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Vocal range

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Human voices may be classified according to their vocal range — the highest and lowest pitches that they can produce.

Voice type
Female
Male

Vocal range defined

The broadest definition of vocal range, given above, is simply the span from the highest to the lowest note a particular voice can produce. This broad definition, however, is quite often not the one meant when someone speaks of "vocal range." This is because some of the notes a voice can produce may not be considered "musically useful" for a particular purpose. For example, when speaking of the vocal range of a male opera singer, one usually excludes falsetto pitches, which are not used in most opera. A male doo-wop singer, on the other hand, might quite regularly deploy his falsetto pitches in performance and thus include them in determining his range.

For this reason, it is important to clearly define what is meant when discussing a vocal range. For example, one might say of a man that he has a two and one-half octave range in full voice and an additional one half octave in falsetto. Similarly, when discussing the range of a woman one might say that she has a "useful" two octave range with an additional major third on the bottom that is only audible with amplification. Unfortunately, there is no standardization in this nomenclature outside of classical unamplified singing.

Vocal range in classical music

Vocal range is generally very important in classical music. In opera and solo classical music, two considerations are paramount in determining vocal range: consistency of timbre across the vocal range, and ability to project the pitches (that is, to be heard clearly over an orchestra without amplification). Of course, if any pitch cannot be properly projected, it is not considered part of the range. See voice type.

Choral music is somewhat less stringent than opera. In contrast to opera, the large number of voices that can be deployed in each group make it somewhat less important that each individual voice be flawlessly produced and completely audible. Thus, for example, choirs can often deploy notes that are lower than those that might be deployed in an operatic performance - no single member of the choir might be able to project such a low note individually, but taken together the note might be quite audible.

In much choral music the vocal ranges are often divided not into the three parts per sex as they are in operatic solo music but into only two parts per gender - Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass - or into four parts per sex - Soprano I, Soprano II, Alto I, Alto II, Tenor I, Tenor II, Bass I (or baritone), Bass II. For example see the Mass in B Minor. There is therefore some ambiguity in mapping the solo baritone voice defined in the three way solo system to the four way choral system. Many high baritone soloists like Sherrill Milnes might have sung Second Tenor in a chorus, (usually not a preferred compromise) whereas other baritones such as Bryn Terfel might have sung First Bass. They would have had to choose one or the other as any baritone part is labeled in that manner.

Classification of vocal range

Common vocal ranges
represented on a keyboard
Soprano
Countertenor or Mezzo-soprano
Contralto
Tenor
Baritone
Bass

Typical choral ranges:

Note: Depending upon the conductor's vocal exercises & observations, an individual may possess an extended range which may allow a shifting of choral sections.

Operatic ranges (according to this source):


A soprano who can sing higher than C#6 is known as a sopranino and a Bass who can sing G1 or lower is known as a sub-bass singer or a basso profondo. However, many people will still call sopraninos sopranos and basso profondos basses/bassos.

Male falsetto and female flageolet register can extend the vocal range of a singer higher.

Males who possess high ranges or can project falsetto, are referred to as countertenors and possess ranges equivalent to those of the female ranges, alto, mezzo-soprano and soprano (a male soprano is specifically referred to as sopranist). Contraltos have been known to sing Tenor (although this is strongly discouraged, especially among younger contraltos), and occasionally men will sing in the upper three ranges.

In addition to these general classifications, additional subdivisions are very commonly deployed in opera and other classical music for solo voice. There are a number of such detailed classification schemes, some of which are historical or country-specific. See voice type.

Induced vocal range

Where the above are largely achieved through practice and natural aptitude, adult vocal ranges can be obtained by means of physiological modification. The most notable example of this would be castrato singers, although modern examples include the lowering of the voice through Tobacco smoking.

Vocal range in popular music is usually more generously defined than in classical. Because of the use of amplification it is possible for singers to produce musically useful pitches that are much lower than might be possible for classical singers. Similarly, consistency of timbre is much less important in popular music. Thus in many popular genres falsetto is acceptable for men, deep growling pitches can be deployed, and flageolet notes (commonly referred to as the whistle register in popular music) can be freely used by any female or male who can produce them.

The importance of vocal range varies in popular music. At one extreme, to choose a well known example, genres such as punk show little concern for technical proficiency of any sort and thus no particular concern for vocal range. Similarly, many roles in the musical theater, while requiring rather more skill, call for only vaguely determined voice types. At the other extreme, vocal range is considered extremely important by many singers and fans of some heavy metal music. There is often intense discussion among fans of precisely what a particular singer's vocal range is, and singers often show extremely wide ranges.

