On Fri, 29 Sep 2000, Isabelle Bracamonte wrote:
> Someone mentioned in a post (have forgotten; it was
> equating baritones with sopranos, which I thought was
> an intriguing idea) that coloraturas are as rare as
> tenors.
That was me!
> I have definitely found this NOT to be true. I
> remember people at Aspen festival introducing each
> other with, "Are you a singer? Yes? Let me guess,
> coloratura? Everybody here is a coloratura."
My distribution is of people in general, not working singers. Naturally,
extreme-range voices will be *encouraged* to enter a singing career more
than a mid-range soprano or baritone. Our culture prizes rare voices, and
repertoire creates the demand. On a similar note, opera singers have more
"dramatic" size voices than the population as a whole - big voices are
also prized.
I'd say 80% of male pop voices are tenors, 15% countertenor, 5% baritone -
hardly a natural distribution!
Tenors and coloraturas make up closer to 25% of professional classical
singers is my guess. Bass-baritones, mezzos, true basses are similarly
inflated. Not too many contraltos, since they challenge the patriarchy.
This is because there are lot of roles to fill!
-Tako
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