The Range of Voice
Range
Many singers who do not understand the principle of "point and focus" in their singing find that high notes elude them. Lacking correct placement, a soprano will often sound like a contralto, a splendid tenor will find it easier to sing baritone parts, even though the quality of the voice makes the voice actually the former. (He would not of course have the necessary lower tones.)
A contralto may have higher tones in her voice than necessary for the type of song or aria she is going to sing, but if the voice quality is of the order of the warm, low contralto, she should’ be taught as a contralto. It is futile for her to strain and struggle to be a mezzo or dramatic soprano, merely to utilize the higher tones her voice may possess, and to lose thereby all the glorious quality that appears when the voice is used in its natural range.
The range of a singer’s voice does not determine its classification. The fact that a man’s voice can reach high C does not make him a tenor. It is the quality and the range that keep the vocalist comfortable, the range that brings out all the best qualities that make a voice, not the tricks that force a too-high or too-low tone. Whenever we purchase a car that is reputed to do ninety miles an hour with ease, it is not the fact that we are going to run it at one hundred ninety all the time that makes us desire it. We all have a consciousness of highway police. But the car’s ability to reach speed with ease makes us confident that it will perform extremely well at the fifty or sixty miles an hour that we will demand of it, and of course there may be cases when the ninety miles an hour will impress those who enjoy this extra speed.
A student of mine was able to reach B-flat above high C, a remarkable feat seldom found in even the highest of coloraturas. She practiced using the highest notes in her voice simply because we found that when she could reach B-flat the A was extremely easy, and when in concert she occasionally took her A the audience enjoyed the purity and clarity of the bell-like, seldom heard to.
The following ranges are approximate:
