In a message dated 1/1/2002 10:51:25 PM Eastern Standard Time, gwyee@r... writes:
<< I know baritones who have higher notes than some tenors; and some tenors who have better low notes than some baritones; but when they sing, it's seems pretty clear as to who's what. So the differences appears to me to be more than range and tessitura comfort. Isn't this a pretty important question for students and singing teachers? Students may come to them with layers of other stuff covering up their true voices? >>
gwendel,
timbre, in regard to voices, is not an absolute. we call ludwig suthaus and peter pears both tenors, we call hermann prey and robert merrill both baritones. (try listening to the old furtwangler recording of 'tristan und isolde', with suthaus and fischer-dieskau, and tell me which one sounds more like a baritone.) and, by what criteria do we decide what someone's 'true' voice is? is it the voice they constructed through years of study or, the voice they grew up with, complete with hometown accent? the debate could rage on forever but, my point is, because the vocal tract is flexible, a singer is uniquely positioned to be more than one instrument, unlike the clarinet or, the violin.
mike
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