Every Operatic Soprano Voice Type, Explained
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 มิ.ย. 2024
- All the soprano voice types, EXPLAINED! :) This is what soubrette, lyric coloratura, spinto soprano and more actually mean - all in one video! Opera singers' voices are all unique, and we all sing our own distinct ranges of repertoire that suit our voices - and yet, in general, if your favourite singer uses any one of these names to describe themselves, hopefully now you know a little bit more about them!
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Let me know what you think I missed! I could do a whole video just on the concept of a Zwischenfach alone, so I know there's lots to add! And if YOU are one of these soprano voice types, drop it here!
Do a zwischenfach video! I know where you can find one!
@@SewBiased I wonder where I would ever????? Find????? ANYONE??????? :P
@@robinhahnsopran I like a soubrette😊
I wisho you wouldve put examples of modern singers that fit each voice type (3 per type whose voices sound different)
@@MercedesKlai
My Request :
Soprano Contraltino + Soprano Leggera + Soprano Ligera + Soprano Léger + Sopran Altino + Sopran Buffa + Soubrette
That hair bow... it's DELIGHTFUL
I'm a Coloratura!!!! I find this system so interesting, I particularly think a Fach system for the Musical Theatre World and also for the pop world, would be very beneficial for singers to really learn how to handle their voices in a healthy way.
Would you be able to do another video with some more audio examples, from those typical fach roles? I love the video, I'm just only now getting into opera and am finding it hard to distinguish the different voices based on how they sound. The different "typical roles" bit does help though! Would also love a similar video on the other voice types (mezzo, contralto, tenor, baritone and bass, right?)
Yes, accompanying examples, short enough to not get dinged by copyright!
Agreed!
Yes, absolutely! I figured the video might get prohibitively long if I added those in this vid along with the explanations, I think? But I’d definitely like to do one that’s essentially mostly examples, as well as a series for all Fächer! Thank you so much!
Yes please! I am always so fascinated with opera and sopranos
as ive grown as a vocalist, ive devolved more of a light lyric coloratura, i started out as a light lyric soprano. ive always loved the coloratura repertoire, and have always wanted to sing them!
I’m so glad you pointed out that there are some voices that are hard to place in the fach system because some voices are so hard to classify & categorize. There are some voices that may seem like 1 type but can do things another voice type is capable of. It’s that uniqueness that makes us human.
Please please please can you do one of these for altos? I have a really low voice type as a woman and really want to hear about all the different alto types!
Will do! I'll do these for all voice types - they're all on the list, I promise! :)
What do you think of the idea of the 3 hybrid fachs? The dugazon (mixed lyric mezzo and soubrette), the falcon (lyric mezzo soprano, mixed with dramatic soprano) and assoluto (mixed between a contralto and lyric coloratura?)
dugazon is a mature lyric sop.
Cool video and pretty accurate! I've sung every soprano fach you mentioned! Started out as a soubrette/lyric coloratura and now I cover the Wagnerian/Spinto and even some Dramatic Coloratura roles.
"The Dramatic is the one that it hurts to stand beside in the rehearsal hall." ......sorry. :(
No sorry! Only BOOM! :)
We love to hear it. It hurts SO GOOD. :P
You havent seen the other typess yet
@@robinhahnsopran I’m a light lyric soprano
That hit to close to home. The amount of times I’ve either been standing next to people and you just see themselves put there finger in there ear or move somewhere else when I sing it’s so iconic I love 😂😂😂
What about singing in a bedroom and having your ears ring?
My voice hasn't always been on the big side, but now it has expanded as it has matured and I am a full lyric soprano.
I've been looking for this type of information for a looong time! Oh, thank you so much! You're the best!
Thank you Robin for bringing your lovely humour and style in this video!
I really enjoyed your style of presenting information. The insight about the “boxing” voices is spot-on! You’ve gained a mew subscriber 😊
Loved this!!! It would be cool if you did a video on all of the voice types and the famous singers of that voice type. I’m not a singer (I’m a flutist) but I do have several friends/ acquaintances/ colleagues who are singers☺️
Love this content. I just wish u had included short video examples of each
Hey i dont know if you read these but the similarities and parallels between different voice types has always fascinated me and i was wondering if you would ever do a vid on some other voice types, mezzo, tenor, baritone?
I love this video, so informative.
