Vocal range

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SexAnDrugS

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Hello,
I have a few questions regarding my vocal range and the scientific pitch notation.

I have read Scientific pitch notation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and it just doesn't make sense.

I am a Baritone (or at least I've been taught that I am). To explain my vocal range I will refer to Middle C as THIS NOTE (Since I am not sure whether this is the correct way of doing it):

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Middle_C.png

This is how it sounds:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACJjSRqveqM&feature=youtu.be&t=50s



So my range begins from the G below the middle c and ends somewhere around the G in the next octave (NOT the G in the same octave with the middle c - the G in the next octave). This creates a two octave vocal range.

Now, according to the scientific pitch notation article I've added here, my middle C is C4. This means that the range I've described is: G3 - G5. And according to my personal knowledge, tenors are capable of hitting the 'tenor high' note, which is now C6 according to this notation.

The problem is, other articles about male vocal ranges make no sense.

Let's take this for an example:
Tenor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

According to this article the Tenor vocal range is C3 - C5. LOWER than my baritone voice.
This would make sense if it were a different octave enumeration, but the article refers to
the same pitch notation that I referred to before.
So do the other wikipedia articles about male vocal ranges, they're all an octave lower than they should be.
According to this, my vocal range is higher than that of a tenor, and it's just not.
I've heard tenor singers hit their high notes.

Is wikipedia (and most google searches) wrong about this or do I misunderstand something (and then I'm probably coming off a little stupid here)?
Which is the correct way to describe my range, and where can I find a correct article about vocal ranges?


Thank you very much for your help.
 
First of all, if I'm reading your post correctly, your range is G3 to G4, not G3 to G5, though if you are a true baritone, I'd expect you to be able to go somewhat higher, at least to a C5 or D5. However, what you're missing is that male voices sound an octave below female voices. You're confusing actual sound with notation. In formal notation schemes, baritones and basses are normally notated in bass clef, and altos and sopranos are notated in treble clef. Technically, tenors have their own clef called, not surprisingly, "tenor clef."
However, for the sake of simplicity it is very common to notate all voices in treble clef, notwithstanding that the note the men are singing are singing is actually an octave lower. No tenor can hit a true C6, i.e. "high C" two octaves above middle C, though, maybe, a castrato could. Only sopranos can do that, and not even every soprano. Most mezzo sopranos would top out at a Bb below high C.

I haven't look at the Wikipedia articles because . . . well . . . they're Wikipedia articles. I can only tell you what my personal understanding is, as well as how I notate vocal parts when I write music. I wasn't a music major in college and I'm primarily self-taught, as a result of having worked as an actor in musical theater.
 
G3-G4 is only one octave. My range is what i have written and I can actually sing up to Ab5, but these notes are just not that good yet.
Anyways, tenors DO sing the tenor high note. And I don't think it matters what clef you use, their purpose is to tell which octave we're on.
 
Information from Wikipedia is worth exactly what you pay for it. Best answer I can give you. :D
 
No offense, but I seriously doubt you can hit a G5 unless you have some sort of previous vocal training, which I'm guessing you don't because of your OP. That's just a really high note for the average dude. Maaaybe if you're really good with falsetto.
 
Are you doing this because you need to put "Tenor" or "Baritone" on your resume or something and aren't sure which one to write? Or are you just curious which one you are?

Either way, I'd say just sing some tenor parts and then sing some baritone parts, and whichever feels more comfortable/sounds better is what you are. I can't imagine a situation in which you'd have your range audited.
 
guitaristic said:
No offense, but I seriously doubt you can hit a G5 unless you have some sort of previous vocal training, which I'm guessing you don't because of your OP. That's just a really high note for the average dude. Maaaybe if you're really good with falsetto.
Click to expand...

Agreed.
Wikipedia claims bass range to be E2 upwards, but I'm sitting at ProTools and it's telling me I can sing D1. (I'm a bass....duh)
Could there just be a difference in the number scales in different countries?


I can sing D1 to G4 at a push. For reference, I'm calling this note G4.
OP, is that the same note you can hit comfortably?
 
I do have previous training (and quite a lot actually), I've just always received information from my vocal coach.
And now that I want to share my vocal range with people, I want to make sure they'd understand.

And also, I am a baritone, all I said was that according to wikipedia I (apparently) can sing higher than a tenor.
Seafroggys said:
C4 is middle C. A4 is 440.

Problem solved.
Click to expand...

Then the tenor high note is actually G6?
 
G6 is higher than what sopranos sing.

When I started writing my musical, I studied musicals and read some literature, and most tenors since in the C3 to C5 range...that's an octave above and below middle C. C5 is belting it pretty hardcore. G6 is an octave and a half *above* that. I'm not sure if that can even be reached eve with falsetto.

A popular reference to what C5 is. In the studio recording of Bohemian Rhapsody, in the hard rock part in the last third, when Freddy sings "So you think you can love me and leave me to die," when he sings "die," he jumps up to C5 in the middle of the note. This is Freddie Mercury we're talking about, and even he had trouble hitting that with full power (he only did it live once or twice because of how difficult it was).
 
Seafroggys said:
G6 is higher than what sopranos sing.

When I started writing my musical, I studied musicals and read some literature, and most tenors since in the C3 to C5 range...that's an octave above and below middle C. C5 is belting it pretty hardcore. G6 is an octave and a half *above* that. I'm not sure if that can even be reached eve with falsetto.

A popular reference to what C5 is. In the studio recording of Bohemian Rhapsody, in the hard rock part in the last third, when Freddy sings "So you think you can love me and leave me to die," when he sings "die," he jumps up to C5 in the middle of the note. This is Freddie Mercury we're talking about, and even he had trouble hitting that with full power (he only did it live once or twice because of how difficult it was).
Click to expand...


