Wailing, blow em out of the water tenor songs!!
Wailing, blow em out of the water tenor songs!!
koolkidboy
Swing Joined: 5/1/06
#1Wailing, blow em out of the water tenor songs!!
Posted: 3/16/08 at 8:44pm
So an actor friend and I were having a conversation about good audition material (both of us being tenors) and he says to me "Y'know...all the good songs go to the ladies, the guys never get to sing their hearts out, where's the male version of Elphaba? where's the men's version of 'defying gravity?"
and then I opened my mouth tell him that there are plenty of songs out there where men get to wail and sing their hearts out. But unfortunately all I could think of was "king of the world" from songs from a new world
anyone else have any ideas?!!
Updated On: 3/16/08 at 08:44 PM
ElFantasma14
Broadway Star Joined: 9/26/06
#2re: Wailing, blow em out of the water tenor songs!!
Posted: 3/16/08 at 9:12pmBeing Alive if performed as it should be
#2re: Wailing, blow em out of the water tenor songs!!
Posted: 3/16/08 at 10:06pm
"corner of the sky"? jeez, I haven't even heard of the musical you listed. i'll have to check it out, but don't mention the obscure facts first, it doesn't help a case. it makes you sound desperate.
#3re: Wailing, blow em out of the water tenor songs!!
Posted: 3/16/08 at 10:56pmKiss the Air from Dreaming Wide Awake most definitely
sleepyguy1717
Broadway Star Joined: 8/1/07
#4re: Wailing, blow em out of the water tenor songs!!
Posted: 3/16/08 at 11:08pmJekyll and Hyde is filled with them.
#5re: Wailing, blow em out of the water tenor songs!!
Posted: 3/17/08 at 12:21pm
"I'll Be There" from Pirate Queen will stretch your tonsils and was one of the show's better songs. It's been popping up in audition rooms lately. A word of caution, give the accompanist very specific instructions about tempo.
I remember when they'd have signs with "No Corner of the Sky" on doors" :)
#6re: Wailing, blow em out of the water tenor songs!!
Posted: 3/17/08 at 12:58pm
There's a song from Ten Commandments the Musical thats ridiculous.
It's called Is Anybody Listening and Adam Lambert sings it.....its craazzzy
Updated On: 3/17/08 at 12:58 PM
Perfectly Marvelous
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/16/06
#7re: Wailing, blow em out of the water tenor songs!!
Posted: 3/17/08 at 2:33pm
So an actor friend and I were having a conversation about good audition material (both of us being tenors) and he says to me "Y'know...all the good songs go to the ladies, the guys never get to sing their hearts out, where's the male version of Elphaba? where's the men's version of 'defying gravity?"
I hear that Raul Esparza does a killer rendition of "Defying Gravity".
"Yes, the brutalities of progress are called revolutions. When they are over, men recognize that the human race has been harshly treated but it has moved forward." - Les Miserables
#8re: Wailing, blow em out of the water tenor songs!!
Posted: 3/17/08 at 3:02pmRaul does a killer rendition of everything. I love him. hahaha
#9re: Wailing, blow em out of the water tenor songs!!
Posted: 3/17/08 at 8:14pmwest side story!
Juliash
Broadway Star Joined: 3/6/07
#10re: Wailing, blow em out of the water tenor songs!!
Posted: 3/17/08 at 8:58pmThis is debatable, I guess. But I definitely consider "Awaiting You" from Myths and Hymns to be in that category...
BDavis0092
Broadway Star Joined: 7/24/06
#11re: Wailing, blow em out of the water tenor songs!!
Posted: 3/18/08 at 12:12am
Sit Down You're Rockin The Boat - Guys and Dolls
She Cries - Songs For a New World
Being Alive - Company
I Am What I Am - La Cage Aux Folles
Bring Him Home - Les Miserables
If I can't Love Her - BATB
I Miss The Music - Curtains
Purpose - Avenue Q
There are PLENTY of them.
typecastme22
Stand-by Joined: 8/29/06
#12re: Wailing, blow em out of the water tenor songs!!
Posted: 3/18/08 at 10:49am
Boy With Dreams from Edges gets pretty up there.
#13re: Wailing, blow em out of the water tenor songs!!
Posted: 3/18/08 at 11:25amEh Purpose isn't really a show stopping number...
Jesus
Understudy Joined: 7/30/05
#14re: Wailing, blow em out of the water tenor songs!!
Posted: 3/18/08 at 9:43pm
She Cries is not a Tenor song, nor is Being Alive. And Bring Him Home is HARDLY a wailing blow em out of the water tenor song...
Lost in the Wilderness works...and I agree with Awaiting You.
Any of the songs Judas' sings in Jesus Christ Superstar, especially Heaven on their Minds and Judas' Death (The little I don't Know How to Love him reprise in there can be absolutely stunning, especially if you flip it up the octave). If you have a High G in a decent mix, or if you can really wail or scream it, then Gethsemane can really rock peoples worlds.
Pity the Child lets your show off some chops...I think you get a nice full voiced sustained D.
Riff Raff's stuff from Rocky Horror has a nice rock tenor edge to it.
King of the World is probably one of the best in terms of range and gymnastics you get to show off...but basically anything Billy Porter has ever sung is the definition of wailin' blow em' out of the water tenor songs.
