Vocal Music Advice

Tracy, age 20 asks: “First, I want to thank you for making this site. It is really helpful and I enjoy reading it a lot. I have a question about tessitura: what notes are considered the tessitura of a baritone? Tenor? Bass? Also, in operatic literature, what note best equates to the tenor’s high C for a baritone? A bass? Thank you once again, it’s rare to find a resource like this.”

Answer: Great questions Tracy!  Take the following as a general guide.

A mature tenor’s functional range will normally be about C, one octave below middle C, to the C above middle C.  The “tessitura” in which he finds most comfort and ease is generally around F below middle C to the A or B-flat above middle C.

A mature lyric baritone’s functional range will normally be about A (an octave  +3rd below middle C) to the A above middle C.  The “tessitura” in which he finds most comfort and ease is generally around D or E-flat below middle C to F or G above middle C.  Depending upon the singer, this range and tessitura might be identified as “Helden Tenor” by some who choose to sing that literature.

A mature baritone’s functional range will normally be about G (1½ octaves below middle C) to the G above middle C.  The “tessitura” in which he finds most comfort and ease is generally around B-flat or C below middle C to middle C or D just above.

A mature bass-baritone’s functional range will normally be about E-flat or F (more than 1½ octaves below middle C) to E-flat or F above middle C.  The “tessitura” in which he finds most comfort and ease is generally around A-flat or A (an octave  +3rd below middle C) to A or B just below middle C.

A mature bass’s functional range will normally be about C or D (two octaves below middle C) to middle C or the D a step above.  The “tessitura” in which he finds most comfort and ease is generally around E or F (an octave +5th below middle C) to G or A below middle C.

Caveat: Please note that these designations are necessarily somewhat general because few of us fit neatly into a stereotype … and for an operatic singer these ranges would be considered confined, because they frequently use a wider range than 2 octaves … this is the reason for me using terms like “functional” and “normally.”  I will also tell you that depending upon the teacher, the ranges I have given for the various voice classifications would be disputed up or down.

If C above middle C is considered an operatic tenor’s “high note”, A or B-flat would be the lyric baritone’s high note, G or A-flat would be a regular baritone’s high note, E or F would be a bass-baritone’s regular high note, and E-flat or E would be a bass’s high note.  Again, I’m speaking of mature voices … and also while these designations are “normal,” individuals will vary, higher or lower depending upon the idiosyncrasies of their voice.

I hope this is helpful.

By the way, if you want to do some research on the subject of operatic voice classification, read up on the German “Fach” system.

Elvin, age 20 says: I am a young singer who recently started taking formal voice lessons. For a while I studied as a baritone. I sang/sing B2 in EVERY ensemble I am/was in. My range was C2 to an F4 easily. Recently I changed voice teachers and my range has grown upwards. I now hit A4s in my warm-ups and vocalizations. My voice teacher says that I will be a tenor, seeing as I am still quite young. Will I really be a tenor considering I still have all my low notes? Is there such a thing as a tenor with a low-extension? I’ve heard of a baritone with a high-extension.

Answer: Dear Elvin,

Thank you for entrusting me with your question.  I need to be very careful that I do not breach ethical boundaries, since you are under a voice teacher’s care.  It would be safe for me to say that as I have not heard you sing, or vocalize, I cannot attest with certainty one way or another as to “what you will become.”  If you have read other posts of mine on this blog concerning voice classification—and there are a lot of them—you probably know that I hold “prescriptive” voice classification with great caution, especially on one as young as you are.

What can help YOU discover and “decide” what you really are will be the answers to these questions: 1) what is your COMFORTABLE range?  2) Where—what segment—within your range do you find you are MOST comfortable and consistently have the best stamina?  My experience tells me that being able to reach “high As” at age twenty, and spending a good deal of time above middle C and up there may be two very different things.  You will know if you ARE a tenor, when you find yourself able to easily negotiate tenor literature.  Generally speaking, if both are available to you, high and low, choose the area that is kinder on your voice.

