There are many vocal ranges and voice types for men in music, which are ranked by pitch range, unique tonal characteristics, as well as differences in tessitura and other factors. An important point to note is that the terms “vocal range” and “types of male voices” are not the same thing. The range of a voice refers to the notes it can reach or produce, and the type is classified using certain criteria such as tessitura, register transition points, timbre, vocal weight, etc. Find out what types of voices men have in the description below.
What are the different timbres of male voices?
Male bass
What is the deepest male voice called? In a polyphonic musical texture, this is the bass. In the polyphony that flourished during the Renaissance, it constituted one of several relatively independent or contrapuntal melodies.
In the homophonic, mostly chordate, musical styles of the late 18th and 19th centuries, the bass was of crucial structural importance as the lowest of the parts and therefore the basis of harmony.
Typical range is from second E below middle C to F♯ above; timbre variations Basso profundo is low and rich, and basso cantante is lighter and lyrical.
Male baritone
Most men have a vocal range similar to baritone, as this is the most common type, the average male voice between tenor and bass, with some characteristics of both.
The baritone's timbre transitions into the middle voice somewhere around the note A or B just below mid C (A3 or B3), and becomes dominant at the note D or E just above mid C (D4 or E4).
Additionally, a baritone's tessitura falls between those of a tenor and bass, and the voice will be strongest in the mid-tones.
In practice, the classification of male singing voices is determined not only by range, but also by the quality or color of the voice. In opera roles there are more stringent requirements for the tenor, and then through professional training he can develop his baritone range.
Male tenor
The tenor voice is called the highest of the main male vocal types. Typically, performers have a range similar to that of a soprano, but only an octave lower, roughly between middle C (C3) to a note an octave higher (C5). The tessitura will be between the countertenor and the baritone. But the voice has similar characteristics, that is, it can easily sing the highest notes and voice them with power and brightness! Often divided into dramatic, lyrical or heroic.
Tenors should avoid some common singing problems, such as jaw clenching when transitioning voice registers, as this will affect the notes being transitioned and the timbre of the voice!
They are sometimes accused of creating a slightly nasal sound, especially at volume, but tenors are capable of using what is called the "head voice" to create a soft and warm tone in the upper range.
Male alto (counter-tenor)
How to describe the voice that usually sings the alto line in a vocal consort? The counter-tenor is the highest-sounding male voice.
The term has existed in choirs in various forms for many centuries, but as a solo instrument only came into fashion in the second half of the 20th century.
Often male and female altos sing the same composition together to balance the texture. Men's range is similar to women's, although women's voices have a wider natural range at both ends.
A natural counter-tenor voice works best in the octave of mid C and above! He uses what is known as “falsetto,” a vocal technique in which men use the upper extension of their natural singing voice, well beyond their speaking range.
In fact, counter-tenors are most often natural baritones (sometimes tenors).
Is it possible to change the timbre
Voice timbre is not genetically determined, and therefore can be corrected during lessons with a vocal specialist. The anatomical qualities of the ligaments (these are folds in the area of the sound-producing center) cannot be conservatively changed by a person, since they are formed anatomically from the moment the genetic qualities are formed. For this purpose, there are special surgical operations during which defects that have arisen are corrected.
Between the vocal cords there is a gap, which is also involved in the formation of the voice, speech tone and timbre.
The origin of sound begins in the larynx, but the final formation and giving it timbre occurs in the resonator cavities (oral, nasal, throat). Therefore, various adjustments to the position and tension of certain muscles of the speech apparatus can also affect timbre.
How to determine voice timbre
It has never been easier to determine your voice type. If you already know what a low or very high male voice is called, and you have a piano, synthesizer or just a computer at hand, you can find out your vocal range. You need to play the notes and see if you can sing them. There are also books and websites that can help you determine where your voice is in terms of traditional vocal ranges. In fact, there are online tools and resources for determining type.
But first, it is advisable to get acquainted with the numbering system. Referring to notes as "second A above middle C" can be confusing, so a commonly used method is to accompany note names with their given octave number on the keyboard. Middle C is called C4 because it is the 4th C (starting with bass) on the keyboard.
Remember what features different types of male voices have.
- Bass is between E2 and E4. In the lower and upper registers, some basses can sing from C2 to G4.