Really interesting and well explained....Thankyou......and engagingly relaxing
It's so fun watching you
This was good! I am an operatic soprano and I and my teacher and the pianist practice in a fairly small room. My teacher sometimes jokes that I've given her and the pianist a new hair division again. I don't necessarily hear the same (as the sound of classical style singing is best heard a bit further away from the singer), but I notice it when I sing in a large concert hall and I can hear that the whole hall is filled with the voice. Thank you for this video!
I genuinely had no idea about there being an entire group of sopranos who only sing Wagner. Really makes me want to get into writing operas to give them something more fun to do...
Or at least, y'know, options.
As long as you write them HUGE orchestras I'm sure they'd be thrilled. :D
Yes please!
If Queen Cersei had an opera, she'd be a Wagnerian soprano. Same, btw, for Danaerys Targaryen.
Or, if someone wrote on opera about Margaret Thatcher, she'd be pretty Wagnerian, too (and hating it, because, you know, Germans).
I learned so much from this! 🎵
You always get the sneak preview the night before! :)
Great job!!! I agree with you 100%.
Thank you, I feel so seen! I am a Dramatic coloratura and I am rarely included in these videos so I searched for it and found you!!! I think you are so right about people fitting in boxes. My lower register sounds like a contralto with depth and I can sing tenor roles! I used to love singing the Andrea Bocelli duets because I could sing both parts for most of his songs. I don't know how but I can sing in the 5th and 6th octaves comfortably E6 on a good day. It was fascinating because I didn't know I could do that until I went to Peabody. My teacher there told me she had a feeling and forced me to not look at the piano and sing as high as I could. I told her it was too high until I stopped looking and then got into the 6th and 7th registers in my 20s. I lost my top octave from disability but my lower register also got stronger. My vocal cords must be thin and stronger or something to be capable of sustaining the length and volume I can. It is amazing how I told myself I couldn't sing past the normal notes until that teacher. I never even tried until she had that feeling and forced me to stop looking. I am so glad she did that! I wonder if more people are like me and they just never had a teacher like her notice and train them. I think we should try everything and see how we do instead of thinking we can't even try. You never know you might be capable of something amazing you didn't even realize.
I am like this also, I've always been told I'm a mezzo but now being told I'm a soprano. Probably dramatic and I haven't determined about coloratura, I mean I can sing lots of notes fast but I have just discovered the upstairs so I'm on that at the minute. I had the same experience as you, getting my first C6, my teacher only told me afterward and it was the best trick ever, haha. I'm not sure how high I can go yet, at least D6 but I want good technique rather than pushing anything even though it requires patience.
@@beautifuldecisions766 I am so happy for you! It is amazing how our minds can keep us small until we change the way we think or someone does something like this for us! I was so shocked! But it takes a teacher that is humble and truly wants to see their student shine. Too many teachers didn't encourage this because they had emotional issues.
It is really smart to put health above ego, I have seen people blow out their voice and get nodes and need surgery from this so you are setting yourself up for a longer and more successful career this way! Also I love the app singer's studio. It has warm ups and exercises that you can do and it records you and the pitches for accuracy. So you can see physically when you start losing accuracy in the range. Then as I practice I can see the range of accuracy increase! Now I can sing most of the tenor range through high soprano and see where my accuracy decreases. Anyone with this skill would prob love this app for this reason. It helps me push myself without harming myself because once I see the decrease and feel it I can be more conscious. I hope it helps you as much as it helps me!
Thanks so much for making the video! I will have to memorize all the terms. But it's really helpful for a learner.
Greetings from Indonesia
My first voice teacher thought I was a dramatic soprano but then my second voice teacher called me a lyric soprano. So I've been wondering if that means I'm a spinto or maybe just a full lyric, but maybe I just don't fit into any of those boxes.
I used to fit neatly into the coloratura soprano/soubrette category but since the beginning of my mid-twenties there's been a LOT of change and I'm trying to navigate it, haha.
Such a good video, when I learnt that there are different soprano voices I finally understood why I could never reproduce the agility from Les Oiseaux Dans La Charmille
I think you're being too modest with your chart. I think it's genuinely very useful. Particularly for Opera families who have heard all these terms but don't have a clue what they mean... Not like any of us have that issue... lol
Aww, thank you!:)
For real. It's the best description I've ever seen of comparing the facher. A range chart, of course!! I vote Robin Hahn for next big music educator, please.
