<p>Hey everyone! I have an audition coming up for Beauty and the Beast, and I'm going for the role of Belle =) this audition is really important to me and I want to find the perfect audition song. I'm a mezzo with a range of F3 to C6. I have a couple in mind, but I'd like to hear everyone else's opinions so I have a few more options =) Thanks so much guys!!!!</p>
<p>Jen =)</p>
<p>At an (Equity) audition for B & B my D was at not too long ago, most women actually sang "Ariel songs". At first this seemed kind of funny, but I guess in a way it does make sense :D.</p>
<p>BroadwayJen07,</p>
<p>Just thought I'd let you and other readers know a little more about standard musical pitch notation. Middle c on the piano is referred to as c1. A soprano's high c is called c3. The highest c on a piano, which also happens to be the highest pitch on a piano, period, is called c5. When you say that you can sing up to a c6, you are saying that you can sing an octave higher than the highest c on the piano! I'm sure you do not mean that:). I also supect that your lowest note, the f you called f3, is actually small f. It is the f below middle c. It would be written simply as f. I surmise that your range is f to either c2 or c3. The c3 is if you can consistently nail a soprano's high c. I'm trying to save you from looking silly when you write your range on a resume or on an audition sheet.</p>
<p>Middle C is C4, trust me =) I've taken a lot of music theory in my day. MTgrlsmom, thanks for the suggestion. That was actually one of my options already. I'm actually looking more for a song from a broadway show (even though I know The Little Mermaid is a broadway show now!) Thanks!</p>
<p>Anyone else? =)</p>
<p>I'm with dancersmom on the vocal range. I tried to find other resources that I have to verify and just took a quick look through THE BROADWAY SONG COMPANION-An Annotated Guide to Musical Theatre Literature by Voice Type and Song Style, and it agrees with dancersmom explanation of vocal range.</p>
<p>Astonishing, from Little Women?</p>
<p>Maybe something from "Anastasia"? I know it's not a broadway show but Ahrens and Flaherty (broadway composers) wrote the music. Take a look at "Journey to the Past". It's worth looking at.</p>
<p>Break a leg!</p>
<p>Jen,</p>
<p>I beg to differ. I have a M.M. in music theory and have taught music for over 30 years. Middle C is not C4 in standard music notation. I gather that you are counting the lowest C on the piano keyboard as C1. In standard music notation, the two lowest notes on the piano, an A and a B, are written as AAA and BBB. They are pronounced sub-contra A and sub-contra B. The octave beginning with the lowest C on the piano is written as CC through BB and pronounced contra C - contra B. The next octave up is written as C through B and pronounced great C, etc. The next octave is written as lower case c through b and is pronounced small c - b. We are now at the octave that begins with middle c. It is written as c1 - b1 and is pronounced as you'd expect, i.e., c one to b one, or as c prime to b prime. As we continue to move upward, each succeeding octave gets a lower case letter and a number, so we get c2 - b2 (double prime), c3 - b3 (triple prime), c4 - b4 (quadruple prime), ending with the last key on the piano, which is called c5.</p>
<p>To summarize, starting with the piano's lowest key we have:
AAA - BBB (pronounced sub-contra)
CC - BB (pronounced contra)
C - B (pronounced great)
c - b (pronounced small)
c1 - b1 This is the octave that begins with the so-called "middle c".
c2 - b2
c3 - b3
c4 - b4
c5</p>
<p>If your music theory teacher has taught you a different way of naming the pitch spectrum, I am surprised. The nomenclature I have written above is the musical standard.</p>
<p>Well, I guess you can tell my teacher who has a Doctrine in music that he's been wrong his entire life.</p>
<p>"In Western music, the expression "middle C" refers to the note "C" located exactly between the two staves of the grand staff, quoted as C4 in scientific pitch notation (also known as note-octave notation)." </p>
<p>Are you sure you're not talking about playing certain instruments? Becuase then middle c can be referred to as a different note.</p>
<p>Actually I agree with BroadwayJen, when talking vocal range, C4 is middle C. I know for a fact that the final note in the theme song for Broadway's Phantom of the Opera, the actress playing Christine is required to sing an E6. So by BroadwayJen's statement that she can sing a C6...that is the soprano 'High C'. </p>
<p>I think you may have been confused with another instrument.</p>
<p>Dancersmom, I just want to clarify I didn't mean to be rude at all, and if I sounded that way I apologize. I was just going by my experience and what I've learned.