- Baritone is the second largest singing range, extending from A2 to A4 (can go up to F2 or up to C5).
- Tenor is comfortable singing from C3 to C5. They are more proficient in falsetto (head voice), which allows them to enter notes in the feminine register.
- The countertenor sings from mid C and above.
Basic steps for voice training
In fact, to positively influence the characteristics and properties of your voice, you need to master just a few important things. They have a universal effect on the basic characteristics of the voice and, if you master them completely, you will improve absolutely everything.
What affects voice characteristics:
- Breathing and support.
- Diction and articulation.
- Working with resonators.
In addition, you must definitely work on getting rid of tension - any unpleasant sensations in the chest, jaw, throat, neck, cheekbones and other parts of the body. If discomfort occurs when you begin to speak, this is a sure sign of tension. We will talk in more detail about the fight against clamps in the “Diction and Articulation” section, where we will give the simplest exercises for removing clamps.
Let us note that all the exercises offered in this course are a symbiosis of recommendations from professionals who work with the voice in one way or another: doctors, lecturers, announcers, artists, vocalists, etc. We have simplified all the tips to a level where anyone can use them, including those who do not have speaking abilities and have never been involved in voice development.
Breathing and support
In any public speaking course, in any vocal school, training begins with breathing. Sometimes you can come across the phrase “correct breathing,” but we will not use it. In fact, there is no right or wrong breathing - there are certain tasks that are facing you at the moment.
The breathing that is necessary simply to supply the body with oxygen differs from the breathing that is necessary for the purpose of correctly producing beautiful sounds. Just in order for your voice to be beautiful, you need to master the correct sound production . And this can only be achieved when you have trained breathing and support for sound.
What does trained breathing and voice support provide:
| 1 | the basis of beautiful sound; |
| 2 | access to high notes (for singers; |
| 3 | lightness and flight of voice; |
| 4 | prevention of clamps of ligaments and other parts of the body; |
| 5 | endurance of the vocal apparatus. |
How to achieve all this? Let's look at a step-by-step algorithm for establishing breathing and finding support for your voice so that it sounds beautiful and bright.
Steps to establish breathing and support your voice:
- Take a deep, quick breath through the nose into the lower part of the lungs - so that the stomach and sides in the lower part swell. Important: shoulders should not rise!
- Hold your breath in such a way that the stomach and sides remain in a fixed bloated state, i.e. air retention using the abdominal muscles.
- Gradual exhalation with minimal air consumption, without sudden loss of air.
These are the fundamental differences between breathing, which is simply necessary for the functioning of the body, and breathing, which is necessary for confident sound production. If we normally breathe into the upper part of our lungs, then to give a lecture or any other public speaking we need to fill most of the lungs with air.
There is one more nuance: it is advisable to inhale so much air that it is enough for the spoken phrase, no more and no less. If you inhale less, the end of the phrase will sound slurred and strained, because. you don't have enough air to sound normal. If you inhale more and, at the end of the phrase, begin to draw in air again, the spoken phrases will also begin to sound slurred, and it will be difficult for you to control the flow of air so that it comes out gradually, without sudden jerks. The skill of controlling the volume of air inhaled comes with training and practice.
Breathing and support exercises:
- Relax your upper body - stand up straight, lower your shoulders, take a deep breath and exhale, slowly turn your head left and right, shake or sway your lowered arms, then slightly round your back and lean a little forward, shake or sway your lowered arms a little more, return to the starting position.
- Take a deep, quick breath through the nose into the lower part of the lungs - so that the stomach and sides in the lower part swell. You can help yourself by leaning forward a little, rounding your back. This will give air a clearer path into your lungs. Hold your breath as long as you can. If you can hold it for at least 30 seconds, this is a good result. Repeat 3 times.
- Take a deep, quick breath through the nose into the lower part of the lungs - so that the stomach and sides in the lower part swell. You can help yourself by leaning forward a little, rounding your back. Hold your breath for a moment and begin to slowly exhale the air with a “sssssssss” sound, while continuing to keep your sides and stomach distended. If you can hold out for at least 30 seconds, this is a good result. Repeat 3 times.
While doing the exercises, look in the mirror and control the position of the abdomen and sides (they should be swollen) and the position of the shoulders (they should be lowered and should not rise).