@@kagitsune Thank you SO much!
OMG... the psychodelic graphic is absoluely real! I feel the same way about what people espect us or some roles to be... we are certainly NOT boxes at all. Thank you soooo much four your aport. You nailed it!
I started singing as soubrette, then soprano leggero, then coloratura soprano. Then lyric and... now in my 39's it's.... wtf...???!!! Just a high voice With a warm and big central notes, but, not as huge. A good coloratura but not so easy. I feel I am a lyric soprano With and extra touch of High notes. Maybe aproaching to mad sopranos, 😂, but then dying as well... you Know what I mean.
Greatings from Argentina! Please keep doing this videos. Loved it.
Oooh Wonderful thank you Robin!!!
I wish u gave video/audio examples of each one😕
Absolutely loved your explanation! I definitely learned something new. Best of luck wwith the Grant applications...I'm sure they are neverending.
Thanks for this video. I just found out that I am a spinto soprano, and you actually discussed the spinto soprano.
Oh how fun!! Thank you
Jessie Norman highest notes were always low on volume compared to the rest of the voice... She was not like Shirley Verret, Birgit Nilsson, Gwyneth Jones when singing their highest notes. Their voices was like laser bombs being trown at you, unlike Jessie who was almost piano compared to the fortissimo regions of her voice.
@Devon Hawkins-Anderson Yeah, you're right. Jessie voice was underdeveloped at some parts, or maybe she was a mezzo who choose to go the soprano way and became like a dramatic soprano. Elina Garanca is the exact opposite way.
@Devon Hawkins-Anderson i woudn't call Elina a Dramatic Soprano, but a Lyric Soprano who choose to darken her voice to sound more mezzo-ish. She can sing HIGH C's and stuff, but with not enough power to be dramatic soprano. I adore Jennifer Larmore, she's like a mezzo with a heavy voice but an extreme power and projection, much more than Norman and Garanca. Her coloratura is also incredible, I adore her Una Voce Poco Fa. These singers have hybrid voices that are somewhat hard to classify, but I think Garanca was a lyric soprano who choose to deepen her voice and be a mezzo. She lacks the power of any kind of dramatic voice, there's nothing dramatic about her voice. I really like Grace Bumbry, but her high notes were always forced, even though they were stronger than Norman. Have you ever heard her In Questa Reggia? Good, but forced at the High C's and stuff.
This is true, but if you ever heard Norman live, up to a Bb it was the biggest voice in history probably. I've heard Nilsson and I've heard Norman in the theater. There was no contest until they got above a G.
What Soprano fach’s fit best into Soprano 1 and Soprano 2 in choir? Speaking on high level choirs where texture/timbre is just as important as range. Love the video!
Personally, I find it easiest for light lyric soprano and soubrettes to sing S1 as they can more easily do straight tone and sing quietly than more heavy, dramatic voices. For example, a full lyric soprano may be more comfortable in A1 as their voice will stick out more in soprano sections
Whould be nice to talk about rare voices or types Like, Yma sumac, Violetta Villas, or Operatic voices like Verret or bumbry who sang soprano/mezzo! thanks!
You are hilarious!!!!!Thank you so much for the breakdown.i don't know the first thing about opera singing ..haha I'm just trying to figure out what my voice is and clicked on this..I have no idea what my voice is..if I had to guess I'd say a light lyric soprano..I def got the nasally Vanessa Hudgens thing going on..but I had no idea there was so many subcategories.
Hi there, found your channel vi's your comment on OperaAnna. Subscribing.
I'm 27 and have been singing for exactly 20 years, but only a couple days ago I learned that I'm a spinto soprano. How interesting it is to learn more about it
Thank you so much for this wonderful video! I'm one of those people that don't fit into anything. I like how you stated this is subjective and as specific as it is it is occasionally inaccurate. Many times a singer will sound like one fach but sing in a different one. ( I once heard a soprano that could be described as a spinto with agility and a huge extension on top.... this voice could definitely sing any role... she did Carmen and Lakme.) It's more about the comfort in the artists individual voice... just like you said! Keep making these videos. People need to be educated! Thanks again!
Thank you.
