BackStage Utah

So, with a musical coming up for me next I am getting back into singing and thinking about singing. I used to sing quite seriously, but put it away when I made the decision to head into "straight" theatre for school instead of opera/vocal performance.

Now I'm realizing that in this market, since I can sing I probably should. I'll never be a real musical comedy guy, but there are possibilities I shouldn't close myself off from.

Anyways ... I have many questions I'd love to ask some of the more experienced singers. Here's one: I started out a true bass, but gradually expanded the upper range to a comfortable baritone/2nd tenor. �When do you simply give up and say "that's just flat out of my range"? Obviously, there are limits, but how do you draw them? If you usually top out at F ... when do you say "nope ... can't do F# or a G".

julesb2183 wrote on Apr 18^th, 2008 at 11:33am:


But there is always the option of transposition.... and this is where your ability to act the song becomes more important than technical perfection.

julesb2183 wrote on Apr 18^th, 2008 at 11:33am:

It may be out of your range, or you just may need to focus on technique more: relaxing, breathing, attacking, etc.

It's the line between those that's confusing me. Where's that thine where technique won't help and it's simply beyond what your body can produce? Is there an absolute physical limit, or is it only a matter of technique?

When the note is in a song, and must sound tuneful, I pretty much consider it beyond me.

I have the knowledge to give a long, scientific lecture on healthy voice, vocal cord abilities vs. restrictions, etc.

But I'm going to do it this way:

If you don't think you can hit a certain note night after night without an insecurity creeping in, causing there to be a bit of reluctance in some of your performance, then it's out of your vocal range.  And if being sick will take it completely out of the picture, fuggeddaboutit.  Range isn't what you can hit sometimes... it's what people can count on from you.

I'm just not the type to over-flatter myself.  When people ask me what my range is, I'm not going to say "low C to high E" just because I hit an E once in the shower when I was hyped up on candy and in my vocal prime.  I say, "I'm an alto with a mezzo range and I can sing soprano on a really good day... but you'll have to be desperate." 

Be honest with yourself.  If you're hesitant to saying you can reach a note.... admit that. 

P.S. Men's voices peak later in life then women's.... jerks.

Yes, please! �Be scientificky! �And also explain why I have a nice bass/baritone, and an ok alto, and a beautiful, wide-ranged soprano (most days I can sound like June Bronhill, on rare good days I can sound like Harolyn Blackwell), but no tenor at all.

Especially when male leads are almost always tenors. �  (well, male leads also don't have my face, so I've kind of made my peace with it all already, but still, not being able to hit those darn tenor notes irks me sometimes.)

I'd love the scientific explanation as well.  I know where my voice tops out, and where it bottoms out.  As a vocal coach, I'm fascinated by the voices of my students, what their total ranges are, and how that compares to usable range and where their "money notes" live.

Voice is fascinating to me.  If I felt like going back to school, I'd have many research projects I'd be ready to delve into.

OK, if you're a baritone/bass and want to do musical theater, you are never, ever, ever, ever, etc. honest about your range, because as has been said, the best parts are all tenor.  So once you have them fooled and they cast you, it's often times too late, and you get the primo part!!!  Hey, it's worked for me for a few years anyway.

mr. spiker wrote on Apr 18^th, 2008 at 10:50am:


So - to answer my own question in a way ...

I easily added a third to my range in this show. Sure... it's not like I was sailing on those G#s, but I sang 'em.

... oh, and then there's that high C where I used falsetto for the first time ever. Clasical bass/baritones don't exacyly get asked to do that often in their training.