For these various reasons, it is extremely difficult to speak of vocal range in music generally. For more information, see the articles on individual genres. All of the pop music artists range and vocal classifications are only speculation, and almost none of them ever acually had training with the exception of Mariah Carey and these facts arent perfectly correct. e.g

  • Rihanna
  • Voice Type
  • Lyric Coloratura Soprano
  • Highest Note:E6
  • Lowest Note:E3
  • Vocal Range:2.5-3 octaves
  • Ashanti
  • Voice type: Lyric Coloratura Soprano
  • Highest note: G6
  • Lowest note: F3
  • Vocal range: 3 octaves (F3-G6)
  • Longest Note: 17 seconds (More Than A Melody)
  • Usher
  • Voice Type: Heldentenor
  • Highest note: E5, F5, possibly G5
  • Lowest note: F2
  • Vocal range: 3 octaves (F2 - F5)
  • Christina Aguilera
  • Voice type: Spinto Soprano
  • Highest note: C7, G#6
  • Lowest note: C3, D3
  • Vocal range: 4 octaves (C3-C7)
  • Longest note: 20 seconds
  • Beyonce
  • Voice type: Full Soprano
  • Highest notes: D6 , E6, possible F6
  • Lowest notes: C3, D3
  • Vocal range: (approx) 3.5 octaves-4 (C3-E6)
  • E6 - A live 'Whoooooh' after singing her hit "Work It Out"
  • D6 - She hits it in her song "Happy Face"
  • C6 - During a live performance of "Emotions", Kodak Theatre, 2002
  • C6 - The highest note in "Emotions" from Destiny's Child Survivor CD
  • E3- "Dangerously In Love", Grammys, 2004
  • Amerie
  • Voice type: Spinto Soprano
  • Highest note: C6 (All I Have), possibly D6 or E6
  • Lowest note: F3
  • Vocal Range:3.5 octaves (F3-C#6)
  • Toni Braxton
  • Voice type: Deep Contralto
  • Highest note: B5, C6
  • Lowest note: A2
  • Vocal range: 3 octaves
  • Mariah Carey
  • Voice type: Coloratura Soprano
  • Highest note: D7 (Emotions)
  • Lowest note: C3 (My All)
  • Vocal range: 4 octaves
  • Ciara
  • Voice Type: Classic Soubrette
  • Highest Note:G5
  • Lowest Note:G3
  • Vocal Range:2 octaves
  • Ashlee Simpson
  • Voice type: Lyric Contralto
  • Highest note: E5
  • Lowest note: E3
  • Vocal range: 2 octaves (E3-E5)
  • Jessica Simpson
  • Voice type: Lyric Soprano
  • Highest note: G#6, F6
  • Lowest note: D3
  • Vocal range: 3.5 octaves (D3-G#6)
  • Longest Note: 21 seconds
  • G#6 - She hits this note on her show 'Newlyweds'.
  • F6 - Jessica hits this note in her song 'Your Faith In Me'.
  • Aaliyah
  • Voice type: Soubrette, Lyric Contralto
  • Highest note: F#5 (I Care 4 You), A5
  • Lowest note: C3
  • Vocal range: 2.5 octaves
  • Michelle Williams
  • Voice type: Dramatic Mezzo-Soprano
  • Highest note: E6
  • Lowest note: C3
  • Vocal range:3.5 octaves (C3-E6)
  • Kelly Clarkson
  • Voice type: Spinto Soprano
  • Highest note: F#6 [during her performance of "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" on American *Idol]
  • Lowest note: E3, F3
  • Vocal range: 3 octaves (E3-F#6)
  • Janet Jackson
  • Voice type: Soubrette
  • Highest note: D6 (On He Doesn't Know I'm Alive), E6
  • Lowest note: E-b3
  • Vocal range: 2.5 octaves (Eb3-E6)
  • Lauryn Hill
  • Voice type: Full Soprano
  • Highest notes: F6 (Zion)
  • Lowest notes: C3
  • Vocal range: (approx) 3.5 octaves (C3-F6)
  • Monica:
  • Voice Type: Dramatic Mezzo-Soprano
  • Highest note: AOL Sessions (Knock Knock) note (Oooh)
  • Lowest note: Grown Up Christmas List (Creshendo-Bridge)
  • Vocal range: 3.6-4.5 octaves
  • Tamia:
  • Voice type: Spinto Mezzo-soprano
  • Highest note: G5 ('You Put A Move On My Heart'), Ab5 ('Tell Me Who'), C6
  • Lowest note: C3 ('I Can't Go For That')
  • Vocal range: 3.5 octaves (C3-C6)
  • Mariah Carey:
  • Highest notes: G#7 (Live performance of "Emotions" at the 1991 MTV VMA's, and again on Arsenio *Hall), F7 (In the song "All In Your Mind")
  • Lowest notes: A2, B2 (In the song "My All")
  • Vocal range: 5 octaves (A2-G#7)
  • Longest note: 20 seconds (In the song "Lead The Way".)
  • Patti Labelle:
  • Voice type: Dramatic Soprano
  • Highest note: E6
  • Lowest note: Eb3
  • Vocal Range: 3 octaves (Eb3-E6)
  • LeToya Luckett:
  • Voice type: Lyric Coloratura Soprano
  • Highest note: A6, B♭6
  • Lowest note: F3
  • Vocal range: 3.5 octaves (F3-B♭6)
  • Jill Scott:
  • Voice type: Full Soprano
  • Highest note: C#6 (In the song 'Gimme'), D#6 (Gimme Live), possible F6
  • Lowest note: D3
  • Vocal range: 3 octaves (D3-E6)
  • Aretha Franklin:
  • Voice type: Dramatic Mezzo-Soprano
  • Highest note: B-b5
  • Lowest note: B2
  • Vocal Range: 3 octaves (B2-Bb5)
  • Whitney Houston:
  • Voice type: Dramatic Mezzo-Soprano
  • Highest note: C6, B-b5 (In her song 'I Wanna Dance With Somebody')
  • Lowest note: C3, E3
  • Vocal range: 3 octaves (C3-C6)
  • Alicia Keys:
  • Voice type: Contralto
  • Highest note: E5 (You Don't Know My Name)
  • Lowest note: C3 (The Life)
  • Vocal Range: [approx.] 2.5-3 octaves (C3-E5)
  • Chaka Khan:
  • Voice type: Light Dramatic Contralto
  • Highest note: A♭5 (Through the Fire), A5 (I Feel For You, Do You Love What You Feel?), B5
  • Lowest note: B2
  • Vocal range: 3 octaves (B2 - B5)
  • Barbra Streisand:
  • Voice type: Lyrical Mezzo-Soprano
  • (Her range in full voice is A3-A5)
  • Highest note: E6 (The Love Inside) F6 (A Sleepin' Bee) F#6 (I Stayed Too Long At the Fair)
  • Lowest note: Eb3 (Memory)
  • Vocal range: 3 octaves (Eb3-F#6)
  • Britney Spears:
  • Voice type: Soubrette
  • Highest note: A5
  • Lowest note: E3
  • Vocal range: 2.5 octaves
  • Jennifer Lopez:
  • Voice type: Classic Soubrette
  • Highest note: G5
  • Lowest note: G3
  • Vocal range: 2 octaves

