Voice Type Voice type is often confused with vocal range by contemporary or non-classical singers (e.g. those who sing jazz, pop, blues, soul, country, folk and rock styles). For example, if you were to ask some singers what their range is, they may reply by stating that they are a “tenor” or a “soprano”. Using the terms range and type interchangeably is inaccurate and can be misleading. Perceived qualities or characteristics of a voice help to identify the vocal type. Human singing voices can be described by such qualities as vocal range, weight, tessitura and timbre, as well as vocal registration and vocal transition points that include “breaks” in the voice, and these qualities describe their vocal types. The designation of a voice as a “lyric soprano” would be an example of a vocal type. In opera, there are six basic voice types – bass, baritone, tenor, contralto/alto, mezzo-soprano and soprano - and then several sub-types within each. However, in North American choral music, there are usually only four vocal types – bass, tenor, alto and soprano – in the arrangements. (When six parts are written into choral arrangements, mezzo-soprano parts are typically called “second soprano” parts and baritones are often assigned to “second tenor” parts.) There are also intermediate voice types. They may have a range or tessitura lying somewhere between two voice types or parts (e.g., a bass-baritone), or may have a vocal weight lying somewhere between light and heavy (e.g., a dramatic coloratura soprano, etc.). (For more detailed information on how voices are subcategorized by vocal weight, read vocal weight.) Below is a list of the basic vocal types and their approximate ranges. I have intended to keep these definitions as simple as possible, without making the complicated distinctions within each vocal type. The ranges listed are based on classical and choral expectations – the “useful” range - for each voice type rather than on the possible spectrum of notes that singers within each type might be capable of singing. (In other words, these ranges are not static, especially in the case of well-developed singing voices, but represent average ranges in written classical and choral music.) For the benefit of more visual readers, I have also included diagrams of a keyboard with the standard (classically and chorally defined) ranges for each vocal type shaded in. The darker shading indicates the range that is assigned to a certain voice type in opera, and the lighter part represents the additional range that might be expected of a singer of the same voice type within choral music. Note how the ranges for each vocal type do a lot of overlapping. Finally, I have opted to use scientific pitch notation, where C4 refers to middle C (and A4, the A above middle C, has a frequency of 440Hz), to keep these definitions as succinct as possible. In scientific pitch notation, each octave begins at the note of C, rather than A. (the A immediately below middle C, for example, is A3, and is considered to part of the octave beginning one octave below middle C.) Therefore, the C one octave above middle C is C5, the C one octave below middle C is C3, etc.. (For a better understanding of scientific pitch notation, please read the related section in How To Determine Singing Range and Vocal Fach (Voice Type)
Posted on: Mon, 10 Jun 2013 04:12:16 +0000
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