Monday, July 5, 2010

Singing Instructions - Knowing That You Are a Soprano Or a Tenor Can Actually Be a Problem

Let's start this by discussing the various voice classifications. Female singers are divided into sopranos (high voices) and altos (low voices) with a couple of in-between types such as mezzo soprano (a mix of soprano and alto).

Male voices are usually either bass (very low), baritone (not quite as low), and tenor (able to sing higher before having to go into falsetto)

The classification of voices basically depends on the size of the vocal cords. The bigger the cords, the lower they can sing. Also the quality of the voices is usually different. Quite often a man has a rich, fat, baritone quality, yet can't sing as low as most baritones. He might be "classified" as a baritone anyway.

But when we hear Mariah Carey or Elton John or Dolly Parton sing, we probably aren't the least interested in their range or vocal classification. Their voices just are.

In opera, the music must be sung in the exact key in which it was written. There is no leeway here. If a part was written for a soprano, a soprano must sing it. The same applies to choral music. It takes real basses or baritones, not tenors, singing the bass part to make the arrangement sound as it should.

But this leaves the vast majority of singers who prefer pop, rock and country music. What vocal classification must a successful country singer have? It makes no difference. They just need to make sure they sing their songs in keys which are good for their particular voices.

So how can telling a singer that they are a soprano do any harm? It can, if that singer has a belief that sopranos are only supposed to sing high songs, that they should never try to sing down low...it just won't sound good. Too many singers' have such pre-conceived beliefs, and it can limit their style and ability to do all sorts of music.

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