Easy Musical Theatre Songs For Beginners and How You Can Learn to Sing Them Better Than You Expect

Musical theatre is defined as “a form of dramatic production combining acting, singing, and dancing to tell a story.”

It is such a fun genre to sing because the songs are so story-driven and emotional. The big ballads are usually melodic, whereas some other song types in a musical uses chromaticism (which makes them more challenging to sing well).

Whether you are musical theatre fan or not, learning to sing musical songs improves your ability to:

• Connect to the lyric message of a song
• Express the lyric message through vocal tone and body gestures
• Be more present when singing

Good Musical Song Choices For Beginners

There are so many musical songs out there. You will definitely find one that suits a beginner and that you can relate to.

In general, you want to find songs that are medium tempo/speed because faster (and slower) songs are harder to sing. Find songs with a melody that is within your vocal range (go here if you do not know your range).

There are many subgenres of musical theatre, so find one that suits your interest.

Here are some suggested song choices for beginners:

Female Low Voice
Edelweiss (Sound of Music)
Candle on the Water (Pete's Dragon)

Female High Voice
Part of Your World (Little Mermaid)
Mamma Mia (Mamma Mia)

Male Low Voice
A Million Dreams (The Greatest Showman)
City of Stars (La La Land)

Male High Voice
Dancing Through Life (Wicked)
Waving Through a Window (Dear Evan Hansen)

Learning the Song Well (Technical Aspects)

Before you can express the song message well, make sure you know the lyric, melody and rhythm well.

Knowing the lyrics by heart is definitely a plus. Not only that, you want to learn how to pronounce the words well. This will help you with the expressive aspects of your performance.

Even when the melody is within your range, there will still be spots where you struggle, such as ascending and descending leaps (when the melody jumps up and down).

The same goes for the rhythm of the song. If there are spots in the song where you struggle with the rhythm, focus on practicing those parts of the song.

Know the Story Behind the Songs

Musical theatre is basically stage plays/stories where the plot is driven forward by music and songs.

When you have chosen your songs, get to know the plot of the musical the songs are from (if you have not seen the musical). Watch the musical live, online or on the TV. If you do not have the time to watch the whole musical, at least read the summary of the musical online.

Once you know the plot, find out where in the story your song appears in. Find out the context and back story of the song. You can then fully immerse yourself in the character and setting of the song when singing it.

Some questions to get you started:

• Who
• What
• Where
• Why
• When

For example:

Who (which character) is singing the song? To whom is the character singing the song to?

Where are they when the song is sung?

What happened in the story before the song is sung?

Perform the Song in Front of Someone (Or Record Yourself Performing It)

You are probably freaking out because I suggested that you perform the song in front of someone. The good news is: you do not have to. Well, not yet anyway!

If singing a song in front of someone is daunting for you, work your way up to it. You can record a video of you singing just half of the song (even if you never want to watch it). Then, you can sing the song in your room without fully closing the door (so your parents and family can hear a little of your singing). When you get more confident, sing half of the song in front of one person who is supportive of your singing.

You will get anxiety symptoms before your performance. Do deep breaths to calm down your nervous system. Be aware of self critical thoughts that make you doubt yourself. Reframe those self critical thoughts into more helpful thoughts.

An example of self critical thoughts:
“She’ll laugh at me when I sing out of tune.”

Reframe that thought into:
“She’s always been kind to me… if I sing out of tune, she’ll probably tell me in a nice way so I get better at singing it next time.”

The more you face your fears, the less control your fears have on you!

Conclusion

Musical theatre songs are so much fun to sing! Pick a musical song, learn it and do your best to sing it. Keep the fun factor at the front of your mind and kick perfectionism out the door. Focus on telling the story and let whatever imperfections in your voice to just be - you will improve over time, I promise!