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From:  John Link <johnlink@n...>
Date:  Tue Jan 1, 2002  9:11 pm
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] Regarding the Am I a tenor or bass-baritonequestion

Dale Gillespie wrote:

>SING WHAT YOU LIKE AND WANT TO. But always sing it in your own range.

Yes, please sing it in a range that is appropriate to your voice, and
to the music.

I add the "to the music" because there may be a range of keys in
which a piece is comfortable and then we must decide which key to
use. One of the sopranos auditioning for my vocal quintet (for the
role of first soprano, range G below middle C to high E) once sang
"If I Loved You" in an absurdly high key. She could sing all the
notes but sounded ridiculous. I asked her to do it again a third
lower and it was much better. Then I asked her to lower it another
third and it was better again. Eventually she sang it a full octave
below where she started and it was the best of all. I asked her why
she chose to sing it in such a high key and she said that she thought
that I wasn't to hear something high. What a mistake that was! By
choosing such a high key not only did she show me her voice in a less
than optimal way, she also showed me her lack of musical taste, and
all because she thought I wanted to hear something high. I did not
invite her into my group.

Sing what you want (and exercise your artistic judgement)!
John Link

Check out my CDs:
http://www.cdBaby.com/JohnLink2 (John Link Sextet)
http://www.cdBaby.com/JohnLink (John Link Vocal Quintet)



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