duchesskitten6 OP t1_je37mub wrote on March 29, 2023 at 2:03 AM

Reply to comment by ExternalPiglet1 in Can you tell someone's voice range only by hearing them sing/talk? by duchesskitten6

But the voice is measured mainly by the tones in which a person speaks, right?

What I found confusing is that countertenor is said to be the male equivalent of alto/contralto, but apparently this isn't accurate since countertenors have a range of E3 to E5 (and they use falsetto, otherwise their voices are tenor/baritone) and contraltos have a range of F3 to F5 and contralto is more masculine (or at least deeper) sounding than the countertenor voice.

However, there are contralto singers which aren't that deep, like Eula Beal.

Also, I hear that the stereotypical female singer is soprano. However, there is a significant number of mezzos and I just discovered that children's voices are mezzo (A3-A5) and personally my own voice didn't change in a perceivable level since childhood. I sing soprano (last week the choir conductor asked me to correct it a bit since it was sounding a bit deep in the beginning) so I am suspecting I am actually a mezzo. However, there are times in which I cannot tell a mezzo from a soprano, a mezzo's voice doesn't necessarily sound youthful and sopranos can sound youthful (such as Anita Auglend from Sins of Thy Beloved).

Another detail: this choir only has, in theory, four voice types: soprano, alto, tenor and bass, so I suspect that some might be in the middle and perhaps the basses are actually baritone, since basses are rare.

Another thing that is confusing me is that, when I watch videos of voice types for fun, this video and this video apparently have singers of multiple ranges singing the same note. How can that be? 🤔

I would appreciate if you helped me to see it more clearly.

ExternalPiglet1 t1_je3exvz wrote on March 29, 2023 at 3:01 AM

There is a lot ground to cover, I honestly don't have all the specifics. To me there's a lot of gray area, but it comes down to what does the song require. To simplify things, it makes sense for a choir to use the 4 major ranges, it makes writing the composition easier at least.

Those videos are interesting. The main showcase seemed to be how when hitting those notes called out, how effortless was it. I'm a tenor, yet I can still carry notes out of range. The trade-off is that I lose volume or stability. Or like how my low note might be a baritone's high note. It's the same note, but who's more comfortable with it.

Keep trying to figure it out though, it's a good rabbit hole to get into. Cheers~