To: "'VOCALIST'" <vocalist>
Subject: RE: How high is AMAAAZING.
Date sent: Fri, 21 Jan 2000 10:45:01 +0100
Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>

Axwell wrote:

>She is singing in the ordinary soprano register. She is
>singing a small compressed tone to make you think it is a lot higher than
it
>is. Go to the piano and play the keys as she sings and you will hear this.

>Probably the audio technician has done something also to give this
>impression. It is not that high.

You touch a good point here. Classical singers seek an even scale, for pop
singers this is not required. Because the different areas of the voice are
not equalised they retain distinctive characteristics, and this wide
disparity within a small area of the voice makes the range sound more
extensive than it is. Put another way, the distance between two notes a
fifth apart sounds greater on a 'popular' voice because the colour doesn't
match: the classical singer trains to match these notes as closely as s/he
can. The distance of a fifth in a 'popular' voice can sound more than the
distance of an octave in a 'classical' voice.

I've been curious about this phenomenon for some time. I admire Ella
Fitzgerald, and I heard her on a recording scatting what sounded like
astronomically high notes. I checked them on the piano and was surprised to
discover what I thought were Bs and Ds were Es and Gs. It was the contrast
with Ella's well-upholstered lower register that made them sound so high. In
this context it's probably worth recalling than many 'popular' singers beef
up the middle of the voice as much as they can.

As to Mariah Carey, I don't think I've heard her touch higher than a D, and
I think she prefers to stop sustaining notes perhaps a fifth lower than
that. Not bad going, but hardly remarkeable for what sounds like a flutey
light soprano.

Happy Singing,

Regards / vriendelijke groeten

Laurie Kubiak
Commercial Analyst - Europe & Africa SMMS
Sales and Contract Support, Shell Services International
Shell Centre, London SE1 7NA
Telephone: +44 171 934 3853; Fax: +44 171 934 6674
Mobile: 07771 971 921: E.mail: Laurence.l.Kubiak-at-is.shell.com
Office: LON-SC 631