I would be interested in knowing if your current teacher is a tenor or a soprano … or what voice classification s/he is.

Your last statement “I’ve heard of a baritone with a high-extension” is the most usual scenario with one who also has such low notes accessible to him.

If you want to send me an audio recording of yourself, feel free … or point me to a YouTube recording of yourself.

Best wishes.

Dr. A.

Raj says: I am not a professional singer. I am an Asian and just turned 50. I never practiced/learned music seriously. Now I am very much interested in learning to sing but my voice is breaking on the same songs which I used to sing easily in my younger days. Do you see any chance I can get back and sing with practice? Any advice is appreciated.

ANSWER: Salaam and Namasthe Raj!

Let me encourage you to learn to sing – with a fine experienced and reliable voice teacher.  I myself have taught “late-bloomers” with success, so I know that it is possible.  Finding a trustworthy voice teacher will likely be a primary key to your future success in learning to sing, combined with your faithful practice.

That said, I should warn you that you will need to allot considerable time – I mean years - to the study of voice because you will not find it as easy to change and learn new habits now as you would have in your late teens.  You may also find that your vocal range has shifted lower … even as you say: “but my voice is breaking on the same songs which I used to sing easily in my younger days.”  This is natural and it simply means that you will need to sing your favorite songs in a lower key than some of the professionals whose recordings you hear.  Your voice teacher should be sensitive to your current limitations of range and work with you within that scope.  We are not MADE into tenors, or baritones, or basses.  We ARE as God made us, and need to accept that and work within that sphere.  I say this, Raj, because I do not know what is available for you in India (assuming you are still there now).  I hope this has been helpful.
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Roger (age 68) says: I am a bass singer and I find sustaining high notes (Middle C and higher) softly an enormous challenge. The only strategy that even partially works is shifting into my falsetto. Help!

ANSWER: Roger, a bass singing his top notes pianissimo at any age takes a great deal of being “in shape” vocally and applying great coordination.  There is a sense that singing high notes softly feels like a balancing act, providing just enough air and support to make sound easily (without gripping or straining) and keeping all the articulators (jaw, tongue) open and “out of the way.”

However, Roger, at 68 I’m afraid you may be hoping for what no longer is possible.  Forgive me for having to refer to age (I’m getting up there too), but the voice begins to lose some of its top range as the body/voice ages.  So it may be necessary to accept the limitations that are built in at this time.

Having said that, if you have not performed exercises that work on the mass of your voice (messa di voce), meaning the dynamic range of your voice, then such an exercise may be useful.  In such an exercise you will move from your softest clear sounds to your most robust ones then diminish to your lightest sounds again.  Here is a suggestion … (and I received this from Florence Berggren when I studied with her in Philadelphia) … the exercise will only encompass a fifth, beginning on the lowest note of that interval.  All in one breath: begin very softly, lightly on “1″ of the scale and slide up to the 5th, then crescendo from pp to ff and decrescendo again to pp, before sliding down again to the lowest note of the 5th to finish.

At the point where sliding up to the 5th very softly becomes “impossible” will be your barrier for singing pianissimo on a high note.  In choral music, feel free to switch to falsetto as needed at such times.  Let me encourage you to keep a realistic picture of vocal capabilities at 68 and older … recognizing that the upper-most range from the youthful past will become inaccessible, and often lower notes than the youthful past become increasingly accessible.

Hi,
I am a bass singer, with quality notes from middle C to C1 (I think that’s what you call it) two octaves lower.  Additional notes are there and I can get to an A (below the double low C).  I am currently in NYCOS (National Youth Choir of Scotland) but there is no real way for them to train me as I am seen as almost a different singer type.  I love Southern Gospel Music and always strive to do the best within the range that I have.  I am very careful in not straining my voice.  Should I practice the notes which I find hardest to get (both high and low) or should I spend most of the time strengthening comfortable notes without going near ‘the edge of my voice?’

Answer: Colet, I’m delighted to hear from you.  Wow.  A real bass!!  I know you must be valuable to the NYCOS.  Congratulations!

