Dear Deborah:
--- In vocalist-temporary@yahoogroups.com, Deborah Spencer
<singsoprano2003@y...> wrote:
>
> Thanks Michael,
>
> I agree but do you have any ideas about the questions I asked?
I hope you don't think it improper of me to have chimed in on what I
thought was a related topic - that's kind of how these discussions
work - threads go off in various directions, and one person writing
about one thing stimulates discussion about another. By the way, I
went to your web-site and listened briefly to some clips - I
especially liked your "pop" singing (Gershwin) - nice low range :)
As to your question - it seems to me that contraltos in opera and
classical music are relatively rare these days. I can speculate why,
but I'm hardly an authority on these issues. Because of the time
difference, some of our knowledgeable listers are now asleep - so
give it a bit of time and you'll hear from the east coast and
European crowd.
I'm pretty sure Karen Mercedes has addressed this topic at one time
or another - search the archives for "karen mercedes contralto" and
see what you find.
As has been mentioned, there are plenty of contralto voices
singing "bass" in the Sweet Adelines, so it's not a shortage from
biology. I suspect too that there might be a certain prejudice
against contraltos and so voice teachers might tend to steer wide-
ranging contralto voices towards higher keys - I recall Leslie Jones
(list member and contralto) writing about originally being trained as
a soprano. Sorry if I'm off base here.
Cheers,
Michael
I hope you don't think it improper of me to have chimed in on what I
thought was a related topic - that's kind of how these discussions
work - threads go off in various directions, and one person writing
about one thing stimulates discussion about another.
. I contribute to only certain
Sometimes a post will kick off thoughts in related but slightly
different directions, and
>
>
> Michael <chosdad@y...> wrote:Dear Deborah and List:
>
> I'm not sure why baritones are in your title - perhaps you meant
> basses - I don't see any shortage of baritones!
>
> --- In vocalist-temporary@yahoogroups.com, "Deborah"
> <singsoprano2003@y...> wrote:
> > in my experience the majority of
> > songs from the pop culture which most young people listen to and
> sing
> > along to are often quite low in register. Often this seems to be
> > where alot of young people use their voices.
>
> I assume you are referring to the pop range being low for females.
> That is the perspective of a classical female singer. For males,
the
> pop range is high. In fact, the ranges for either pop females or
> males are pretty close.
>
> Here's a link that addresses this subject:
>
> http://webpages.charter.net/toma/mixedbarbershop/2c.gsrange.html
>
> While the author is no academic, and I would take the 500 hz figure
> with a grain of salt, I think he is essentially correct in saying
> that pop vocal music, which is usually closer to speech, seems
> generally most pleasing in a narrower range of pitches than other
> vocal music.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Michael Gordon
>
>
>
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