I’m going to be singing at my brother’s wedding this June (as opposed to being a bridesmaid in the wedding - this was the ‘consolation prize’, so to speak, but that’s a rant for the Pit - I’m happy with this now), and I’m desperately trying to find songs to sing. The idea is that I’ll sing one duet with a cousin, and one solo in the middle of the ceremony. However, I am stuck on which songs to sing. I tried to pick Janis Joplin’s “Ball and Chain”, but my mother vetoed that one (family joke, brother and fiancee have a cat named Janis.).
I am a mezzo-soprano, in other words - an alto. I’m a lower alto - but can hit a G above the staff on a good day with the proper warm-up, and I can sing lower than the typical alto. My voice is better suited to lower, more sultry songs than higher, classical sounding songs. My cousin is a tenor, and a fairly adept one - I think he has a better range than I do
For the solo song, I’m considering Etta James’ “At Last”, The Carpenters’ “We’ve Only Just Begin”, or Andrew Lloyd Weber’s “Unexpected Song”. For some reason or other, none of these seems to work perfectly with what we’re going for in a song.
For the duet, I’ve got a couple of songs on the list - “Til There Was You” from The Music Man (although we’d have to transpose to a lower octave - the song is WAY too high for me as written), or “Sun and Moon” from Miss Saigon. As you can see, I’ve got an addiction to showtunes - and unfortunately, the majority of them are written for sopranos. I would love to do a song from a short-run off-Broadway show The Last Five Years that’s perfect, but I can’t find the sheet music - I don’t think it’s been released yet.
I need suggestions and help! Since this is my brother’s wedding, I really want to have the perfect songs - we’ve all been waiting a long time for this and he deserves the best. They’ve been together for ten years at this point, and they’re finally getting married. I really need some good songs to consider for possibilities. We’ve got to choose the music to give to the guitarist very soon, so time’s running short. Help! And thanks:).
I’ve always thought it would make a lovely wedding song, and am considering it for mine. And while I don’t know much about range/voice, etc., it is a low and sultry song that doesn’t sound particularly taxing, vocally.
(You can find the song on her most recent CD, entitled “Lovers Rock.”)
There’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” which I have been playing constantly for days. It’s a high tenor and should fit your range. “At Last” is a great song.
A lot of songs are available in different keys. I’ve always been partial to “Bist du bei mir.” There’s an English translation available.
A quick question–is this wedding in a church of any kind? The Catholic church has some rules about what can and can’t be sung–show tunes are out, for instance. For some reason, the execrable Wedding Song was acceptable (I sang at my sister’s wedding), as was Bist du bei mir. You might want to talk to the music director at the church (if indeed the wedding is at/under the auspices of a church), since they’ll know if there are any restrictions, and likely have a long list of suitable music.
I meant to say, if you or your accompanist doesn’t feel like transposing them on the spot. Your accompanist may be able to do that, but if they can’t, the music store often sells the same song for “high voice” or “medium voice” or “low voice.”
StGermain, I think that might be a winner for the solo song! I’d completely forgotten that song - if I can find the sheet music for the guitarist, we might be in good shape! Thanks!
