super excited to be working on The Green Cathedral with my teacher - I learned the first part of it on my own, but now we're working on it together in lesson.
The pieces I sing for church aren't going anywhere, and I still enjoy and get a lot out of singing them.
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Wednesday :
There are no German pieces.
I like Schubert and Schumann, and Mozart too.
And in English perhaps something from Rutter.
I also would like to sing some humorous piece, or something light.
I also would like to sing an aria from an opera of a character of about my age (50).
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Wednesday: My repertoire is, and will most likely continue to be, oriented toward singing sacred texts in Latin. Just by nature of the type of parish I belong to, I'll also do a fair number of pieces in English but most of them are pieces I'll learn and sing only when requested.
I'd like to learn to sing in German and also French; adding some Bach to my church rep would be lovely.
I've found that I enjoy listening to and would appreciate learning pieces in the art song genre, so this is an area that I would explore for fun and not with any intention of performance (except in Community Concerts).
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Thursday: organization
I have two ways I organize my loose sheet music -
1. If I'm actively working on it or will be singing it soon/regularly, I keep it in a binder that has page protectors so I can easily pull it out and it stays neat;
2. If I'm not working on it but just want to have it accessible, I have a large "milk crate" with hanging file folders in which I keep my 'extra' music (both piano and vocal - mostly piano). For Thurmond (predominantly piano music) I set up a file folder box organized by composer.
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Sorry I am a bit late to this, was out of town and a bit ill last few days. I will send my repertoire around. It is divided into opera, broadway and art songs. her is a punch list of what songs that I would love to master:
- Largo Al Factotum from Barbiere Di Siviglia (Rossini)
O Du Mein Holder Abendstern from Tanhauser (Wagner)
"Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre" from Carmen (Bizet)
"Modern Major General" from Pirates of Penzance (Gilbert &. Sullivan)