If you perform the exercises correctly, you should not have any discomfort in your neck, shoulders, jaw, or vocal cords. Only slight abdominal fatigue is possible if you are not a very trained person and are not particularly fond of sports.
If, when performing exercises 2 and 3, you feel discomfort in the neck, shoulders, jaw, vocal cords, immediately stop performing them and return to exercise 1 to relax the upper body.
We draw your attention to an important nuance: the exercises offered in the course do not help everyone, but only those who do them! We strongly recommend that you master the above exercises so that in subsequent lessons you can move on to tasks of a higher level of complexity, which are also necessary for the development of a beautiful voice and speech.
Let's continue the topic. You can learn a lot about relaxation, liberation, inhalation and exhalation for a better sounding voice from the experience of current and already successful artists. As an example, we can suggest watching the lessons given by Russian singer Polina Gagarina as part of the “Generation M” charity project. Lesson No. 1 touches on the topic of relaxation, emancipation and freedom of voice:
And in lesson No. 2, Polina Gagarina explains in detail and demonstrates the above-described breathing technique:
To achieve the desired effect - breathing training and finding support for the voice - you need to perform these exercises daily for 2 weeks. Then you can return to these exercises 1-2 times a week so as not to lose the acquired form. You can read more about breathing and finding support for the voice in the work of the Italian surgeon, otolaryngologist and phoniatrist Franco Fussi, La respirazione e l'appoggio nel canto (“Breathing and support in singing”) [F. Fussi, 2017].
Let us clarify that the principles of sound production for singing and spoken speech are similar. The only difference is in the depth of the required elaboration: if in everyday life we can decide for ourselves whether we need to sound beautiful and convincing, then for singers this is part of their profession by default. Therefore, if you master the breathing technique practiced by opera and pop performers , speaking in front of a large audience will be easy for you.
Diction and articulation
The next important step in voice production is diction and articulation. It’s not for nothing that these concepts stand side by side. They are so closely interconnected that one without the other is simply impossible. Without clear articulation, good diction is impossible. At the same time, overly active articulation can make sounds rougher.
Articulation is the totality of the work of the speech organs in the formation of speech sounds. Clear articulation of sounds depends on the degree of training of the active organs of speech, primarily the tongue and lips.
Diction is the clear pronunciation of vowels and consonants in accordance with the phonetic norms of the language you are speaking or singing at the moment. Diction directly determines how clear and energetic our speech is.
Working on diction and articulation, in addition to the self-evident results in the form of clear, understandable sounds, has another significant bonus. This is the removal of clamps from the throat , which are common in our era of everyone sitting in front of computers and gadgets.
What good diction and articulation gives:
| 1 | clarity and clarity of pronunciation of sounds; |
| 2 | expressiveness and energy in the voice; |
| 3 | access to long notes (for singers; |
| 4 | more lively facial expressions; |
| 5 | getting rid of tension in the throat area. |
Separate mention should be made about the clamps. Without removing the clamps, good articulation is impossible , but at the same time, working on articulation allows you to gradually begin to get rid of the clamps. Note that the articulatory apparatus is quite complex and, in addition to the tongue and lips, a large number of muscles are involved in articulation.
The structure of the articulatory apparatus:
Diagram of the location of the muscles involved in articulation:
A clamp in any of these muscles can negate all your efforts to develop clear expressive speech, so if you cannot localize the problem on your own, consult a speech therapist or perform universal exercises to remove clamps, improve diction and articulation.
Exercises for removing clamps:
- Relax your face, neck, and all articulatory muscles. To do this, shake your head slightly left and right, back and forth. Important: avoid sudden movements and do not try to achieve maximum range of motion. If you feel discomfort or hear any clicking or other sounds, skip this exercise. If discomfort in the neck and articulatory muscles is your permanent condition, find the opportunity to consult a neurologist or surgeon.
- Practice keeping your neck and head straight. Test how well you can do this by placing a book on your head. If a closed book does not hold well, practice with an open book for now, placing it with its open pages on top of your head. Once you have managed to hold the book on your head at rest, try holding it while you speak. Any text that does not require you to bend over to read it from a sheet of paper or computer will do.
You can see more exercises on relaxation and removing tension in the lessons of Polina Gagarina. They are equally suitable for artists, singers, lecturers and all people who have to talk a lot:
Exercises to improve diction and articulation (perform in front of a mirror):
- Tongue mobility training – stretch it forward as much as possible, try to “reach” the tip of your nose and chin with your tongue.
