Dear Ed:
--- In vocalist-temporary@yahoogroups.com, Edward Norton <belcantist2003@y...> wrote: > Bingo, Michael! You win! These ARE topless sopranos (NOT the kind you see at the Cha-Cha Club out by the Interstate, but rather these ladies have no idea what to do with their upper passagio!)!!
I'm not sure whether you had more fun writing your response or I had more fun reading it...Hey - where are you located? Anywhere near San Francisco? Let's meet sometime at the Cha-Cha Club to talk about vocal technique....I'll buy you a brownie with whipped cream on top. :)
> Not a dense question. Tone quality, lack of tone on the part, incorrect "shape" of the voicese singing the part (i.e., altos have big bottoms (We're NOT back at the Cha-Cha Club, Michael!) and their voices traditionally get lighter at the top. When you need the tone on the bottom, there isn't one.
Ok - thanks for the clarification. I think the primary issue is however not that the woman are "sopranos" but that they are less skilled vocalists. True, an alto section should have women whose voices function best singing that part, rather than women who are hiding to avoid high notes. But some sopranos, particularly richer and heavier ones, may be well suited (and even best suited) for the choral alto part.
Regardless of classification, the women can develop a nice rich lower range, although I would not want to see them encouraged to artificially darken their sound.
> I've never heard "tweenie"! The term I've heard is "bariten"!
Yeah - sounds kind of like "teenie" - probably not a good choice. Or, even less flattering, "barely tenor" or even "tenibar" or "tinnibar"?
>I'd imagine the voice teacher would be a bit unamused that she was training you in one direction and you were singing in another direction
Yes - but there's more than one point of view. A student does not abandon, in my opinion, primary responsibility for themselves and their voice. All my teachers have been helpful to me, but some were better/more experienced teachers than others. This teacher was a young woman (younger than me) who, while a talented singer, was not so experienced as a teacher. There was no deceit - the teacher knew that at the time I found tenor range quite uncomfortable and was singing in the bass section of a choir - she just didn't know about this church gig I got. To walk over to me and embarrass me in front of my section with her public admonition that I belonged in a different section (not possible since I was hired to replace an absent bass singer) was unprofessional on her part, in my view.
Thanks for your comments.
Cheers,
Michael Gordon
|