Videos where people sing and the score is visible

November 24, 2022 7:41 AM

I really liked the video linked in this comment on MetaFilter, in which a singer performs a song from Les Miz as written in the score, rather than in the way it has evolved through performance. I'd like to see more of people singing while I follow the written music. Point me to them!

To be clear, the thing I'm interested in is any singer, any song, not the specific hook of this video, where he's demonstrating the difference between the music as written and as performed, though more of these would be fine.

Also, while I'm sure it would be fun to follow the music for, say, a quartet, I'm looking for beginner level: one melody line, one line of musical notes to follow.

Direct links and helpful search terms both welcome.

posted by Well I never to Media & Arts (7 answers total)

This is just a single (hilarious) example but maybe it'll scratch your itch until you get better recommendations.
posted by BlahLaLa at 10:33 AM on November 24, 2022

I'm most familiar with this for choral music, but that's not usually beginner level. You might be interested in practice tracks, where one line of a choral arrangement is highlighted to help people who are learning it. That search term should yield more results; you may have to dig through them to find those that are actual singing, rather than piano or a MIDI file.

Apparently someone taken the existing performance and added sheet music for Into the Woods, which ranges in complexity from single melody lines to more complex arrangements. If you want a sample of a solo song, here's Moments in the Woods.
posted by earth by april at 10:33 AM on November 24, 2022 [2 favorites]

An addition, because I've been digging around a bit on this! It looks like there are three versions of this type of video: (1) someone singing from sheet music and showing that on screen (like the original Heath Saunders video I shared, but difficult to find more versions of); (2) someone taking an existing performance and adding the sheet music to it (like the examples I just shared above; "scrolling score" or "score video" will also get you lots of examples of this, but mostly for complex choral arrangements) and (3) someone taking an existing performance and transcribing it in sheet music.

This third version, which you can search for via "transcription" or "transcribed", seems the most likely to bring you videos with one melody line. It's common with jazz, because people are interested in transcribing improvisation. Here's Ella Fitzgerald singing "How High the Moon". Here is one that I do not know how to describe! People also do this with things that are particularly entertaining to transcribe, such as Fergie singing the Star-Spangled Banner or the celebrity Imagine video, which is in a LOT of different keys.
posted by earth by april at 10:56 AM on November 24, 2022

(Hi I'm embarrassed I didn't realize the thing I linked to was the thing you linked to. Sorry!)
posted by BlahLaLa at 10:56 AM on November 24, 2022 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I should mark it as best answer, BlaLaLa, because it was so perfectly on point.
posted by Well I never at 11:15 AM on November 24, 2022 [1 favorite]

I find that if I type the song title plus the word "score" into the youtube search field, that sort of video comes up in the search results if there is one available. And, as others have noted, they seem to be more common for choral or classical music.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 4:25 PM on November 24, 2022

You might look through the rest of Threatening Music Notation’s Twitter feed! Also “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” rubber stamp sight reading should scratch the same itch?
posted by music for skeletons at 7:40 AM on November 25, 2022