Thank you for your video! I'd been called a coloratura since I was a teen, but I didn't actually realize I was a dramatic one until now 😆. I had listened to some lyric coloraturas and knew I wasn't quite like them, so this explains some things. I always have loved singing Queen of the Night 😍.
What do you call the type of singing in Agitata da due venti? And, is Pretty Yende a lyric soprano?
I like this ❤
I kinda like it when mezzo-soprano vocalists choose to expand their repertoire by also doing soprano roles, like when Cecilia Bartoli did Susanna in "Figaro", or when Agnes Baltsa did Giulietta in "Hoffmann", or when Ginger Costa-Jackson did Musetta in Puccini's "La Boheme". It also works vice versa (sopranos going mezzo, like when Angela Gheorghiu did "Carmen" or when Sumi Jo sang Adalgisa in "Norma"). BTW comment if u got any more examples 😉🎼🎶🎵
So well explained. I'm a non classical singer but so interested in opera. I think I'm a light lyric but my whistles go beyond G7.
Also I've subscribed. Love your content!! ❤
Thank you so much!
Pleeeeease make one about tenors 🙏
So different to the bass experience. If the bass has a big resonant low C, he may add Monteverdi to his repertoire along with everything else a bass has to do.
Basses, man. You guys live such a different life to us over here at the top of the scale! That a whole set of repertoire could be defined solely by access to one note is just not our life. Voices are so cool!
Very entertaining and delivered with such natural expression. I was told I would never be loud enough to be an opera singer because my head is not as big as Dame Kiri Te Kanawa’s.However, people’s ears hurt when I sing in a small space lol; go figure.
I’m not an opera singer but I really want to work on my projection.
Sometimes I am in situations when I soften my voice in exchange for volume 😭
I wish I had your loudness 🥲
I can’t get loud without hurting myself
thank you very much for you very educational video. could you please tell when a singer ( even a good one) is singing in a range out of his or her fach. I if so, could you give an example.
Yes concur with most people, if you could include sample audios accompanied with each type that you explained, it would be great. - Coming from someone who is new (noob) to music.
0:50 what's the name I'm actually new to this so yeh can someone drop the link??
I’m a opera singer I trained in classical music when I was 8 years old I’m playing snow while in musical at my new house on Thursday 31 of may and on January 2023 on Friday First 1 of July I’m playing Christine in the phantom of the opera concert at my new house
Are there different Fächer for Alto and Tenor too?
Yep! Fewer varieties, particularly in the mezzo & contralto range, but there are variations of all SATB types! :)
Hefty Chonk
The literal best name for a fach ever!
I would be nice to hear an example after each explanation
Could you make a video about contraltos? I am a contralto but I know so little about how to best use my voice
I just posted one, if you want to check it out! :)
I adore Dessay... I love her coloraturaness, but she messed up her voice by singing too high even for her. If she tone down her A Flats and Gs a bit, maybe she would have spared her vocal chords. She's by far my favorite coloratura. My favorite Dramatic is Nilsson. I won't choose favorites of other fachs cause I have to admit I can't. But a Coloratura Mezzo I adore is Jennifer Larmore. She's incredible, her Una Voce Poco Fa is my favorite of all renditions of that aria.
SORRY: My favorite Lyric is Caballe! Hahahaha remember Montsie now! hehehehe
Maybe she can spared her high notes but I don't think that is the main factor of her burn out. Her problem however is that she sings high notes with power too in dramatic scenes which caused her to burn out faster.
so would you say most handel bach vivaldi are lyric or dramatic ? so would you say mahler strauss wagner singers are similar? mozart rossini bellini donizetti?
My voice is on the larger side but I attempt to sing “darker” than what is natural. I typically sing cavaradossi from Tosca or Otello. but have equal volume output to colleagues singing Winterstrume. But because of the color and mechanics of my voice, that’s not something I would be hired to sing
I learnt a lot! - and I also realise I know barely anything lol.
Haha, no worries! There’s a lot to unpack in the world of opera, and tackling it is like eating an elephant: we can only do it one bite at a time! 😂
Being transmasculine is a wild way to learn about voices. I'm an amateur, but going from a soprano to a tenor in the space of a couple years is really something else.
I’m actually trans too! I’m a mezzo soprano, and I’m trying to go from there to tenor or baritenor. :)
Dude, just go with counter-tenor 😅🎉.