Age 16 is a little early to begin private voice lessons, so I wouldn’t concern yourself about that yet.  I think, as you say, “spending most of the time strengthening comfortable notes” at this time in your life is wise.  But that doesn’t mean that you should avoid the highest and lowest parameters altogether.

Keep in mind, the lowest notes will not be there if you push (breath) … you need to sing those notes with the feeling of just letting them “roll out.”  On the other hand, as you get closer to middle C you need to apply MORE vertical space (let your jaw drop farther), MORE energy (breath pressure) and allow the “feeling” of your vowels to be more “inside” you.  Don’t be surprised by “big” sound; allow yourself to be comfortable with that.  If some of this seems foreign, cryptic or esoteric, don’t worry, as you study with a voice teacher (after beginning in a year or two) some of these things will become clearer.  Still, with regards to spending time at the “edges of your voice range” … do a little every day … but spend most of your time where you sing comfortably.  You (and your future teacher) will be glad later that you don’t have a lot of bad habits to undo when you begin studying voice (singing).

Southern Gospel (especially the male quartets) always requires a REAL BASS … so you should find that much of your singing in those quartets is very comfortable.

I wish I could hear you.  Best wishes.

Answer: Timbre refers to the “quality” and “color” of a person’s voice.  We end up describing timbre in non-scientific language, appealing to other realms and senses.  Thus we say that one person’s voice is light, lyric, creamy, or dark, heavy, dramatic.  Lot’s of other adjectives are used also “velvety” “brassy” “nasally” “hooty” etc., but some of these may actually be describing vocal faults. When applied to finding a voice classification or voice type, one has to be VERY CAREFUL.  Timbre is only ONE criterion in determining voice classification and is one that can be misleading to inexperienced voice teachers.  Some classic pitfalls are to assume that a lyric voice is a “high voice” and a dramatic or heavy voice is a “low voice.”  This is simply WRONG, because there are lyric basses and lyric baritones just as there are lyric contraltos and mezzos … not just tenors and sopranos.  Likewise, assuming that a heavy dramatic voice is low is equally wrong.  There are dramatic tenors and dramatic sopranos.  I think only an experienced voice teacher can use timbre … and that after other criteria are factored to make an accurate judgment on voice classification.

The other criteria for discovering a person’s voice classification are RANGE, TESSITURA, and TRANSITION POINTS.

Obviously range is going to mark the compass of a person’s singing voice.  To choose a classification in which literature demands singing notes outside a person’s range is a clear evidence of wrong classification.  If you call yourself a tenor, then you must be able to sing tenor literature.  If you call yourself a tenor but cannot sing tenor literature, perhaps the only one deceived is yourself.

But range by itself is also insufficient for arriving accurately at one’s voice classification.  “Tessitura” is usually applied to music itself, for example a song.  Tessitura indicates the relative AREA of the range where MOST of the notes lie in any given song.  Applied to the voice, this means that every singer is going to have an AREA in his/her range in which s/he can sing with greatest comfort, flexibility, expressiveness and STAMINA.  E.g., A man may have a range that makes singing high A’s (above middle C) possible, but be uncomfortable sustaining that beyond a moment or two.  The ability to linger and enjoy those high notes endlessly simply isn’t there … but he’s most comfortable singing between D (above middle C) and the D below.  His tessitura would suggest that while some higher baritone literature may be in order once in a while–allowing for a high A on then off again–his tessitura (the area of his vocal comfort) is more like a baritone’s.  The area of the range (tessitura) where a singer predominantly finds most resonance and stamina should be a key ingredient in determining voice classification.

Transition points refers to those notes in the vocal range where there seems to be a natural change of quality.  This happens clearly in some singers and not at all in others.  Without going into detail on the various voice types, generalizations are made as to where the “changes” occur in each voice classification.  While this criterion can be useful (to a limited degree) by an experienced voice teacher, it is advisable to tell you that it is also far from foolproof.  Singers can learn to make a transition on any of several pitches.  The transition points also tend to vary depending on what vowel is sung.  Another problem can be that some student singers who will not accept their real classification adopt a “lift” note of their own desired classification to prove their point.  I would say that this criterion is probably used best by an experienced voice teacher on untrained voices.

