Arts & Culture

Ever wanted to sing a song in the original key and just not been satisfied by the piano / song scores out there?  Well, I hope you'll be happy with a new series the Toronto Public Library has added "Original Keys for Singers".  This series was designed for vocalists looking for authentic transcriptions from their favorite artist.  The books transcribe famous vocal performances exactly as recorded and provide piano accompaniment parts so that you can perform or practice exactly as your favorite artists sang them.  There are two general volumes arranged by gender.

There are couple of volumes arranged for Christmas (which will be handy for lounge singers):

If you're interested in Christmas music you may like some of our earlier blog posts on favorite Xmas songs esp Lou Rawls' "Christmas Is" or the Waitresses "Christmas Wrapping".

If you're interested in specific female singers (including Ella, Bette, Liza and Mariah)  why not try any of the following :

If you're looking for male singers then you may like some of the following:

We'll be doing some future blog posts on other authentic settings and original keys collections including The Singer's Musical Theatre Anthology by voice and the Singer's Library of Musical Theatre  by voice.

There is lots more information about the sheet music and score collection of the Arts Department at the Toronto Reference Library.  There is also a song index to individual songs.