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From:  nicktenor@a...
nicktenor@a...
Date:  Fri Feb 2, 2001  9:08 am
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] Questions?


In a message dated 02/02/01 06:18:33 GMT Standard Time,
emmashapplinrules@h... writes:

<< I hear many singers tell me they have 4 or 5 octaves voices. Do most
singers have that many octaves or are they counting wrong? >>

Hmm. Well, I'm sort of a lyric tenor with some "oomph", much nearer lyric
than spinto, and first thing in the morning, or when suffering from acute
laryngitis, I can growl/grumble/vocalise down to about a low B-flat - a full
octave below my real range. I can also squeak/vocalise, given sufficient
testicular constriction, up to about a high B-flat (a full tone below a
soprano's top C). By my reckoning, this is around 3 full octaves.

However.

I wouldn't *dream* of inflicting much more than two octaves of this on my
public, or even on my cats. Or my wife!

I don't really see me ever singing anything in public that requires more from
me than the b-flat below middle c at the lower end, or the d-flat above high
C (e.g. in the Cujus Animam from Rossini's Stabat Mater) at the top end.
What's that? Two and a quarter octaves? Plenty for me!

And no, I wouldn't be surprised to find that there are female singers who
possess at least a full octave more than I have. Two full octaves more?
Maybe. Unless they want to sing freak shows, I can't see that there's any
point to it.

Thinking about it, my singing teacher, who was in her day a world-class
Dramatic Mezzo, seems able to sing down as low as I do, and can doubtless
still vocalise at least half an octave higher than I can (even though her day
was 20+ years ago) - so maybe the conclusion of my rambling, incoherent
thesis herein is that women have a much greater theoretical range than men?
Who knows.

Returning you now to your regular, more lucid contributors.......

Cheers,

Nicktenor

emusic.com