Hair: Piano/Vocal/Chords

Hair remains one of the most singable and immediately engaging Broadway scores ever written. These songs sit comfortably for voices across multiple ranges, the piano accompaniments balance accessibility with genuine sophistication, and the material itself generates real enthusiasm from singers and audiences alike. Whether you're building a musical theater program, need concert repertoire with cultural weight, or want students to experience songs that genuinely changed American theater, this collection delivers.

These songs pulse with the optimism and social idealism of the late 1960s, yet they carry genuine emotional depth. The melodies are instantly memorable, the harmonies are modern without being difficult, and the text speaks directly to performers and audiences with an immediacy that hasn't faded.

Singers preparing Broadway audition material, voice teachers building contemporary repertoire, and pianists accompanying musical theater programs. This songbook works equally well for solo recital singers exploring twentieth-century theater music and for ensemble rehearsals where singers need accessible, engaging material with real cultural significance.

• Lean into the rhythmic freedom of these songs. Many MacDermot melodies work best when singers breathe naturally rather than rigidly metering phrases, allowing the text to drive the phrasing.
• Shape the harmonic progressions deliberately at the piano. MacDermot's chords are modern and colorful; let them breathe and resolve with intention rather than rushing through changes.
• Balance the ensemble sound in ensemble numbers by thinking of the piano as setting harmonic color, not just keeping time. Adjust your touch to support vocal blend.
• Explore the theatrical context of each song. These pieces were written to serve dramatic moments and character development; finding that intention will make accompaniment choices clear.

Program songs from Hair in a concert celebrating twentieth-century American musical theater or devote an entire program to the score as a thematic retrospective. Individual songs work beautifully in recitals as a bridge between classical art song and contemporary theater music, or use selections in a musical theater intensive or workshop setting where singers can explore how MacDermot's harmonic language shapes character and emotion.

• Reading and interpreting contemporary harmonic language in theatrical settings
• Sustaining open, resonant vowels in the middle and upper ranges required for Broadway singing
• Handling rhythmic flexibility and natural text phrasing in songs with modern melodic contours
• Accompanying ensemble singing with attention to blend and harmonic support
• Understanding how piano color and voicing choices support vocal characterization