- Mouth position training - open your mouth so that 2 fingers, folded one above the other, fit into it. The tongue should remain flat and rest against the lower teeth. Make the sounds “a-a” so that your mouth does not close, your tongue does not arch or “go” back. It is also useful to practice the sounds "nga-ngo-ngy-nge-ngu-nga" and make sure that the mouth remains wide open.
- Training the interaction of the jaw and tongue - open your mouth, lowering and moving your jaw slightly back. To control the position, place your finger on your lips as if you want to say “shhh, hush.” The lower lip should not touch the finger when the mouth is open. Say the vowel "a". The tongue should remain flat and rest against the lower teeth. Make sure that the tongue does not bend or “go” back.
- Training in sound formation in the upper palate - turn on the recorder, make a grin and grin and try to pronounce some words (a poem, a presentation text, an answer to an exam paper) in this position. If you did everything correctly, the sound will be clearer, brighter and more spacious than usual.
- Training in the formation of sound in the upper palate plus training in the pronunciation of consonants - turn on the recorder, make a grin, relax your jaw and hold a pencil in your teeth. Try saying some text in this position. Take out the pencil and repeat the same text, just holding the grin. If you did everything correctly, when comparing audio recordings you will hear that the last version of the text sounded better than the first.
By the way, as British doctor Leonard Jane assures, squeezing a pencil between your teeth can help relax your jaw muscles and reduce the intensity of headaches [Dailymail, 2016]. So if you have headaches, voice training will have the added bonus of making you feel better.
And, of course, tongue twisters help develop diction and articulation. Don’t try to pronounce them quickly right away, don’t immediately tackle long and complex ones. It’s better to start by taking 2-3 simple tongue twisters in Russian and English and practice them at a slow pace, then at an average pace, and only then at a fast pace.
We will return to the topic of diction development and more detailed recommendations for its development in a separate lesson. Now let’s explore another powerful way to influence the characteristics of your voice and control its sound at your discretion.
What affects voice timbre
These five ingredients determine timbre:
- age – many singers are typecast when they are young, but their voices change and develop with age;
- Singing experience – Beginner singers usually have a shorter range because high or low notes become stronger with practice;
- register - a series of adjacent notes that sound the same, are reproduced in a similar way and have the same sound quality (transitions between registers will help determine voice types more accurately);
- tessitura (the range in which the singer feels most comfortable) – the decisive factor is understanding where your voice is most comfortable and where it is least;
- tone of voice (a specific tonal quality) – descriptive words include “harsh, dark, bright, metallic, ringing, shrill” (for example, the tone of a tenor is often much brighter than that of a bass);
- voice strength – sopranos and tenors have a stronger head voice than mezzos and basses, and they have a stronger and meatier middle voice.
The tone of a man's voice is a series of ingredients mixed together to create a dessert with a unique taste. Singing combines ingredients to create a voice with a unique sound.
Trust your feelings
Many professional groups are overflowing with performers whose singing voices correspond to the level of mezzo-sopranos who are able to embody their talents in other categories, and this depends on the quality of technique and level of education.
A feeling of tension in singing signals that the range has been chosen incorrectly, and such performance has a destructive effect on the ligaments. When a singer experiences a feeling of lightness, freedom, and pleasure from his own performance, this means that the performer is on the right path, and distant horizons are within his control.
Diction or vocalization
Diction is associated with the ability to be understood and with his desire to be understood.
Clear diction: clarity of mind, openness to communication. Inaccurate: deception or confusion. Very clear: narcissism, tension. Stuttering: aggressiveness, inhibition.
Speed
The speed of conversation speaks about a person’s emotional state.
Slow: lack of interest, disconnection from the world. Quickly: tension, desire to hide information. Regularly: restrained, unnatural. Irregularly: confusion, anxiety, communication breakdown.
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Voice is the sound that is produced under the pressure of exhaled air when tense vocal cords close to each other vibrate in the larynx. The main qualities of any voice are strength, height, timbre. A well-produced voice is also characterized by such properties as euphony, flight, mobility and variety of tone.
The strength of the voice is its volume, which depends on the activity of the respiratory and speech organs. A person must be able to vary the strength of his voice depending on the communication conditions. Therefore, the ability to speak both loudly and quietly is equally necessary.