BDavis0092
Broadway Star Joined: 7/24/06
#15re: Wailing, blow em out of the water tenor songs!!
Posted: 3/18/08 at 9:46pmThat's funny because I'm a tenor and I've sung both of those for auditions. And how is Bring Him Home not a blow em out of the water song? It's, without a doubt, one of the hardest songs for a male to sing and if sung properly will blow anyone away.
#16re: Wailing, blow em out of the water tenor songs!!
Posted: 3/19/08 at 12:28pm
Bring Him Home is not a "wailing" type song. It's not a "fierce" song if you will, if sung properly.
Lost in the Wilderness is clearly the BE all END all song for fierce tenorness. But these also work:
"Monticello" - Edges
"What Do I Need With Love?" - TMM
"Run Away With Me" - The Unauthorized Bio of Sam Brown
"Talent" - Bounce
"Taking the Wheel" - It's Only Life (ish, but necessarily too high)
"Forest For The Trees" - The Spitfire Grill (more bari-tenor)
"Who Can I Turn To?"
"What Kind of Fool I Am" - Stop the World I Want to Get Off!
MOST tenor songs by Bill Finn Including, "Anytime," "Erections," "When The Earth Stopped Turning"
gah, there are too many.
Even Soliloquy from Carousel has a bitchin' ending
withoutlove78
Featured Actor Joined: 7/13/05
#17re: Wailing, blow em out of the water tenor songs!!
Posted: 3/19/08 at 12:56pm
role of a lifetime- bare
the end anyway
Jesus
Understudy Joined: 7/30/05
#18re: Wailing, blow em out of the water tenor songs!!
Posted: 3/19/08 at 2:29pm
Regardless of whether or not you've sung the songs, they are NOT tenor songs. Both of them are written for a voice with a Baritone timbre. The range of both pieces falls into that of a baritone and the "money" notes, sit a little low for a true tenor to truly wail on them.
And Bring Him Home, first off, is NOT one of the hardest tenor songs to sing. In fact I wouldn't even rate it in the top ten. While its true that any good tenor will use full and mix and head voice, with excellent support, its just too easy to cheat and simply sing the song in falsetto...which is pretty damn easy to get away with, with Bring Him Home, as has been proven by some of the men who have played Val Jean.
And secondly...Bring Him Home is hardly a show stopping number. Or for that matter really even a tenor song...the top note is what...a B Flat...thats pretty well within the ranges of most professional baritones...and a large number of the men who have played the roles have in fact been baritones with an extension...
Finally, Bring Him Home should NOT blow people away if sung in context. It should put them into an emotional state yes...but if they walk away saying...wow that man sung that song incredibly...then it was poorly sung. If the audience doesn't connect to the song, if they aren't pulled past the superficial impressiveness of singing high notes prettily, well then you've failed as a singer and an actor.
#19re: Wailing, blow em out of the water tenor songs!!
Posted: 3/19/08 at 3:17pm
I think you're being a bit unfair, Jesus.
Tenor and Baritone in the Broadway sense are virtually interchangable these days. There are perhaps 5 big Musical Theatre songs that ACTUALLY reach to a high C--which is what every true tenor should be able to hit. The most standard high note for a MT tenor is an A, truly, especially in the "belting" sense.
Being Alive IS ment to be a beritone's song mostly because the show is written for a man MUCH older than 18, where a voice is much more developed and comfortable. For anyone to sing "Being Alive" in high school--it IS a tenor song.
But, the fact that "If I love You" is a baritone song, and it reaches the same A as What Do I Need With Love, the line between "baritone" and "tenor" is kinda fuzzy. They virtually have to sing the same ****, but it depends on the directors preference of a specific timbre.
Jon
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/20/04
#20re: Wailing, blow em out of the water tenor songs!!
Posted: 3/19/08 at 5:43pm
From CHESS:
Anthem
Pity the Child
Where I Want to Be
#21re: Wailing, blow em out of the water tenor songs!!
Posted: 3/19/08 at 11:01pmGrateful from It's Only Life. Just don't sing it like you want nodes...like Billy Porter...
#22re: Wailing, blow em out of the water tenor songs!!
Posted: 3/19/08 at 11:19pm
HA! His voice is exceeding raspy on that recording!
friggin' fanastic song. Love how he goes super high.
#23re: Wailing, blow em out of the water tenor songs!!
Posted: 3/19/08 at 11:22pm
Normally tenors are the ones who have the great show stopping numbers. That is my Stick. Like I have played
Herman-Sweet Charity- "I love to Cry at Weddings"
Marcellus- The Music Man- "Shipoopi"
Jeffrey- Godspell- "We Beseech The"
see...........
BDavis0092
Broadway Star Joined: 7/24/06
#24re: Wailing, blow em out of the water tenor songs!!
Posted: 3/19/08 at 11:32pmI'm surprised Jesus didn't make a comment about "Anytime" by William Finn, because it's there with Being Alive and She Cries so it must be a baritone song too? For gods sake Norm Lewis sang it and he's definently a baritone. BUT a tenor can sing them! I'm a tenor and I sing them just fine, I can still belt out what I need to belt out and use a controlled deeper tone when needed.
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