From: John Alexander Blyth
Subject: Re: Differentiating between a tenor and a baritone. Please Help
To: VOCALIST <vocalist>
Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>

Olu,
In my experience(1), a lot of gifted singers are also good mimics:
this shows a good ear and sensitivity to detail. On the other hand I'm quite
sure that in doing so they do not allow their whole voice - their *own* -
voice to come into play. Your own voice will always be a larger and more
resonant sound than imitations of other vocal instruments, especially if you
are mimicking sounds heard via a sound system instead of *live* singing (the
recording and sound reproduction process tends to minimize the lower
frequencies and resonant qualities of a big voice, so some sense of
*presence* is often lost).
The *quality* of your own voice is what will determine the general
classification tenor/baritone/bass, although, particularily in choirs,
singers will be often placed according to the range of notes they have.
Explore your voice, and work on repertoire that doesn't hurt! It
will become clear in time what category you most resemble.j

(1) I sing bass and baritone, solo and in a choir (though really low
bass notes are not big enough to be worth talking about) and work in the
music library of a small university in Canada. I know many singers of most
vocal categories.j




At 21:47 04/12/99 -0800, you wrote:
>Hello everyone,
>
>I have a problem I am trying to figure out. I had a teacher who proclaimed
>me to be a tenor. I also currently have a teacher who proclaims me to be a
>baritone. How can I find out. I would prefer to be a tenor though.
>
>Here are the facts I have.
>I can sing a g2 easily and sing a e2
>I can sing a high C c5 in head voice
>I think my chest voice breaks around d4
>I can sing the final vincero of Nessun Dorma( but not quite with a very
>steady vocal production) but I can sing it.
>I can fake many timbres from pavarotti to andrea bocelli.
>
>I fake so many timbres that I do not know how to even produce my own natural
>timber. I just try and sing what sounds like pavarotti.
>
>How can I effectively determine what fach I am . I have a scholarship
>audition coming up and I have prepared THe vagabond and E lucevan le stelle
>,which are bariton and tenor respectively
>
>I need help people and I would appreciate and comments or help that you can
>give.
>
>olu-want to be the first famous Nigerian tenor
>
>______________________________________________________
>
John Blyth
Bass/Baritone (as opposed to Bass-Baritone) etc.
Brandon, Manitoba, Canada