So, there you have it.  Arriving at a person’s voice type entails a knowing and using the criteria of RANGE, TIMBRE, TESSITURA and possibly TRANSITION POINTS.

Hope this is helpful … and not overwhelming.  Best wishes.

ANSWER:

Assuming that a singer has a useful two-octave range (a mature singer will have this), baritones will find their upper useful limit to be G, A-flat or A above middle C – and down two octaves.

A Bass finds E-flat above middle C to be uncomfortable to sustain and is often his upper limit and he is much more comfortable staying in the lower half of his range.  In a choral situation, he’ll find low D’s and sometimes a low C within the realm of possibility.

Beyond these two designations are those singers who find themselves between these designations or lower than other parts.  A bass-baritone’s useful range is about F to F, and a basso-profundo’s useful range is low C to middle C with access to even lower notes frequently being available in choral situations (not solo).

I’m a 41 year-old soprano.  I have been a soprano all my life. Recently, I joined the alto section of the church choir because the Alto section is very weak. After a few weeks, I have started to feel throat pain when I sing.  I also get hoarse after singing low for a while.  Is there such as thing as singing too low?   Can you strain your voice singing below your range?

Answer: Very simply the answer is YES – there is such a thing as singing too low and Yes, you can strain your voice by singing in a range that is uncomfortable to sustain for long periods.  Don’t do it.  Strain from singing too high is the more common occurence.  But all the same the answer is yes – you can – and are straining your voice if you have throat pain after singing “alto” in choir.  Requiring your voice to continue to sing too low will ultimately damage the voice.

Every voice (singer) not only has the range within which notes can be reached – but there is also an area where stamina, beauty, comfort occurs with ease.  As a soprano you need to sing in the soprano tessitura to preserve your voice.  Regardless of the needs of the choir – you should be singing soprano – and only join the altos–if absolutely necessary–in passages that are “high” for them.  You’d still be helping the alto section – but in a manageable part of your range.

Thank you for asking this question – I’m sure many others will benefit from this information too.

A word to the wise.  Best wishes.

I’m 26.  I have been singing for a very long time and I am a vocal performance major in school.  I am classified as a soprano, however, I have not been able to sing above an E-flat6 without some kind of vocal strain.  Some days my D6′s sound better than others.  However, I remember practicing a D6 and C6 and the next day I was super sore.  In my voice lessons I usually vocalize up to a D6 or at least C6 and I am never sore and B-flat5 is a breeze.  I have a very low voice as well.  I can sing all the way down to a G3 sometimes lower. I feel like I need to be able to own an e6 to make it in the soprano world of operatic literature but I am so tired of trying to hit those higher notes.  I read Renee Fleming’s book and found out she did not have high notes either.  This gives me hope because she could not hit above the staff at all.  However, I don’t understand how to approach these high notes (especially the whistle register) I mean how can you tell when you have hit the top. They say true sopranos can’t hit low notes but Fleming has low and high notes as well as Mariah.  I think I might have just not learned enough technique yet but I don’t want to keep trying for these notes if I am never going to get them.

1. Answer: At 26 your voice is close to reaching its full physical maturity.  Inasmuch as you have had years of training but you are finding that the notes above “high C” are a strain, or cause soreness after practicing them – then your body is telling you that your best range is lower – as you say.  Vocalizing briefly up to D or E above high C is one thing.  Being able to use those notes in song literature is another.  But before I wipe the idea of the notes in “whistle register” out completely let me say just a word or two about that.

2. Not all women have the whistle register available to them.  So, you would not be unusual if you found “hanging around” up there to be a real source of strain.