Vocal range in terms of frequency

In terms of frequency, human voices are roughly in the range of 80 Hz to 1100 Hz (that is, E2 to C6) for normal male and female voices together. The world records for high and low pitch extend well outside of this range, and can extend outside the range of human hearing.

World records and extremes of vocal range

As noted above, claims of exceptionally wide vocal ranges are not uncommon among some singers. The biggest claim came from Charles Kellogg, who claimed to have a vocal range of 12.5 octaves. Kellogg could accurately imitate birdcalls, which sometimes went up into the ultrasonic range, according to Kellogg as high as 14,000 Hz (14 080Hz is A9). Some recordings of Kellogg's birdcalls still exist. However, Kellogg's claims are very hard to verify. [1]

In 2006 the Guinness Book of Records published several categories relating to extremes of "Human vocal range." It stated the following:

Females

  • Greatest range: Eight octaves G2-G10, Georgia Brown, Brazil Watch Here (example of E7)
  • Highest vocal note: G10 (25087Hz), Georgia Brown, Brazil
  • Guinness lists the highest demanded note in the classical repertoire as G6 in 'Popoli di Tessaglia,' a concert aria by W. A. Mozart. However, this is not a standard repertory piece. The highest note in the standard repertoire is F6 in Mozart's aria "Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen" Watch Clip" (sometimes called "The Queen of the Night's aria," though this character actually has two arias) from the opera Die Zauberflöte. It calls for four F6's, which is often cited as the highest note in classical vocal music (she sings an additional F6 during the first Act aria, "O Zittre nicht"). Several little-known works call for pitches higher than G6. For example, the soprano Mado Robin, who was known for her exceptionally high voice, sang a number of compositions created especially to exploit her highest notes, reaching C7 according to the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera (edited by Harold Rosenthal)

Males

  • Greatest range: Six octaves, Tim Storms, USA Watch Clip
  • Highest vocal note: C#8 Adam Lopez, Australia Watch Clip
  • Lowest vocal note: B-2 (minus 2, two octaves below the grand staff)(8 Hz), Tim Storms, USA
  • Guinness lists the lowest demanded note in the classical repertoire as a "Low D" (two Ds below Middle C) in Osmin's aria in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail. Although Osmin's note is the lowest demanded and commonly performed in the operatic repertoire, Mahler's second symphony contains an optional Bb1 in the choral section at the end of the piece: basses who cannot reach it are requested to remain silent rather than sing a Bb2. Leonard Bernstein's Candide has an optional low B (a minor third below the low D) in a bass aria of its opera house version. Some choral works and songs also call for notes lower than the low D. For example, Pavel Chesnokov's "Do not deny me in my old age" features a basso profundo soloist, sometimes reaching as low as G1, depending on the arrangement.

See Also

  1. ^ Mythbusters Episode 76: "Voice Flame Extinguisher"
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