Contemporary art song of the United States: a graded handbook

Contemporary art songs are notable for their variety of diverse texts, beautiful melodic lines and harmonic features. However, art songs written between 2000 and 2015 are not well known. Singing teachers find it hard to determine suitability for performance because access to music is limited.

The purpose of this dissertation is to provide a reference guide for teachers and performers, which will allow them to locate art songs by nationally respected living composers of the United States. To remain current in the field, teachers and performers must review recent compositions. This handbook fills a void in art song literature by examining published and accessible works of seventeen composers and over two hundred songs for solo voice and piano.

Appropriate music choices for a singer’s voice type and skill level are essential when selecting new repertoire. This handbook provides crucial information to assist with this selection. The handbook lists title, composer, poet, date of publication, voice type, range, tessitura, tempo, meter, key, and describes the poetic, melodic, and harmonic features of each song and comments upon any appealing or challenging aspects. The difficulty levels correspond to academic level, such as high school, lower-level college undergraduates, upper-level college undergraduates, and graduate students or professionals. This handbook places art songs into these categories or levels so that teachers can then choose repertoire appropriate to their student’s ability.