Speaking Voice vs. Singing Voice

[PattyO'Furniture]

Posted: 11/22/14 at 12:20am

When Ethel sings, I hear Ethel. When Patti sings, I hear Patti. When Angela sings, I hear Angela. When Britney sings, I hear myself.

But when Betty sings...(I think I'll make that the working title of an autobiography - not mine, but someone's)

Betty Buckley's speaking voice is so startlingly unlike her singing voice - both I terribly enjoy. It's hard for me to reconcile, though. Her singing voice has more depth - I know it's propelled by her almost unnaturally rapid vibrato in her singing, but, still, I think it's uncanny.

Any performers of whom you can think whose speaking and singing "voices" are drastically different?

If you have the clinical knowledge/credentials, is there an explanation? Or is it just "chance"?
Example of Betty

[Phillypinto]

Posted: 11/22/14 at 12:24am

Renee Fleming who will hopefully be on Broadway very soon!

[ggersten]

Posted: 11/22/14 at 12:25am

Jim Nabors.

[JoseLee_]

Posted: 11/22/14 at 12:31am

I can hear Kristin Chenoweth, Idina Menzel, Laura Osnes, Patina Miller, Barbra Streisand, Patti Lupone, Ethel Merman, Sierra Boggess, and Sutton Foster.. if they were in the ensemble in a song. Their voices are so recognizable to me. I think I know their voices more than my family members haha

[gavyj]

Posted: 11/22/14 at 1:42am

Judy Garland.

[HorseTears]

Posted: 11/22/14 at 3:53am

"Renee Fleming who will hopefully be on Broadway very soon!"

Yes, for one thing, you can actually understand what Renee Flemig is saying when she speaks.

[Phillypinto]

Posted: 11/22/14 at 7:02am

*Fleming. Renee Fleming is fabulous and of course you can't understand what she's saying because it's opera

[HorseTears]

Posted: 11/22/14 at 8:09am

Yes, apologies for the - obvious - typo on Fleming's name. As for her voice, I personally can't stand it when American opera singers sing in English and end up sounding like they've got a thick western European accent. Or in her case, like a European Kermit the Frog. Her mushy sound just isn't for me. I can understand Dawn Upshaw, Harolyn Blackwell, Kathleen Battle, Deborah Voigt when they sing in English and they actually sound American. And, you know, human.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 11/22/14 at 10:26am

I've always found it a bit jarring how different Carolee Carmello's speaking voice is offstage as opposed to when she's onstage.

[icecreambenjamin]

Posted: 11/22/14 at 10:56am

Jesse Mueller sounds completely different in every show and her voice doesn't sound at all like her speaking voice. It's kind of amazing.

[promisespromises2]

Posted: 11/22/14 at 11:16am

^I was definitely going to say Jessie Mueller. Her range is impeccable.

I know that a lot of people are surprised when I tell them that Mandy Patinkin sings. Every time I play them a song they always say something along the lines of "I would have never guessed he sounded like that."

[Owen22]

Posted: 11/22/14 at 11:30am

Betty was on (and was brilliant) this week's episode of HBO's "Getting On"...and her speaking voice isn't that different...

[Feste]

Posted: 11/23/14 at 10:21am

"of course you can't understand what she's saying because it's opera"

I'm confused. There are many operas written in English. Why wouldn't I be able to understand them?

[Phillypinto]

Posted: 11/23/14 at 11:16am

lol most operas are done in other languages, and the great ones like Carmen, La Boheme, Aida, and Madama Butterfly are all in different languages because the composers were from different countries. All the really famous operas are in a foreign language because Mozart=German, Puccini and Verdi=Italian, Bizet=French

Updated On: 11/23/14 at 11:16 AM

[Movidude742]

Posted: 11/23/14 at 12:37pm

Josephine Rose Roberts in Rock of Ages.

Her speaking voice is this higher pitched Muppety voice but when she starts to sing it is lower and totally different. Tho it is not as dissimilar now as when she started in the role 4 years ago

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 11/23/14 at 1:55pm

Even in English, the style of opera does not lend itself well to being understood. The extended words, the singing style, it just isn't easy to comprehend the actual words they're saying.

Why do you think they use supertitles even with English operas?

[Feste]

Posted: 11/23/14 at 10:08pm

Esther and Vanessa are two examples of many operas written in English and I understood every word Lauren Flanigan sang in both at NYC Opera.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EI4AifGMWgA


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2OQrKBiFaM


http://www.theopera101.com/operaabc/history/english.html






Updated On: 11/23/14 at 10:08 PM

[Pasdechat]

Posted: 11/24/14 at 3:15pm

Someone once wrote that Kristin Chenoweth speaks like a Muppet but sings like an angel, I'd second that. Also,I don't get Bernadette Peters' speaking voice. She has that weird monotonic drawl. Is that an accent? She always sounds kind of drunk to me when speaking...

[buddy 11432]

Posted: 11/24/14 at 3:22pm

Mary Martin

If you just heard her speaking voice, I doubt that one would guess that she was a major Broadway star in the days before microphones.

[theeatah]

Posted: 11/24/14 at 4:48pm

It's quite common with British pop singers - Lisa Stansfield or Lulu, say.

[Elfuhbuh]

Posted: 11/24/14 at 5:04pm

Definitely Sierra Boggess. After hearing her sing in Phantom, I was expecting her to have this prim, proper, mature-sounding speaking voice. But then, I listened to her speak in an interview, and she sounded like an eighteen-year-old girl. I was pretty shocked.