Occasionally singers want to sing a song on their own. It might be for a local folk club, a choir solo, or to surprise someone on their birthday.
But how do you go about choosing a suitable song? Here are some pointers.
do you know the song well?
It’s best to choose a song you know well for your first few solos, rather than learning one from scratch. This will give you confidence if you’re not used to performing solo. It also means there’s a good chance you’ll already know the lyrics and tune without having to use any prompts.
do you like the song?
It’s not enough to just know a song, you have to like it too! There’s no point in singing a song that doesn’t really do it for you or that you can’t connect with.
does it work for your voice?
Whatever song you choose, it needs to be suitable for your voice. Not just the absolute range of notes that you can sing, but also the tessitura. Your tessitura is the comfortable range for your voice, the range that shows off your voice to its best. Maybe you can reach the high and low notes of a song, but you need to be able to reach them comfortably, without straining.
are the lyrics suitable?
Of course you won’t want to sing a song that has dubious lyrics or is exploitative in any way (no matter how much you like it). It might be a song sung by someone of a different gender. In either case you might need to tweak the lyrics a bit so it suits you (and the occasion).
don’t try to be someone else
It may be a song by one of your favourite artists. In which case the temptation might be to try to imitate them. But their persona and voice is already taken! Sing it in the way that you sing.
make it your own
Some of the best solos are versions of well-known song that singers have made their own. For example, Eva Cassidy’s version of Somewhere over the rainbow, Gary Jules’ version of Mad world, and Jeff Buckley’s version of Hallelujah. In each case the singer made the song their own. It has become as if there’s is the original version. Hard to do, but worth the effort. Really think about what the lyrics mean to you and how the emotions of the song connect with your own experiences. Try putting the song into a different context.
Chris Rowbury
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