Vocal Music Categories

When studying singing, it's a little different than picking songs to sing from the radio. In a more formal setting it's about studying the words, the music and why the composer wrote it that way, character psychology, interpretation, etc. So it's understandable that only certain categories of music are going to make the cut, otherwise we aren't preparing our students for a career in music.

A typical experience for student singers is to participate in the annual National Association of Teachers of Singing Auditions, or the NATS Auditions (which is actually a competition) that offers instant feedback for students on their performances while advancing them through to regional and national rounds. I’ll be referencing them throughout because they pretty much set the standard for what genres and repertoire are considered academically viable, and worth presenting. They’re not theee authority by any means, no one is, but they’re kind of our “court of vocal opinion” if you will.

Here’s an overview of the major categories that we work with and the fun changes that are helping evolve our definition of the vocal arts:

MUSICAL THEATER

Of the three major categories, this is likely the most familiar to any student, regardless of how they feel about the music itself. But let’s face it, we all have at least one guilty pleasure show tune in our library so I won’t belabor the genre except to say it’s one of the few things that is uniquely American. Broadway is our art form and that makes it particularly special. 

On top of that, there’s been a lot of expansion into what qualifies this genre. The narrow definition was the songs selected had to be from a narrative-driven, staged production from Broadway or recorded cast album. There are also rules about the actual sheet music and how it’s used that can kind of complicate things as well. 

But now a host of new music has been opened up through composers who are writing in the style and using storytelling as the medium but whose original stage work the piece was written for isn’t easily accessible. It’s broadened the scope of possibilities for students when selecting music to compete with, but also gives them more ownership of the pieces that speak to them personally. Additionally, it helped open the door for a new category of singing that until recently was typically dismissed.

COMMERCIAL MUSIC

This was an exciting development for NATS and the larger academic community of singers! Creating a category and parameters around commercial music it legitimized the great singing we’ve had over the last 50 years in the popular genre. How? By not denying students the opportunity to present very real singing from their favorite Disney movies or movie musicals - i.e. Frozen, Moulin Rouge, La La Land, The Greatest Showman, etc. Before, they had to wait for a staged Broadway musical to be made before they could compete with selections or have to choose something else for auditions. 

Another nice thing about this new category is that it’s still defined within the scope of performance, narrative, and technical abilities; meaning it’s not an open door to perform any Taylor Swift or Billie Eilish song immediately after it drops; there’s a bit more criteria to meet than that - which I’ll save for another blog post in the future.

CLASSICAL MUSIC

If you know anything about the genre then you know it encompasses 400+ years worth of music from antiquity to present-day but typically fits neatly into categories from about 1450 to 1920. But as concise as that is, it’s thankfully still subject to evolution so there have been exciting developments here too. And even though I kept it under the Classical bubble, it’s actually a fourth category to compete in now. 

Thanks to a NATS grant from the estate of the great composer and arranger Hall Johnson, Spirituals have finally gotten their due! This genre is comprised of songs that were originally sung by African slaves who were sold into the United States. These songs were later arranged by jazz composers as individual pieces, song cycles, oratorios, and operas; the original genre title is the [American] Negro Spiritual but is colloquially referred to as African American Spirituals. 

This shouldn’t be confused with Gospel music which despite some overlap between the two, is a separate genre entirely. I also have to mention that I’ve way oversimplified the history of the Spirituals genre as well. The repertoire is important and represents a painful period in the scope of our history and should not be whitewashed or misrepresented, even through beautiful music.

When I was still a student competing, my teacher and I always programmed Spirituals into my auditions but under a category requirement for a 20th-century piece so this additional category several years ago was very exciting. 

I could sit here and write novels about the ocean of music from these four categories but I’ll spare you for now. The most important thing to remember every step of the way when choosing, learning, and performing music is this - always sing your  voice. There are boxes out there that are designed to guide you to a mold that could fit your voice well, but those boxes are not finite so never be afraid to choose what suits you no matter what. 

Expand your knowledge, take up space, and sing!