TH-camr "IloveArethaFranklin" has an INCREDIBLE series on different Fachs, all the way from bass to soprano! With lots of examples in contemporary music too!
They’re so good! :) Love those!
What type of soprano voice is required to sing Carmen?
What is a Falcon and Vulcan Soprano? How rae are they if they exist?
My voice has always been high. I have always been 1st chair soprano in chorus classes. People say my voice sounds odd or strange. I'm not sure how to take that so I just stopped singing. However I wish I could sing
Sing girl❤
it's been years and i would have to relearn everything @@makgotsopearlmaowasha5528
Your German is outstanding!
Well, Jessye Norman can sing dramatically but her voice is basically Spinto Soprano (up to Elsa from Lohengrin) in my opinion.
Never heard her live obviously.
@@jondavwal13 My first Jessye Norman was in Tokyo Ueno and that was her first concert in Japan, when she was newly recognised. She sung Vier Letzte Lieder under Ozawa. Her curtain call was more than 30 minutes.
Fascinating, especially thinking about character types and not just range. I was wondering, is there a term for cis women singing male roles?
It depends. Some of the time, these are just grouped in with pants roles that are the as-written pants roles; sometimes it's just genderbending. It really depends on what the convention is for each individual role. :) Hope that helps! Thanks so much!
Please try lea salonga the
Id give my life for you
What is soprano sfogato
light vs full lyric?
My speaking voice sits really low in my vocal range, so for a while I thought I was an alto (going by musical theatre voice types because that is what i know), and then I started taking voice lessons and nope I am a soprano.
I can sing with ease A3 to C6, what’s my type of voice?
Also how do classify people like Jessye Norman, Joan Sutherland, and Eileen Farrell .
joan sutherland is a dramatic coloratura soprano and Jessye is a dramatic soprano
verdi vs puccini soprano?
i would say weight vs range
I think I’m a light lyric coloratura soprano. That’s what my voice teacher told me when I was still studying with him in college. I was in my early 30’s back then. Now I’m 35 and I don’t know if I still am or not.
Saigongirl15: I think after 5 years you need a new teacher if he doesn’t know and can’t tell you. Otherwise the lack of knowing with drive you nuts like Lucia di Lammermoor. But then you’ll know what type of soprano you are.
There is a discussion going on where Amira Willighagen is heading with her voice type. She's still developing but will attend music university next year. What would be your classification?
Some examples of her latest videos.
La Vergine de. th-cam.com/video/NievOBH8Ab4/w-d-xo.html
La Califfa th-cam.com/video/XkrvMJOKvWs/w-d-xo.html
Disney How does a moment last forever. th-cam.com/video/LVcBRziS3O8/w-d-xo.html
I was wondering what I was and I open the video ON LYRIC SOPRANO?
I'm a *Dramatic Coloratura*
10:19 Sounds like she's talking about Floor Jansen 😂😂😂
age changes both weight and range
Where r my spinto’s and no I’m not just talking opera singers I’m talking those who voices literally cut through sound 😂
I like training all the fachs
You are right
I'm a male lyric soprano
MUCH TO OUR DISMAY!!@
+
Im a boy so i got high notes from my mom and a bit from the dad. Soo where the hell did i get soprano!? (Like from mary costa opera style) 🤔😮🎶
Perhaps you could talk about voices being drammatic or light. I have a huge travelling(carries over orchestras) dark, flexable voice with an impressive range. I have alto, mezzo and soprano roles in my reprtoire. I've sing everything but light roles. I considerato myself a mezzo for the passaggio and color even though I'm now singing drammatic soprano. At this point I just consider myself a drammatic voice.(p.s. could you please work on your pronuciation of foreign terms- it's impotant)
violetta? amina? norma? lakme ? lucia?
This vid on alcohol is lit?¡!!
heroic soprano like heldentenor
Here because of Jane Powell and Kathryn Grayson.
So this is where wagyu meat comes from WAGNERIAN soprano only the best of the BEST
ROFL. The Fach system is best used as a rough guide only: the voice is NOT a machine, and putting it in a drawer (Schubfach) is a sure way to ruin it!
Subbed for using “Mary Sue”.
Thank you! If I can bring fandom vocabulary into the operatic space, I feel like my work is done xD
@@robinhahnsopran
Brava.