i have had a number of female students who can vocalise 4 octaves but,
none of them were able to use all 4 octaves in singing. most music written
for voice rarely goes outside the range of a 12th so, the ability to sing 4
octaves would be a novelty at best.
i myself can vocalise from low C to the F above tenor high C. the low
C to the low F is useless (it is my 'throat-fart' range, not to be confused
with vocal fry) and the range starting at the G just above middle C and above
is pretty thin and nasty sounding. maybe i could turn it into a 'heavy
metal' high range but, i'm not really interested beyond just being able to do
it, a novelty. i do have some male students with ranges as wide as mine
who do access this higher range with power and really thrive there. however
their middle and lower ranges, the conversational range, seem to be thin,
almost as a trade off.
i remember seeing a roundtable discussion which included maureen
mcgovern and beverly sills. at one point, mcgovern was talking about her 4
or 5 octave range and then, five minutes later, was talking about how a
conductor had to lower some of the songs in 'three penny opera' because they
were to high for her. the look on sills' face was priceless.
mike
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