Hello again. S&R, thanks so much for the banjo tunings link. My original question got a little obscured, but this has still been an intersting discussion. I realized I should have put a (I think that means grin), next to my statement about "Girl Keys". Of course keys don't have a gender. And of course men and women sing in a wide range of keys. I made a terrible generalization. Although in my world of bluegrass and old time pickers most folks would know exactly what I was talking about.... a generalization, but true enough to be a little funny. So I have been surprised that it sparked such discussion here!

WYSIWYG made a really good point about tone color and I think said better than I what was in my mind. Not all kinds of vocalizations fit in all genres. There is a certain vocal box one lives in with boundaries of what is and isn't appropriate stylisticly. (That's my personal opinion obviously). In Appalachian oldtimey music one of those boundaries is very little vibrato. Doc Watson talks about it. (Listen to his introduction to "And Am I Born To Die" on "Watson Family Tradition"). Another is the vocal range a person uses to achieve that certain sound. Mostly a chest voice and often use of nasal resonance. Occasionaly some falsetto. Now I know I'm going to pay hell for this, but I don't think stylisitc boundaries are bad. I mean, aren't there certain things we want to hear from a good blues singer? We also expect certain things from a good opera diva. AND, sometimes rules are ripe to be broken. But, I think it sounds really silly to hear a singer unleash his/her full fury of formal training on say "White Dove", "Rank Stranger", or "Wild Bill Jones"... or say "Muleskinner Blues"!!

When women started singing in bluegrass bands it required instrumentalists to expand their skills to play in less frequented keys and still reproduce some of those signature licks and chord voicings that had become standard in G, A , Bb, and B. Women started singing Flatt & Scruggs standards but just couldn't nail them in G. They sure could in C! Listen to Kathy Kallick, Lynn Morris, Laurie Lewis, or Dale Ann Bradley. Or Alison Krauss even!

Well, that's been my problem learning clawhammer. I want to sing some oldtime standards that I've heard Clarence Ashley play in G, but I just can't nail them in G. I sing them in C, but I really want to get a similar voicing to my banjo tuning.

I'm new to mudcat and have been so impressed with the wealth of knowledge here. I knew this was the place to get some assistance.

Long winded post. I apologize.