Hamilton - Vocal Selections

All in all, Hamilton - Vocal Selections is a great purchase. It comes with 17 songs from the musical, all very well arranged and easily playable.

One thing of note: although other reviews are saying you will get the "full versions of 17 songs," that is actually false. In "That Would Be Enough," the whole first minute of the song is cut off and there is no sheet music for it. Instead, in Hamilton - Vocal Selections, the song begins at

Look at where you are /
Look at where you started /
The fact that you're alive is a miracle /
Just stay alive, that would be enough /
And if this child...

I am very satisfied with this, but I thought the first part of "That Would Be Enough" was very heartfelt and I am slightly disappointed that it was left out. Still a great buy for any Hamilton fan, however.

It's difficult to transcribe rap for piano, but Lin Manuel and Alex Lacamoire have done it. I pre-ordered this, and I'm quite disgusted that the price went down nine dollars since I ordered it. The more melodic pieces, such as Helpless, Dear Theodosia, and Burn are transcribed beautifully as piano accompaniment (without the melody worked into the accompaniment.) with a vocal line. The selection is fantastic, although it is missing Say No to This, another one of the more melodic songs from the show. This book will make a valuable contribution to the sheet music library of any musician.

**Update - Hooray! I see that an easy piano book is being published 6/30. It includes 9 songs, still not WLWDWTYS, but OK. I have been trying to play parts of all 3 lines of this vocal selections and hope this one will combine the best of all.**

I know it is vocal selections so for the singer, this is great. I'm a pianist so it is a little challenging - if you play the melody with the right hand, then the harmony with the left hand, you can get there, but it is a lot to look at given the complexity of the voices (differnt lines for singers/company). The music and lyrics are of course AMAZING and I have been able to get a feel for it after listening to the soundtrack 500 times! The other that others have noted is my utter and complete sadness that Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story is not in here. My hope is after they win 900 Tony's they will come back with a piano book which I will also buy...I forgive you Lin-Manuel Miranda and will yep, I'll Wait for It...

SO GLAD THE VOCAL SELECTIONS ARE OUT!!!!!!!

It has a great collection of songs. Great quality. Wonderful songs. A perfect edition to any performer's collection.

Item arrived quickly. Would recommend a million times over.

Fabulous. The orchestrations are excellent. I love that the drum parts are included in some sections. It really helps to get a handle on the feeling/true sound of the songs. Definitely a bummer that they omitted the songs Story of Tonight and Say No To This. But oh well... you can't have everything I guess. Great musical, great score, great purchase.

Accurate sheet music to a fantastic musical - includes some of my favorite songs from the musical (Burn, What'd I Miss, You'll Be Back, The Room Where It Happens, The Schuyler Sisters, Satisfied)! Makes me want to say "WhooHoo!".

"Hamilton: Vocal Selections" provides vocal scores for 17 songs in Hamilton: An American Musical. (See the end of this review for a full list of songs.) The book includes vocal lines for the main characters and usually puts all the ensemble's vocal parts together on one musical staff. The orchestration is reduced to a piano part, and some songs (e.g. "The Schuyler Sisters", "Washington on Your Side") also include some notation for drums, claps, finger snaps, and other percussive sounds.

The piano parts range in difficulty from intermediate to intermediate-advanced. The score includes chords as well as a very faithful reduction of the orchestra parts.

All songs, as far as I can tell, are in the same keys as they are on the Broadway cast recording.

Most of the songs are presented exactly as they sound on the Broadway cast recording. A few songs (e.g. "Helpless") have a few extra bars of introduction. "That Would Be Enough" has been modified into a solo for Eliza; after the first two bars, the score cuts straight to the line "Look at where you are". I don't believe any other songs in this book have been abridged.

The Kindle version of this book is basically scans of the pages of the print book. I do NOT recommend getting the Kindle version of this book unless you have a very big tablet to view it on.

There are some nice treats in the score that can't be conveyed in a soundtrack. Some of my favorites are the tempo marking for "Burn" ("Moderate 2, icy") and the bit of "The Room Where It Happens" where the score reads "[ENSEMBLE screams in chaos]".

Lin-Manuel Miranda, Alex Lacamoire, and Hal Leonard have produced an attractive, thick, and faithful songbook for Hamilton. I hope you enjoy playing through this songbook as much as I have been, and I hope this review helps you decide if the book is right for you.

Song list:

Alexander Hamilton
My Shot
The Schuyler Sisters
You'll Be Back
Helpless
Satisfied
Wait for It
That Would Be Enough
History Has Its Eyes on You
Dear Theodosia
What'd I Miss
The Room Where It Happens
Washington on Your Side
One Last Time
Hurricane
Burn
It's Quiet Uptown

Technically... I wouldn't call this a vocal/piano book. This is a condensed score, so unless you have huge hands, you're going to have to eliminate notes to make it playable. Some would call that a negative...

However, I bought this for musical analysis for a research paper on compositional form for my college's research conference (I made the finals!), so it's actually WAY better this way for what I needed!

i heart Hamilton.
luv this book and for you german speaking peeps...
Machst spass!
luv it all
best book ever
hamilton is so well written and brings tears to my eyes when i hear one of the songs (especially You'll be Back)

~uniclaire101

This was an excellent purchase for any Hamilton musical lover. It covers many of the songs but keep in mind it doesn't include all. This was purchased as a birthday gift for my grown daughter and she loves it. Great purchase.

I love buying piano books for my favorite musicals and artists - the ones that have the true piano parts with no melody line put in. While this fit that bill, I did not like it. Admittedly, Hamilton is not a piano-heavy musical. Because of its style of music, it just did not lend itself well to being a great piano book, even though the arrangements were true to the music. I ended up returning it and buying another one that I liked more.