Vocal Tip - Build Your Song Library

One of the challenges a singer might face is how to build up a repertoire of songs. Sheet music is a great way to learn new material, but what if you don't read music or play a musical instrument? Or, what if you find the song your looking for, but it's not in the right key? As long as you have a computer and an internet connection, there are many solutions available to you.

Over the years, many websites have popped up that allow free downloads of karaoke music (just enter "free karaoke downloads" into your web browser). Some of the sites will offer song versions that are very basic while others sound more robust. If you can get the music in the key you'd like to sing it in, all the better. If not, don't worry about it - I have a solution for that, as well - but first focus on finding and downloading the version that best fits your vocal style.

Next, either type out or download lyrics to the songs you want to sing. It's a good idea to add the key you sing it in, at the top of the page. If you're uncertain how to do this, get a pitch pipe and find the starting note, then write "Starting pitch (insert pitch here)" instead. Three-hole punch the pages and add them to w binder which will become your Lyric Book.

Finally, now that you have the song saved on your computer, you can play around with changing the key of the song. Go to the internet and download a software called "Audacity" (from SoundForge). Audacity is a free multi-track audio editor and recorder that's easy to use. Once it's installed, you can import your song and use its "transpose" function to change it into a key you prefer. You can also speed up or slow down the song to fit your performance. You can do this process over and over saving the song in different keys and/or speeds - just remember to note the information somewhere (maybe in the file name).