Well.. if you have a decent low A than I'd say you are definitelly a
baritone. Many professional baritones with big voices stop around
there (also I don't know where you got the idea that most baritone
arias are written with low gs and fs, probably most BASS arias from
early music - ya should really be considering more baritonish arias
such as "Vouchsafe oh lord" from the Dettinger Te Deum).
I used to have a lot of the same problems you are mentioning, and as
a matter of fact did switch to tenor (being that I'm a professional
singer this was a major life decision for me) for about two years.
Focused on new rep and switched to the tenor section in the
professional opera choir I sing in. As a matter of fact I did "well
enough" in the tenor section (I have a solid high A anytime of the
day and a nice enough Bb most days) but it wasn't where
I "belonged". I could get away singing tenor, I'm sure but it didn't
sound right. Right around this time my previous teacher retired and
I had to get a new teacher, and guess what.. I discovered all the
unused power in my low notes. I found out that myself and a lot of
people I know tend to "undersupport" our low notes, since we can get
away with a decent sound (timbre) in that region. There is not way
not to support your high range, either you support or you crack or
flatten, but in the low range we sometimes mask it. So what I've
been working on lately with remakable progress is trying to keep the
same feeling in the abdominal area in the low range as I do in the
extreme high range. Yes, it is tiring.. yes, at first I thought it
was different, yes I felt a bit strained in the larynx at first
(though after I got it in my voice the strain was all out). However
now my bottom voice basically double in size and I can comfortably
hit a low Ab with orchestra with no problems being heard.. In the
Baritone section of the choir (most opera scores are for TTBB) I
hardly have to sing below an A, but I do have the notes all the way
down to the F. So maybe try working on energy in the low notes..
energy, space in the mouth (no we dn't have to open it as much as for
extreme high notes, but it has to be open to give the tone a chance)
and a lot of ring.
Hope this helps
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