I think we've strayed away from my original question though, haha =)</p>
<p>BroadwayJen</p>
<p>I think your quotation is from Wikipedia (not known to be the authority on anything) and goes on to say that that notation is keyboard specific. I've always heard (and read) vocal ranges presented in the manner dancersmom wrote. Maybe there are different methods that are both acceptable. Dancersmom was only trying to helpful to all so they weren't misrepresenting their vocal ranges or presenting them wrong on resumes. I perceived your response as slightly "snippy" and I don't think she deserved it. She is obviously quite qualified and knowledgeable. </p>
<p>That said, good luck with your song choice search and your audition.</p>
<p>What's the use of arguing over this, folks? BroadwayJen, it's wonderful that your teacher has a doctorate in music. It's always beneficial when one gets to work with someone who is truly educated in his or her area. Also, I am supposing you have a voice teacher you work with at your MT program? Perhaps he or she can also be of some small use in suggesting music/songs for your type and range. I think people here would like to assist you, but it's very difficult to recommend songs for someone we don't know. I also frankly think that other young people are reluctant to suggest to others songs/music that they have in their own book for auditions. :) In any case, best of luck with your audition. It's not what you sing as much as how well you sing it, after all, right?</p>
<p>c4 is middle C</p>
<p>we JUST learned this in theory last week!</p>
<p>My D got this part by singing a song from the play "Home". I also love the song "Change in Me" from the play. Assuming you can't sing a song from the play or don't want to "Astonishing" is awesome but my understanding is it's a bit difficult. Best of Luck and lets us know what you decided.</p>
<p>A "Disney" song that I've always loved is Reflection from Mulan...granted it's not entirely character appropriate for Belle but it's a really wonderful song. Though I'd lean more towards Lea Salonga's interpretive version over the Christina Agulira one.</p>
<p>Sorry to keep veering off BroadwayJen's topic. I did some homework after returning home from a rehearsal tonight and have found that some schools are indeed teaching an alternate system for pitch nomenclature. The music schools I have been associated with use the system known as Helmholtz. It is the oldest system and considered to be the international standard. That is the system I described in my earlier posts. The system that BroadwayJen and some of the other students have been taught is an alternate system used at some schools in the United States. In this system, C4 is indeed the note musicians commonly refer to as middle C.</p>
<p>To make matters muddier, there are two different systems in use for MIDI, the electronic music standard. In one system, middle c is called C3; in the other, middle c is called C5. It seems that musicians can't agree on something as fundamental as what to call the different octaves!</p>
<p>Some posters have argued that pitch notation is somehow instrument specific; it is not. Yes, music for various instruments is written in different clefs – some instrumentalists read treble clef, some read bass clef, keyboard players read both simultaneously, a few instrumentalists have their music written in one of the C clefs, such as alto or tenor clef. However, regardless of what clef notation is written, the nomenclature for what octave a pitch is in remains the same throughout a particular system. C4 would be the same note whether played on a piano, sung by a soprano, played on a viola, or a clarinet.</p>
<p>FYI, the pitch musicians refer to as middle C gets its name because the note is written on the ledger line that is exactly in the middle between the bottom line of the treble staff and the top line of the bass staff. Though middle C does happen to be located approximately in the center of the piano keyboard, that is not why the pitch has its nickname.</p>
<p>BroadwayJen - good luck with your search for audition material :).</p>
<p>Ok, song for Belle. You want something that shows a legit soprano (but not too classical) sound that sounds modern (but not belty), so not too classical MT. Anastasia is a good idea but often very overdone, Little Women is definitely one to avoid for that reason I think. Mulan - the song mentioned is good but I don't think that suitable for Belle.</p>
<p>Some ideas:</p>
<p>Ballad:</p>
<p>"I have dreamed" from The King and I if you sing it modern Disney style </p>
<p>"Home" from Yeston's Phantom </p>
<p>"Still" from Titanic, duet in show but can be turned into a solo </p>
<p>"Disneyland" from Smile</p>
<p>"Anything" from Triumph of love </p>
<p>"Somebody" from Amour </p>
<p>"Unexpected song" from Song and Dance </p>
<p>Uptempo:</p>
<p>I would check out Bye Bye Birdie, it's old but the songs are very suitable. </p>
<p>"I'm not at all in love" from Pyajama Game </p>
<p>"Many a new day" from Oklahoma </p>
<p>"Goodbye Emil" from Romance Romance </p>
<p>For more, check out my book. ;) (So you want to tread the boards)</p>
<p>Lol, it's sort of disconcerting that it took so long to come up with an answer to the notation issue. I meant to post last night when I got home from work, but I fell asleep :-P</p>
<p>Anyways, dancersmom is right (in her most recent post); you're both referring to two different systems. The Helmholtz pitch notation identifies middle C as c1, while the scientific pitch notation calls middle C, C4. There are other pitch notations, but they're very rarely used by singers.</p>
<p>Helmholtz is the older system used, but the latter system is definitely more common, as Helmholtz' has become dated. </p>
<p>Also, it's a pointless argument saying that piano location/keys are irrelevant, because both of these systems base their notation off of an 88-key piano. Otherwise, you wouldn't have said anything about the subcontra octave, which only applies to A2 (Helmholtz) or A0 (scientific) up to the lowest C on a keyboard (C1 Helmholtz, C1 scientific). </p>
<p>And no, pitch is not different on different instruments (C4 is C4 is C4 is C4); however, BroadwayJen07 was correct that different instruments call middle C different things. While singers refer to C4 (or c1 in Helmholtz) as middle C, other instruments may refer to C5 (c2 Helmholtz) as middle C. So in that sense, she is correct. </p>
<p>So, in "standard music notation" as dancersmom says (that which is most commonly used, especially presently), BroadwayJen07 was in the right. </p>
<p>Also, as dancersmom didn't continue (just for education's sake), the octaves are called (starting from lowest note to highest) subcontra (A2-B2 Helmholtz/A0-B0 scientific), contra (C1-B1/C1-B1), great (C-B/C2-B2), small (c-b/C3-B3), one-line (c1-b1/C4-B5), two line (c2-b2/C5-B5), three-line (c3-b3/C6-B6), four-line (c4-b4/C7-B7), five-line (c5/C8).</p>
<p>So yeah, there it is. And as a side note, I don't think either of the posters were ruder than the other. :-P</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions! I think I'm gonna go with "Anything" from Triumph of Love =)</p>