Sopranos Becoming Scarce? — Page 2

We should not forget Christine Andreas or Rebecca Luker. They've got great legit voices. Andreas has this hefty tone to her but sings high stuff and it's got that classical training sound to it. Luker is just wonderful; I saw the Show Boat revival in '96 and being to young to appreciate it I hated the show, but wish I could go back in time and really sit down and watch it now.

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Excuse me may I just interject and point out that the full name would be mezzo-SOPRANO!! Sure, coloratura parts are scarce but trust me, true altos could not hit those high belty notes. Am I completely off base in considering many of these women sopranos(Idina aside)? I think we need to be more specific when we are saying there are no soprano parts..if we say no LEGIT soprano parts that would make much more sense.

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Bernadette Peters, Patti Lupone, and Audra McDonald, are all classified as mezzo-sopranos, I believe. Audra for sure.

I used to be more of an alto. Case in point, I just found a recording of myself singing "Movie In My Mind" from Miss Saigon. Besides the fact I was so nervous, and I was over-vibrattoing like a nutcase, because I had no mix and it is a soft song, I used my 'soprano' high voice - and man, did it suck! It was weak and yucky. When singing the lower stuff, it was fine.

A couple years later, I'm still untrained. And my mix still bites. And I've lost my belt. But I'm now a bonafide soprano. Apparently, if I train, I'd be a lovely lyric coloratura - we'll see what happens.

Anyway...

I remember when "Wonderful Town" came out, many people critisized Jennifer Westfeldt for having a "weak" soprano, when indeed, she simply has a soprano. The way it is supposed to sound. Lovely, lilting, and beautiful. It seems now that is someone was to write songs for classic sopranos, they have to be on the highest notes possible. There's no classic voice writing anymore. If you're an alto, you have to belt an E, and if you're soprano, you had better be able to sing High Ds or Es night after night in almost every song.

Bring back anything Rodgers and Hammerstein - let's see what happens.

In answer to the question, I don't think sopranos are scarce - there's just no writing for us anymore. It's either coloratura or nothing. So off we go to classical...and it doesn't look like I'll have a career in that!

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Twogaab. I think you just need to realize that there is no official stance on the matter. It will be different to every vocal coach you see.

For example...

I've heard vocal coaches say that Nancy Opel is a) belting the high C; b) mixing the high C; and c) screaming in her head voice. There really is no definitive answer on the topic. Maybe your vocal coach or your school teaches it a certain way, and that's fine, but that's definitely not the only way.

And "baritenor" is an odd little name. For some people they treat it like a Tenor II. For others (like me), they don't want to be stuck in one category or the other (Baritone or Tenor), so they go by baritenor. Again for this term, there's no final say on how to categorize it.

It's just different people's takes on the same subject.

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Thanks for the composers, Jazzy and Sasha. I'll definitely be hunting around for some of their work!

And Audra is SO a soprano! ^_^

Also, I do agree with the idea that it is important to broaden one's horizons--learn to belt, and sing outside of your strong point and such, but there's nothing I love like a song that goes *way* up there, something I can sing the hell out of. That said, again, I'm all for trying new things and such. Yes, I'm a soprano, but I've played the Narrator in Joseph and Golde in Fiddler, too.

About Opel belting the high C--some people simply apply the term liberally, using it to encompass loud singing in general, regardless of whether it's in head or chest. A personal example: I was rehearsing Unexpected Song for a showcase (that got cancelled...but I'm strangely happy about it?), and after singing through the ending (in my head voice), the director said, That's great that you have that soprano belt! I suppose some people use it to describe a general full, robust sound, no matter what 'voice' it's coming from (for example, Cheno in the opening).

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The best thing is to be able to sing it all. All of the girls in my voice class (even the altos who can sing an octave below middle C) can hit the Eb past the C 2 octaves above middle C. I'm a bass, but I can go from C 2 octaves below middle C to F an octave and a half above middle C. I can "belt" (in quotations because the only true belters are mezzo-sopranos) up to a high G#. That's 3 1/2 octaves, and I'm never going to have to use that. Singers like Peters, Foster, Chenowith, etc. may be classified in a certain soprano/mezzo/alto, but they can sing it all.

But yes, parts written especially for "legit" sopranos are becoming scarce. The sopranos are not.

I forgot to mention, the whole span of the human voice (from the lowest note an average bass should be able to sing to the highest note an average soprano should be able to sing)is only four octaves. Bass to tenor should span 3, and alto to soprano should span 3, with one overlapping in the middle. An average vocal range is 2 octaves, 2 1/2 is good, 3 is fantastic, and anything more is amazing.

well soprano parts are very important since they sound louder than any lower parts but i must admit that soprano and soprano parts are becoming a bit scarce and i'm an alto so i wouldn't really know about it.

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I shall join my fellow sopranos in a support group! It seems there is a need for, what I like the call, the "high-note woman" in many shows. You know the one, during big chorus numbers she can be found letting if rip with a high B flat or C. =) It is rather sad that there aren't many meaty soprano songs. They all seem to be fluffy or "oh, big strong man, please save me!"

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