Speaking Voice vs. Singing Voice
Speaking Voice vs. Singing Voice
Featured Actor Joined: 8/12/04
Speaking Voice vs. Singing Voice#1
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
Speaking Voice vs. Singing Voice#2
Posted: 11/22/14 at 12:24amRenee Fleming who will hopefully be on Broadway very soon!
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/11/06
Speaking Voice vs. Singing Voice#3
Posted: 11/22/14 at 12:31amI 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
Speaking Voice vs. Singing Voice#5
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.
Speaking Voice vs. Singing Voice#6
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
Speaking Voice vs. Singing Voice#7
Posted: 11/22/14 at 8:09amYes, 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.
Speaking Voice vs. Singing Voice#8
Posted: 11/22/14 at 10:26amI've always found it a bit jarring how different Carolee Carmello's speaking voice is offstage as opposed to when she's onstage.
Speaking Voice vs. Singing Voice#9
Posted: 11/22/14 at 10:56amJesse Mueller sounds completely different in every show and her voice doesn't sound at all like her speaking voice. It's kind of amazing.
Speaking Voice vs. Singing Voice#10
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."
Speaking Voice vs. Singing Voice#11
Posted: 11/22/14 at 11:30amBetty was on (and was brilliant) this week's episode of HBO's "Getting On"...and her speaking voice isn't that different...
Speaking Voice vs. Singing Voice#12
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?
Speaking Voice vs. Singing Voice#13
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
Speaking Voice vs. Singing Voice#14
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
Speaking Voice vs. Singing Voice#15
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?
Speaking Voice vs. Singing Voice#16
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
Speaking Voice vs. Singing Voice#17
Posted: 11/24/14 at 3:15pmSomeone 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...
Speaking Voice vs. Singing Voice#18
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.
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Leading Actor Joined: 1/31/10
Speaking Voice vs. Singing Voice#19
Posted: 11/24/14 at 4:48pmIt's quite common with British pop singers - Lisa Stansfield or Lulu, say.
Speaking Voice vs. Singing Voice#20
Posted: 11/24/14 at 5:04pmDefinitely 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.
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