3. Typically, sopranos who do move into the whistle register when vocalizing do so just to touch a note momentarily and descend again.  The sound is not big – it is small.  Don’t try to make a big sound in whistle register.  Sing these notes ‘by feel,’ listening only to tune the notes.  The vocal apparatus is at its most tense, and the vowel posture is what I call in “the apple bite” position; that is, the jaw and lips are at their most open.  Imagine fitting an entire apple into your mouth.  Well, of course you wouldn’t – and you also couldn’t.  But in the attempt you’d open your mouth – in every direction – as widely as possible.  This is typically necessary for notes in the whistle register.

4. Just because a singer doesn’t have notes such as E above high C doesn’t mean that she is not a soprano.  Only a very small percentage of literature requires notes higher than C6 – and most soprano literature doesn’t even require that.  The question I would ask is – in what part of your range are you most comfortable lingering?  If you are comfortable with the preponderance of soprano literature that fits your voice type in which the range ascends up to B-flat, B or C6 – then know that you are a soprano; just not one to be singing Mozart’s Queen of the Night.

5. On the other hand, if you find literature that uses a lower tessitura – songs where the preponderance of notes hang in the mid or lower part of your range – more comfortable to sing, then it might be wise for you to explore mezzo-soprano literature.  Mezzo-sopranos typically have a very wide range – but stamina for remaining high they’d agree is not theirs.  Mezzos can “zing” high Cs – but they don’t want to stay up there.  If this reflects where you are, you’d be wise to choose literature that is more comfortable on your voice.  You’ll save your voice in the process as well as give yourself a longer and happier singing career.

Based on what you’ve told me, I think you fit one of the scenarios described in my answer – paragraphs 4 or 5.

I hope this has been helpful.  Best wishes to you.

I am either a bass or baritone – or somewhere in between and have sung in choirs for several years.  I love to sing, but in the more advanced music, I find myself “reaching” to get high notes or sometimes the other way, reaching for low notes that are not comfortably in my range.

Answer: You ask a perfectly legitimate question.  This is a subject that is important to a young man of your age.  The answer to your question is: The range is broadened GRADUALLY.

You have had the opportunity to sing in various choral ensembles already and will continue to do so.  Since you have found challenges singing some of the higher notes in your voice part, or some of the lowest notes – or both, it is natural for you to desire to develop your vocal range such that you can negotiate the extremes of range comfortably.  Let me encourage you first by telling you that a somewhat limited range is not unusual in a young man your age.  Every person develops at his or her own rate.  Young singers your age often find themselves with a limited range.  This will likely not remain so indefinitely, as long as you continue to sing regularly in the days, weeks and years to come.

If you will begin a regimen – a daily routine – vocalizing every day for ten to thirty minutes – in addition to your choral ensemble singing, and devote that time to warming up your voice and extending your range incrementally, you will find that over time your range will grow in one or both directions, up and down.

Elsewhere on my blog I have an article specifically about warming up the voice.  This applies directly to your question.  Part of the purpose of vocal warm-ups is to extend the range.  Read it and follow those directions.

The only thing that I would add to that article is that, at nineteen, while you can expect your voice to develop – you ought not to expect overnight results.  Your voice [the larynx itself] is in a developmental and maturing phase.  So, warming up the voice daily, and learning good singing habits are the keys to good vocal development.  Your vocal range will grow over the next three or four years.

Please find and use specific warm-ups as most benefit you.  Just as a reminder:  you should begin with “small-range” figures at first in a comfortably low part of your range.  Then with each repetition ascend by a half-step until you reach your upper vocal limit.  At this point you should “turn the corner” and descend by half-steps to your lowest limit.  Subsequent vocal figures can be increasingly larger and cover the span of a 5th or 6th and then an octave, etc.  Over time you will discover that one end of your range – or both – will find a new limit.  Your vocal range will be growing.  Let this be a matter of discovery – rather than attempting to force either higher or lower notes so as to “become” some predetermined voice classification.  I have left off a lot of information that deals with the question of extending the range – but as I say, more of that is covered elsewhere on my blog.

As always, I feel strongly, that if you desire to pursue singing seriously, your best plan is to study with a reliable voice teacher.  Best wishes to you.