Exactly what's a true contralto?

Subject: RE: Exactly what's a true contralto?
From: sharyn
Date: 07 Nov 02 - 11:08 PM

Hi Alice,

I didn't know the Robert Shaw Chorale ever got around to Irish folksongs. How is it? Sharyn

Subject: RE: Exactly what's a true contralto?
From: Alice
Date: 07 Nov 02 - 11:45 PM

It is very.... well... chorale. I am having trouble getting my Real Audio player to play the sound samples. The only one I can open with a female solo is Silent O Moyle, by Thomas Moore. It is a song I sing unaccompanied and it is interesting to hear it done this way -> Click here, scroll down to track 4, Silent O Moyle. There is a credit to Florence Kopleff as the Contralto on the album. Couldn't get any other tracks to open that had female solos.

Alice

Subject: RE: Exactly what's a true contralto?
From: KingBrilliant
Date: 08 Nov 02 - 07:57 AM

When we talk about range - should it mean complete range of hittable notes regardless of quality - or should it mean only those notes that are good and usable in songs??

KRis

Subject: RE: Exactly what's a true contralto?
From: GUEST,a true contralto
Date: 20 Aug 04 - 12:13 AM

Greetings, all,
I have just perused your thread on "what is a trus contralto". My voice teacher says that 70 % of women are sopranos, about 15-18% are mezzo-sopranos, and the remaining 2-5 % are contraltos. Obviously, most of the "altos" in a choir then are mezzo-sopranos.
What determines that I am a contralto rather than a mezzo is that my voice is dark, heavy, and rich as well as low. ( My voice break is around E/F above middle C and on a good day, my high pitch is the G an octave up from there. I can easily sing tenor in my low end.) Even in head voice, my voice is heavy, so I work on nasal resonance and such to bring the sound forward.
In addition to our relative rarity compared to other female voices,it has been my experience that contraltos do not get the strokes that the high women's voices get (boo-hoo, pass the tissue). A Bass friend of mine used to say that the "S" in SATB stands for "soloist". Additionally, because there are not many parts for us in opera, we tend to seek out other types of music. And lastly,because many untrained sopranos and mezzo-sopranos sing only in "chest" voice, I think it is a common misconception that all Women singing in a low tessitura are just untrained and/or in chest voice.
Kathleen

Subject: RE: Exactly what's a true contralto?
From: PoppaGator
Date: 20 Aug 04 - 03:40 PM

Kathleen,

According to your voice teacher's statistics, there is no such thing as an alto. I could understand someone arguing that "most" altos are actually mezzos, but for someone to contend that there are *no* altos seems to me like an argument over nothing more than semantics or definitions, not really a meaningful discussion.

I must confess that I'm just stirring up trouble here -- I'm an untutored folk/blues/soul singer with no more than a passing curiosity about definitions of the various voices.

The last time I was in an organized choral group, I was an alto -- a prepubescent male one, of course. I'm sure I could have been a boy soprano, but Sister Anne Eucharia made the girls sing soprano and the boys alto, no exceptions.

Subject: RE: Exactly what's a true contralto?
From: hesperis
Date: 20 Aug 04 - 07:36 PM

Alto is technically the highest male voice, which is higher than contralto. I know a couple of mature males who fit that category of voice.

I always thought I was contralto because I used to be able to really belt it out in the lower ranges, which most females I knew couldn't even reach. My high notes are hugely squeaky since they mostly disappeared when I was 12-13. But my voice is lighter in feel than contralto. *shrug*

Subject: RE: Exactly what's a true contralto?
From: GUEST,lafemmedemusique
Date: 29 Sep 04 - 08:05 PM

I've heard from various teachers and other people that singing as low as I do can really hurt my voice, but I feel more comfortable singing lower than higher. Most of my teachers could never place me in an actual section because my rang goes from the B two octaves below middle C to the C two octaves above middle C. I am an opera singer...what, in your opinion, section am I in?

Subject: RE: Exactly what's a true contralto?
From: PoppaGator
Date: 29 Sep 04 - 08:22 PM

With a four-octave range, I would think you could pick your own spot.

Subject: RE: Exactly what's a true contralto?
From: GUEST,Hesperis(friend'scomp)
Date: 30 Sep 04 - 02:34 AM

Uhh... wow. You can definitely pick your own spot with a range like that! If it's comfortable, it's unlikely to be damaging anything, and your teachers may just believe that chest voice is always evil.

As for me, my high soprano range disappeared at around age 13, and I was left with my "easy" range being exactly the same as the untrained alto listed on that page of ranges. When singing in choir, anything above F#5 was difficult, and a G5 or A5 was a strain that I could only do sometimes. I can't even scream high.

A friend who was definitely a lyric or coloratura soprano could not sing anything lower than middle C, and even that was a strain for her. I've sung as low as the D or C below middle C, but that was usually also a strain and I stopped. F3 is fairly easy though.

My voice isn't heavy enough for contralto (athough it can be loud enough sometimes!) and I kept getting asked to sing mezzo, which would place too much of a demand on my higher voice, especially in quieter parts of songs. Then I would be unable to sing high for a while after rehearsal. A soprano told me that the top of her range is something she really cannot sing quietly... so it would appear that D5-G5 really is the top of my range, because I really can't sing it at less than mezzoforte at the softest. It just disappears.

