NPR News, Classical and Music of the Delta
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

The Art of The Broadway Song

ulm.edu

What makes a Broadway song memorable?  Why is a song placed at a particular moment in a musical?  Questions like these are explored in a new book from Dr. Mark Clark, Associate Professor of Music and Acting at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. 

Broadway Song: A Guide For The Singer examines 100 songs, from traditional to contemporary, and all voice types.  Clark spent the last four years collecting interviews and analysis of the musical works.  "I wanted to find important songs within a show.  They mean something, they were put in at a certain time for a reason," he said.

The book presents a template of the song, along with interview excerpts from Clark with an individual associated with the song.  Composers, lyricists, performers, and directors all fill the pages of the resource for both singer and instructor.

The book's foreword is written by Grammy and Tony Award winning actress/singer Kristin Chenoweth.  Broadway Song: A Guide For The Singer is published by Oxford Press and available on Amazon.com.