Which? (from "Wake Up and Dream"): Piano/Vocal/Chords

This collection captures Porter at his most inventive, when his theatrical gifts were sharpening and his catalog was expanding across stage and screen. The pairing of pristine vocal scores with rare manuscript images, scrapbook photographs, and production stills offers singers and pianists a window into how these songs functioned in their original contexts. For teachers and performers, having 50 of his finest early works in one volume with harmonic notation makes it an invaluable resource for building jazz vocabulary, understanding song form, and exploring the American songbook.

These songs breathe the sophistication and glitter of 1920s and 1930s Broadway and Hollywood. Porter's melodies feel both immediately singable and harmonically complex; his lyrics balance humor with genuine sentiment. The overall effect is urbane, elegant, and often tinged with romance or comic worldliness.

Singers preparing jazz and standards repertoire, music theater performers, and pianists building fluency with American songbook harmony will find this collection essential. This is also valuable for vocal teachers seeking song material that combines lyrical sophistication with musical depth, and for any musician wanting to understand how Broadway songwriting functioned in its golden age.

• Pay close attention to Porter's harmonic movement and voice leading; his chords often contain chromatic passing tones and unexpected resolutions that reward careful listening from both pianist and vocalist.
• Study the lyrical phrasing to inform your musical phrasing. Porter's rhyme schemes and accents suggest where to breathe, where to lean, and where to press forward.
• Use the chord symbols to explore reharmonization options; Porter's harmonic language invites informed variation without losing his distinctive voice.
• Balance text clarity with melodic line. These songs live in language, and listeners need to hear the wit and storytelling alongside the music.

Program individual Porter songs in recitals exploring American song tradition, or build a full cabaret evening around selections from this volume. These pieces also serve beautifully in music history courses examining the development of the American musical, and they pair well with recordings to help students understand how standards were performed across different eras.

• Reading and interpreting jazz chord changes and Roman numeral analysis
• Phrasing and interpretation informed by lyrical content and dramatic intent
• Understanding song form (AABA, ABAC, and variants) through practical repertoire
• Harmonic vocabulary specific to the American songbook (chromaticism, secondary dominants, extended chords)
• Coordination of vocal line with piano accompaniment patterns