I don't know why the choir directors objected to my "chest voice" since it wasn't even as heavy as that of a true contralto, and I was asked to round out the tenors a few times when they had parts too high for them.

Subject: RE: Exactly what's a true contralto?
From: GUEST,Kara
Date: 23 Oct 04 - 05:23 PM

A contralto is a woman who can sing better in the alto range than in the soprano range.

I join a chior before and was a soprano 2 but can also sing high alto, low alto, high soprano, and low soprano. I really wish if my voice has changed from before.

Subject: RE: Exactly what's a true contralto?
From: GUEST,Dr. Allen
Date: 20 Dec 05 - 04:09 PM

What makes a "true contralto" is the rich tonality of the lower notes. If a female can give full color to notes below middle C, they have the potential of beginning a contralto. However, it's the singer's choose if they want to focus in this particular voice category. The voice will do what you make it and if you are consistant it will become your "vocal home". There are a lot of classical singers who have a very extensive range; for example, most tenors can do alto and some soprano. Does that make them a counter-tenor? I am a male, studying as a sopranist and can go as low as B Flat (2) and as high as A above High C. In having an extensive range like that, I can almost select any vocal category. What made me select sopranist is because I can ring up to an E above high C, which most counter-tenors don't have in their register; and most of the music for counter-tenors is written in the alto register....; therefore, I was wasting range I had available.

[e-mail]

Subject: RE: Exactly what's a true contralto?
From: GUEST,Geoff Wright
Date: 21 Dec 05 - 11:29 AM

Just adding to Dr. Allen's post, I consider myself a male alto, counter-tenor (for want of a better word), and my range has slowly slipped from singing above the treble clef in my 20s, to a top note of treble clef c or d (con belto) and a good alto voice down into F or G of the bass clef (without "changing gear") in my early 50s. I sing in cathedral choirs and have turned into a useful Purcell "verse anthems with ledger-lines" specialist.
My tenor voice goes up to middle c or so, so there is an overlap of four or five notes. When tired (Sunday mornings), I can get a B below bass clef.

In answer to the question, the main criterion is to be female.

Subject: RE: Exactly what's a true contralto?
From: GUEST,singer100
Date: 05 Apr 11 - 08:17 PM

I can understand why someone would think this; after all, nowadays, a contralto or bass is relatively unheard of (tenors & sopranos seem to be reigning). The low voices are personally my favorite. Though I know a lot of lyrical/higher contraltos & basses. The coloratura & dramatic types are the ones that are actually rare. I also know people who think they are "basses" or "contraltos" but actually more of a dramatic baritone or mezzo-soprano.

But, a "true" bass or contralto will have all the qualities of that type in their natural voice; it will be deep, dark, and heavy. These types are very uncommon.

Subject: RE: Exactly what's a true contralto?
From: GUEST,Caroline jones
Date: 16 Aug 12 - 11:14 AM

Hi I'm a coloratura contralto..I've had to travel miles to find a true contralto teacher and I'm similar to Kathleen ferrier. Ewa podles. I can only describe contralto as chocolate dark and deep. Sounds like chest voice through most the range. Sing very low including tenor range with a deep resonance and very dark tessiture. Head voice is overly light but not comfortable and don't like being up there very long... Notes sound lower than sopranos and mezzos even though they are the same notes sung...most people get mezzos labelled as contraltos when they are true mezzos.. It's took me a long time to find someone who understands my contralto voice...;-(

Subject: RE: Exactly what's a true contralto?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 16 Aug 12 - 12:30 PM

A 'true' contralto recites the pledge of allegiance before singing The Star-strangled Banner.








(Please! Not the lash!)

Subject: RE: Exactly what's a true contralto?
From: Don Firth
Date: 16 Aug 12 - 02:45 PM

One video is worth a thousand words.

A TRUE contralto.

Eula Beal (a couple more videos here) had a fairly short concert/recital/opera career (about ten years), retiring to become a wife and mother, but then doing occasional performances locally.

A voice like honey!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Exactly what's a true contralto?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 16 Aug 12 - 03:23 PM

Kathleen Ferrier died much too young.

Blow the Winds Southerly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjvHg9cBriw

Du Bist die Ruh: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_IS6sg_ONw&feature=related

Subject: RE: Exactly what's a true contralto?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 17 Aug 12 - 10:31 AM

Thanks for the links.

Subject: RE: Exactly what's a true contralto?
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 17 Aug 12 - 07:35 PM

Once more a true classic in every sense of the word. The thread has a decade, the topic several centuries.

A "false contralto" is fairly easy to describe: a person who can sing soprano parts, or could, or would be able if properly trained, but actually sings contralto parts. Female voices differ from male ones by the fact that their lower limit is almost uniform. Most sopranists can sing below the trable clef easily, in particular when they are out of health, e.g. by smoking. But the sound makes the difference.

Many prominent sopranists tried themselves in alto or low mezzo roles later in their career, when they could no longer sing high notes; the most famous one was Maria Callas.

Genuine contraltos are not rare, but in the minority, somewhat mirroring the statistical relation between tenors and bass-bariton-type voices. In both cases the criterion seems to be relatively clear-cut, whereas there is no such clear line between basses and baritones, or between sopranos and mezzos etc.

Anyway, music critics (of whatever qualification) are usually paid for impressing their readers, rather than informing them.