Rent: Vocal Selections (Essential Musicals)
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Book Summary Information
Brand: Hal LeonardComposer: Jonathan Larson
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1996-12-01
ISBN: 1903692261
Number of pages: 104
Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation
Book Reviews of Rent: Vocal Selections (Essential Musicals)
Book Review: Good and bad, but definitely worth it for this pianist
Summary: 4 Stars
The selections in this collection match the selections featured on the RENT - selections album. Unfortunately, this means that many of the best songs in the full score are cut out (including: Light my Candle, La Vie Boheme... I Should Tell You, etc.), because they involve sung dialogue rather than "liftable" songs (songs that work out of context). Another drawback is that in general, songs written for a rock band (featuring extensive guitar) do not transcribe well to solo piano (guitar chords are included in this book, though).
With this in mind, however, the pianist/vocalist will still find much to enjoy. Larson's great ballad-esque songs, like "I'll cover you," "Your eyes," "Without You," and "Seasons of Love" work very well as piano/vocal. Other, more rock-sounding songs such as "Rent," "Out tonight," and "What you own" are not hopeless. As written they may sound a little awkward, but people who have had experience playing rock piano may find that with a little fiddling with the written notes a suitable version can be produced. (ie: instead of playing four eighth note A's for a measure (as in the title song), play a broken A5 chord (A, E, A2, E) instead.) Those who do not have experience playing rock piano and are more accustomed to playing other Broadway music can learn a lot from working with these songs and trying out different things.
Other songs included are: "Take me or Leave me," "Another Day," "Halloween," and "Santa Fe." The first of these did not transcribe well (esp. the vocal line) due to the odd pitches of the song. The second of these contains both the rock elements and the balladesque elements, but the rock elements do not require many changes. The third is transcribed faithfully and works well; the fourth is transcribed well, but since much of it is spoken it is also a little odd.
Overall this book is well done. The songs are all faithful in spirit to the album, although at times a pitch is written differently from the orig. broadway cast recording. The song where this is most apparent is in "Seasons of Love" where it appears that the two soloists' lines were mostly improvised. Although I usually prefer for a song's accompaniment to reflect the actual full score, in the case of these songs such accompaniment is repetitive and adding the vocal line (which is actually very standard) was very welcome. As RENT has become a part of the modern musical theater canon, so is this book necessary for any Broadway-lover's piano collection.
Fred Choi
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