I know what the tenor high note is, I know where to locate it on a piano and I can easily recognize it when I hear it.
But if the that not is numbered as c5, then the middle c (THIS NOTE: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Middle_C.png)

is then c3! not c4. That makes sense, until you look up 'middle C' and it says it is C4.........

A tenor can not sing an octave below that note...
 
Maybe we have conflicting understandings on what a tenor role is.

So just you know where I come from, Middle C is 261.6 hz (C4). Octave below and above is 130.8 (C3) and 523.3 hz (C5), respectively. This is what I understand as being the tenor range.

A prominent tenor role in the musical theatre world is Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar. That is defined as a tenor, and with some exceptions he stays within that two octave range, occasionally going above and even less below. Here's a link to the sheet music for his solo song, Heaven on their Minds. http://www.dosguys.com/JCS/MIDI/pdf/Heaven.pdf

Now here's an important note. In the vast majority of sheet music, especially piano, Middle C (C4) on the treble clef is the ledger line below the staff. On male vocal parts, however, the notes are written an octave above where the standard is. So the ledger line below the staff on this music (as well as virtually all tenor music) is actually lower C (130.8 hz, C3). And you can listen to recordings of this song and confirm that. The notes in that sheet music example span from that to (if my memory recalls, I did this song when I took lessons a year ago) the space above the ledger line above the staff, which is, using the C3 standard already established, B4.

If you say that this range is way too low for a tenor, can you post links to sheet music that have the proper tenor range?
 
Being a tenor or a baritone is not defined by vocal range, and is unimportant outside of classical music
 
Seafroggys said:
Maybe we have conflicting understandings on what a tenor role is.

So just you know where I come from, Middle C is 261.6 hz (C4). Octave below and above is 130.8 (C3) and 523.3 hz (C5), respectively. This is what I understand as being the tenor range.

A prominent tenor role in the musical theatre world is Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar. That is defined as a tenor, and with some exceptions he stays within that two octave range, occasionally going above and even less below. Here's a link to the sheet music for his solo song, Heaven on their Minds. http://www.dosguys.com/JCS/MIDI/pdf/Heaven.pdf

Now here's an important note. In the vast majority of sheet music, especially piano, Middle C (C4) on the treble clef is the ledger line below the staff. On male vocal parts, however, the notes are written an octave above where the standard is. So the ledger line below the staff on this music (as well as virtually all tenor music) is actually lower C (130.8 hz, C3). And you can listen to recordings of this song and confirm that. The notes in that sheet music example span from that to (if my memory recalls, I did this song when I took lessons a year ago) the space above the ledger line above the staff, which is, using the C3 standard already established, B4.

If you say that this range is way too low for a tenor, can you post links to sheet music that have the proper tenor range?
Click to expand...

I didn't actually understand the reason why some parts should be written an octave above the standard, but the pdf you've linked is a great example of a tenor part.

According to what I've read, the first three notes ("My mind is) are A4s (since wikipedia says the C in that octave is the C4). But I am sure that the C in that octave is actually the low end of the tenor .

So the conclusion is that wikipedia is wrong here? and those "My mind is" notes are actually A3s? making middle C the note located a tone higher than these A3s?
 
Definitely. That music is written an octave higher than it sounds for male tenor parts. On piano that would be an A4 as written normally, but if you sang the part (and listened to the part) its definitely an A3.
 
Yea, transpositions and note names can be a hard concept to grasp, if you want a good example of a C5, listen to "Ah mes amis" from the daughter of the regiment (try juan diego florez). If you want something higher than that, listen to Ragnarok by periphery, where at the end, spencer hits an F# 5. thats the highest note I've ever heard a male hit.

a G6 is the upper extension of a coloratura sopranos voice, and is hardly hardly hardly ever used haha, especially in modern music, unless you showboat like mariah carey. But for all we know SexAnDrugS could be mariah in disguise!
 
Without using falsetto most vocalists have about a two octave range. I consider myself a bass with a usable range of the D below the bass clef staff up to the F above middle C. I have had to sing tenor in Choir using Falsetto to get into the upper tenor range the highest written tenor note I've seen in choral music is the A immediately above middle C (this note I've only seen in a couple of pieces G is typically the highest you'll see written for tenor). From what you describe of your range you are pretty safe classifying yourself as a Baritone. In that classification you would typically be asked to sing the upper bass part in a vocal group, or a lower tenor part. Vocal range can vary widely between individuals, and the categories are general descriptions of range for the typical person singing that part. Work to make the most of the range you have, and develop it to it's best potential (professional coaching will really help) and don't get hung up on categories.
 
You're right, there are lots of different conventions for pitch notation. I've found Yamaha say something different to Roland. Theres the German Helmholtz system and the American systems! Different countries, composers and teachers refer to different systems! What a headache. The other videos and explanations are not wrong, but they may be using different systems.

If you're using the Scientific Pitch Notation system then I think your range in the first post is G2 to G4. That seems right for a baritone.
The high C for a tenor is C5.


The terms baritone and tenor originally come from classical choirs, where the professional choirs would attribute it to your tone and amateur choirs would attribute it to your pitch range. These days, singers still use the terms but we forget that every individual singer actually has a different range anyway.

If you're interested in a good range chart that also shows relative pitches for male and female voices, Google Complete Vocal Institute Forum and look up the heading Where is C4? What frequency is A3? - pitch notation updated (Sorry the forum stopped me adding a link!)
 
Just curious as I don't know....

My keyboard has middle C listed as C3 (written below the key) It is a 76 key keyboard. Do other keyboards with different numbers of keys use a different terminology (like D4) if they have 88 keys?
 
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