Singing For Dummies. Pamelia S. Phillips
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Название: Singing For Dummies

Автор: Pamelia S. Phillips

Издательство: John Wiley & Sons Limited

Жанр: Музыка, балет

Серия:

isbn: 9781119843160

isbn:

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      Determining your voice type — soprano or mezzo-soprano for women, tenor or bass for men — enables you to choose songs that are most appropriate for you. After you figure out what category you fit into, check out Appendix A for a list of songs suitable for your voice type. Read on to explore how each voice type sounds and how to determine where your voice fits.

      Think of a voice type as a series of ingredients mixed together to create a unique-tasting dessert. For singing, the ingredients combine to create a unique-sounding voice. The four common voice types are soprano, mezzo-soprano (often called mezzo), tenor, and bass (the next section, “Identifying the Fab Four,” tells you all about these four voice types). These five ingredients determine a voice type:

       Age: Many singers are assigned a voice type as young singers, but voices change with age. The muscles in the larynx continue growing and developing into the early 20s. Think about the last time you made a phone call and heard the sound of a stranger’s voice. Even if you didn’t know the person on the other end, you could guess their age by listening to their speaking voice. Because speaking voices and singing voices change with age, wait until your body is finished growing to determine your voice type.

       Range: Range is all the notes a singer can hit — including the highest note, the lowest note, and all the notes between. Beginning singers usually have a shorter range than more advanced singers, because the high notes or low notes get stronger with practice. As you practice the exercises with this book and accompanying online tracks, your range can expand whether you’re a beginner or an advanced singer. Knowing your range helps you figure out your voice type, because a bass can sing lower than a tenor, and a soprano can sing higher than a contralto. The factors that most affect how you determine your voice type are range, in which part of your range you’re most comfortable singing, and register transitions.

       Register: Register refers to a series of adjacent notes that sound similar, are produced in a similar fashion, and have a similar tonal quality. The notes sound similar because the same muscles produce them and they often vibrate in a similar location in a singer’s body. The transitions between the registers can help you determine your voice type. Keep reading this chapter to find out where each voice type feels transitions to help you decide whether your voice does something similar. The transitions in your voice may change as your voice develops. (Chapter 11 has more on registers.) The range of the voice where a singer is most comfortable is called tessitura. If you hear the word tessitura used in a discussion about a song, in that case, it refers to the area where most of the notes lie in the song. The tessitura of a Stevie Wonder song is quite high, because he’s comfortable singing a lot of high notes. The tessitura for “God Bless America” and most folk songs is lower. Knowing where your voice is most comfortable, as well as where it’s uncomfortable, is a determining factor when it comes to voice type.

       Tone of voice: Each voice has a specific tonal quality or timbre. Words that describe tone include strident, dark, bright, metallic, ringing, and shrill. When determining a voice type, the voice tone helps you further determine your category. The tone of voice for a tenor is often much brighter than the tone of voice for a bass.

       Voice strength: Knowing your voice strength also helps you determine your voice type. Sopranos and tenors have a stronger head voice than mezzos and basses. Likewise, mezzos and basses have a stronger, meatier middle voice than sopranos and tenors. (Chapter 11 gives you details on head voice and middle voice.)

      

Don’t classify yourself too quickly based on the preceding factors. For the general purposes of singing, focus on building great technique and see how your voice responds. Your voice tells you what voice type it really is; you just have to know how to look and listen.

      The four voice types are soprano, mezzo, tenor, and bass. Even though these names sound like characters in a mob movie, I promise you that they’re nothing to be afraid of. In the upcoming sections, you discover specific traits about each voice type: the range, register transitions, voice tone, and any subdivisions of that voice type, as well as the names of a few famous singers to help you put a sound with the voice type.

      

Note that when I talk about register transitions, they don’t occur on just one note. That’s because not all sopranos (or mezzos, tenors, or basses) are the same.

      If you’re confused after reading about all the voice types, remember that naming your voice type today isn’t absolutely necessary. After you read the descriptions of the voice types in this chapter, you may be ready to vote soprano over mezzo or bass over tenor for now. Try that range for a while and see whether it fits well. The takeaway from this chapter is to figure out your voice type if you want. If you’re singing most styles of music, your voice type won’t matter as much as figuring out if your voice can sing all the notes in the song you like.

      

Listen to recordings of singers and read about what they’ve sung during their careers. If you know of singers who have voices similar to yours, look at the songs they sang.

       What’s the timbre of your voice? Is the tone more steely than chocolaty? Steely isn’t a negative adjective; it’s merely fact. Very often the steely voice is the character audiences love, but they don’t want to rush up and put their arms around them and rescue them.

       Is your voice light and flutelike? Is your voice loud and heavy even when you’re lightly singing? Heavy means the sound that you’re making is loud even when you’re singing comfortably. Voices that are a little heavy are full and heavy voices are called dramatic.

       What’s your singing range and tessitura? The difference between a mezzo and a soprano often is tessitura. The mezzo can sing the high notes but doesn’t want to live up there, and the soprano wants to sing one high note after another. If you’re new to singing, you may not be able to tell the difference between a soprano and a mezzo or a baritone and a tenor. No worries. Keep listening to the sounds, and you’ll eventually be able to tell the difference between the voice types.

       Are you able to move your voice easily? Do you enjoy the fast passages in the song and think of them as fun? If the fast notes are easy for you, you can add coloratura to your vocal description. The coloraturas demonstrate some spectacular fast moves with their voices.

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