The pitch of a voice is its ability to change tones, that is, its range. An ordinary voice has a range of one and a half octaves, but in everyday speech a person most often uses only 3-4 notes. Expanding the range makes speech more expressive.
Voice timbre is a unique individual coloring, which is determined by the structure of the speech apparatus, mainly by the nature of the overtones formed in the resonators - lower (trachea, bronchi) and upper (oral cavity and nasal cavity). If we cannot arbitrarily control the lower resonators, then the use of the upper resonators can be improved.
The euphony of the voice is the purity of its sound, the absence of unpleasant overtones (hoarseness, hoarseness, nasality, etc.). The concept of euphony includes, first of all, sonority. The voice sounds loud when it resonates at the front of the mouth. If the sound is formed near the soft palate, it turns out dull and dull. The sonority of the voice also depends on the concentration of the sound (its concentration at the front teeth), on the direction of the sound, as well as on the activity of the lips.
The euphony of the voice also implies the freedom of its sound, which is achieved by the free functioning of all organs of speech, the absence of tension and muscle tension. This freedom comes at the cost of long exercise. The euphony of the voice should not be equated with the euphony of speech.
Euphony of speech is the absence in speech of a combination or frequent repetition of sounds that hurt the ear. The euphony of speech presupposes the most perfect combination of sounds, convenient for pronunciation and pleasant to the ear.
For example, the repetition within a phrase or phrase of whistling and hissing sounds without special stylistic purposes causes cacophony (that is, is assessed as bad-sounding): “in our class there are many students who are conscientiously preparing for the upcoming exams, but there are also quitters”; stringing together words with several consonants in a row: “the gaze of all senses is nobler”; It is not recommended to construct phrases in such a way as to create gaping vowels: “and in John.” However, problems of euphony do not relate to speech technique.
The range of a voice is its ability to be clearly heard over a considerable distance without increasing the volume.
Voice mobility is its ability to change in strength, pitch, and tempo without tension. These changes should not be involuntary; for an experienced speaker, changing certain qualities of the voice always pursues a specific goal.
Tone of voice is an emotionally expressive coloration of the voice that contributes to the expression of the speaker’s feelings and intentions in the speech. The tone of speech can be kind, angry, enthusiastic, official, friendly, etc. It is created using such means as increasing or weakening the strength of the voice, pauses, accelerating or slowing down the rate of speech.
Speech tempo is the speed of pronunciation of speech elements (sounds, syllables, words). The absolute rate of speech depends on the individual characteristics of the speaker, the characteristics of his emotional state and communication situation, and pronunciation style.
The tempo of speech is not a direct property of a person’s voice itself, however, the ability to vary, if necessary, the speed of pronunciation of words and phrases can also be attributed to those skills that should be improved in the discipline “Speech Technique”.
Intonation is the rhythmic and melodic structure of speech. Intonation includes: pitch, sound strength, tempo, stress and pauses. Means of expressiveness of intonation are conventionally divided into logical and emotional. The main means of logical expressiveness of intonation are logical pause, logical stress, logical melody and logical perspective.
With emotional intonation, words are saturated with emotional content, provided that the thought is properly assessed and one’s attitude towards it is manifested. At the same time, distinctly intense emotional stresses and pauses appear in the intonation, caused by feelings, mood, and desire. They do not always coincide with logical ones, but such a coincidence is desirable.
Types of female singing voices
Female voices are divided into two groups - soprano and contralto. High voices (soprano) are divided into:
- Coloratura, or lyric-coloratura , is the highest of female singing voices;
- Lyric - a voice of a soft, gentle timbre, a common type, some call it the “basic” for a soprano group;
- Lyric-dramatic - a voice that has great mobility and variability in performance, the owners of which can “pull out” both the parts of lyric and dramatic soprano;
- Dramatic - a rare voice that has a range from mezzo-soprano to coloratura;
- Mezzo-soprano - characterized by a rich, deep sound, it is sometimes confused with a dramatic soprano, a type of voice that has absorbed the characteristic features of both contralto and soprano.
Examples of soprano sound
- Opera
- Variety
- Mezzo-soprano
- Contralto is the lowest of female singing voices, rich in deep sound throughout the entire range.
