> In my high school chorus, I hear other girls
> in my section (I'm an alto) who just can't hit notes
> above, say, a B4 or a C5 because they simply can't
> push their chest voice up any higher. (It makes me
> wonder if some of these girls wouldn't be sopranos
> if they'd only use their head voice, but that's
> a-whole-nother story.)
That was me exactly! I didn't even know what a head
voice was until I started taking lessons as an adult
and discovered I was a soprano. In high school,
because I was improperly pushing chest up too high, I
could only get up to about a Bb above middle C, and my
throat was always sore after singing. When I began
singing lessons and was introduced to head voice, I
had a huge break between my registers, and the sound
was sooooo wimpy. Now, after years of fixing the mess
my school choir teachers made of my voice (they did
individual exams and auditions every year, so they
should have noticed there was a problem!) I have a
nice mix and can vocalize all the way up to an A#
above high C (on good days :o).
In terms of speaking, my voice has gradually
transitioned over the years from purely chest into a
mix (sometimes more chesty, sometimes more heady),
which is where it's fairly comfortable. Although when
I tell people who haven't heard me sing I'm a soprano,
sometimes they express shock because they think my
speaking voice is so low (only until they hear me
laugh, though, which often goes up to Queen of the
Night range). Sometimes, if my voice is really tired,
I will speak in head voice. I also do this if I get
really excited. Come to think of it, my speaking range
is almost as broad as my singing range... Is there any
reason we're supposed to stick to one usage?
Personally, I like to use the full range of
expressiveness available to me :o).
Jennifer
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