Types of voice

Hi! Today I’ll talk about the voice: its tessitura and its vocal range.

Male and female voices

The voice cannot be squeezed into rigid categories (there are endless kinds of voices), but we can use a classification that comes from classical music and adapt it to modern music.

From the lowest to the highest, voices are usually classified as:

• men: bass, baritone, tenor and countertenor
• women: contralto, mezzo-soprano and soprano

Male voices can be trained in a classical or modern way but, apart from countertenors, they all sing in mixed or chest register.

In classical singing, female voices work almost entirely in head register, while in a choir, classical or modern, voices are identified by the part they sing.

What defines a voice

Singers who are just starting out, with a voice that is not yet trained, often think they are basses or contraltos simply because they don’t yet have the technique to support the high notes. Classifications can change over time as technique improves.

Many factors determine a singer’s range:

• Vocal weight: how light or heavy a voice is.
• Tessitura: the part of the range where you sing comfortably. The vocal range is the span from the lowest to the highest note you can sing.
• Timbre: the characteristic sound of your voice, shaped by your resonating cavities and vocal folds.
• Vocal registers: the extent of each of your registers.
• Anatomy: the size of the vocal folds, the body as a resonating chamber, and the length of the vocal tract (from the glottis to the lips).
• Vocal breaks (passaggi): the transition areas from one part of the range to another.

All of these matter, but the most practical ones to understand are vocal weight and vocal breaks.

Examples of voices

Some examples of male voices:

Bass

The bass has a deep, rich vibration and is a rare voice. Tessitura C#2–C#3, range around C1–G3. A great example is Johnny Cash.

Baritone

The baritone is a fairly common voice, with a tessitura of Eb2–Eb3 and a range between E1 and B3. A well-trained baritone can reach very high notes. An example is John Legend.

Tenor

Tenors are the most popular voices in modern music and can reach high notes. It is a common voice too, with a tessitura of F2–F3, a range around G1–D4 and a lighter sound than basses and baritones. Famous tenors include Michael Jackson and Freddie Mercury.

Countertenor

Like the bass, the countertenor is a rare voice, whose range matches the female contralto or mezzo-soprano. Over music history it has changed from a modal voice to a falsetto voice. The word comes from polyphonic music, where the contratenor altus sang the upper-middle part, using the high notes much more than the tenor. An example of a countertenor is Alfred Deller.

Some examples of female voices:

Contralto

Like their male counterparts, the bass and the countertenor, contraltos are rare voices, with a tessitura of C#3–C#4 and a range around C2–G4. An example of a contralto is Annie Lennox.

Alto

The alto is the second-lowest female voice, with a tessitura of F3–F5. Although these are deep voices, some of them can reach high notes at the top of their range.

Mezzo-soprano

The mezzo-soprano is the female equivalent of the baritone, with a tessitura around Eb3–Eb4 and a range from E2 to B4. An example of a mezzo-soprano is Beyoncé.

Soprano

The soprano is the highest and lightest female voice, with a tessitura around F3–F4 and a range around G2–F5. A great example of a soprano is Whitney Houston.

What type of voice are you?

What about you? Curious to find out what type of voice you have? Here is a simple exercise that can help: sing the vowel A following this exercise.

Conclusions

Having a wide range doesn’t mean you have to choose songs in extreme keys: choose songs that bring out the best of your tessitura, where your voice sounds its best.

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