The Confused Singer

Something kind of hilarious, and a little bit out of whack, has happened in my studio lately.  I have a new male student who loves to sing girl’s songs and a new female student who loves to sing boys songs.  Sure, we all have likes and dislikes, but more probably it comes down to what I call vocal confusion.

For those of you who don’t know, there is a point in the voice where the resonance shifts from the lower part of the singing instrument (mouth) to the upper part of the singing instrument (the spacebehind the soft palate and moving higher into the nasal cavity).  The point of the most obvious shift in the voice is what we call the first bridge - basically where we move from our lower speaking voice into our higher voice.

Understanding this will clear up a lot of confusion when choosing a song to sing, as two thirds of the male voice dwells below the first bridge, whilst two thirds of the female voice dwells above the first bridge.  So if a male wants to sing Rhianna in her original key, he will more than likely be   starting at the very top of his voice.  This will present problems, as more than likely Rhianna’s song will continue to ascend in pitch and out of the realms of the male voice.  Similarly, if you're a female and would like to sing a male song, you will probably be forced to sing the song higher than you can comfortably sing (to counter the fact that the male song is probably starting too low).  At this point you may be wandering why you have to sing so high, and can’t find the sweet spot of your own voice.

We can fix this by doing one of two things :-

1. Start finding songs that sit comfortably within your own vocal register.  A great starting point for girls is Norah Jones.  She tends to sit in an achievable range for most women and girls.  For boys, singing some of Billy Joel’s ballads can work if you have a tenor voice, or if you have a deep set voice - a baritone/bass - then something like Johnny Cash would be a great place to start.

2. Re-pitch the song into a key that is easier for you to sing.  This goes for any song that doesn’t ‘feel right’ in the voice.  If you're unwilling to do this, then you’re dealing with more an ego
problem than a singing problem. 

Note too, that within the male or female voice there are many voice types in themselves which could also make a particular song difficult to sing.

For example, with men you could be either a baritone or tenor (and you can even sub-categorise these classifications even further).

Below I have included to examples :

Sam Smith - Tenor

James Ingram - Baritone

Within the Female voice you could be a contralto, mezzo soprano, soprano (again, you can sub-categorise these classifications further).

Below I have included 2 more examples :

Minnie Ripperton - Soprano

Adele - Mezzo/Alto

To find out what you are, why don’t you click on the link and get in touch.