At 04:44 PM 06/19/2000 -0700, Tako Oda wrote:
>A true contralto might surprise you with
>her actual lowest notes. Many can rumble down to A2, some even down to
>F2 (listen to Sweet Honey in the Rock)!
Wouldn't it make sense to call them tenors or baritones if they
can do justice to those notes?
I know a coloratura soprano who decided to develop her chest
voice (possibly on the same day she burned her bra :) and now
routinely sings down to D3 - without harming her upper register
performance at all.
>Women who can't phonate below G3 are rare (projecting above an orchestra
>is another issue, of course). Current fashion in the gender-strict world
>of classical singing simply keeps women mostly in head voice. IMO, so
>men aren't intimidated.
That goes both ways, to be sure. I remember seeing a "Vocal Method" book that
said men shouldn't use the head register.....
Then there was a rock or pop tune (in the late 50's) that contained the words
"I can sing like a boy," (in a traditionally masculine range), "I can sing like
a girl," (same voice, in falsetto an octave higher) "and I can sing like a
frog." (same voice in strohbass, two octaves lower)
|
