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Voice lessons for a (very) high tenorDate: April 5, 2012 by Brooks Gatlin  Views: 2707
Hello all,
I am the Music Director in a small private school where I direct two small vocal ensembles. In my high school choir, I have a sophomore boy with a very strong, yet high voice. The boy is a fine musician and plans on continuing in music as a career, but I am having trouble with repertoire in our private voice lessons.
He has a modal range of F (below middle C) to C (octave above middle C) and another half octave or so in head voice. My problem lies in finding good solo tenor literature that does not fall below his singable range. I am finding the vast majority of tenor books key the songs to bottom out around D or Eb. I would love to hear if anyone has any suggestions for literature suitable for his voice.
Also, does anyone have experience with a high school male with this type of range/voice? He struggles with the tenor line going too low in some of our choir peices. How do you handle it?
Replies (5): Threaded | Chronological
Austen Wilson on April 5, 2012 10:15am
Hi Brooks
Has his voice changed yet? If he can't sing below an F below middle C, then that is a possibility.
Have you considered giving him countertenor or soprano arias from the Baroque period?
In choir, have you considered switching him to alto? If you need him on tenor, maybe he could sing the tenor part for part of the time and then switch to alto if the part goes too low?
Austen
on April 5, 2012 4:11pm
Brooks: As a matter of fact I once had TWO such voices in my university Studio Singers ensemble (college level, not high school), which was an 8-voice SATB ensemble. Boy, was THAT ever a great year. One of them has gone on to make a fine career for himself as an operatic tenor. Neither one could sing below a small d (D3) and didn't have much sound below the small f (F3), but their upper passaggii were about a 4th or so higher than the average tenor voice, around a high Bb' (Bb4).
This is characteristic of a type of voice favored in the French baroque, called an "haute-contre." I believe that Russell Oberlin, the first countertenor with New York Pro Musica had this type of voice (although I could be wrong), while Deller, the English countertenor most famous at the time, was definitely a falsetto singer.
It's possible that it's a late-developing voice, of course, as Austen wondered. Sophomore is what age, 15? But regardless of where his voice will go in the future, for now he should probably not be singing tenor arias or singing tenor in choir. Try him on the LOW VOICE editions of solo material, and treat his voice as more a contralto or countertenor. And probably alto would the best voice for him in choir, depending on looking at each piece separately and deciding.
My son (a professional countertenor) sang 1st tenor in high school, although his natural voice is more baritone, but when his voice changed his church choir director (his mother!) kept him singing in head voice with the trebles and he retained that ability, so he was able to sing 1st tenor by switching vocal production to head voice. And with Chanticleer he sang the lower of the soprano parts because that was the voice they needed, although his natural voice range is more in the mezzo/alto range.
Always remember that we classify voices and put them into neat little boxes for OUR convenience, while in fact every human voice is different and unique. Put this young man where his voice is most comfortable, work to stretch his range in both directions without forcing it. and just enjoy seeing what comes of it all. Don't get hung up on this ridiculous mantra of "boys don't sing alto and girls don't sing tenor"! The bell curve isn't nearly as limiting as that!!!
All the best,
John
P.S. Email me with a regular email address and I'll give you my son's email contact. Your student might well enjoy corresponding with him
on April 6, 2012 7:18am
Hi, Brooks.
I *was* that voice. Couldn't count on anything lower than Eb-3 and had F5 up there in the stratosphere. Would that someone like John had been my choral conductor in the WaaayBack machine, but the 60's were not *that* progressive <g>. As for vocal literature and keys? The suggestion of singing from "low voice" editions but doing so in the alto range makes ultimate sense to me. Another tactic flows from the fact that one can use computer technology to create and transpose editions wherever they need to be. Nevermind the computer. Push comes to shove, your student's grounding in music theory could benefit from an old-fashioned pencil-and-score-paper exercise in transposing songs (with accompaniments) into useful keys. Either way, find music your student loves to sing and then find or create it in a key that's tailored to his instrument. Who knows. You may have the next Chris Colfer in your studio!
Peace.
Jeremy McLeod
on April 6, 2012 11:08am
A cautionary note (no pun intended!): Keep an eye on this young man OUTSIDE of the classroom. The group that just won "The Sing-Off," Pentatonix, has a relatively short young man with a beautiful 1st tenor - and he caught hell for it, apparently, in high school - although their win at this contest (three of them were 19 at the time) sort of makes up for the misery. At this stage of a young man's life, there is NOTHING like standing out in some way that isn't going to bring all the creeps in the neighborhood out to pick on him. My strength was in a different way - academics - but beside being short, I was thus an easy mark. You may need to be as much mentor and shoulder as anything else. Just a word of caution...
Ron
on April 10, 2012 7:47am
Various websites sell popular songs and "Great American Songbook" materials that can be printed out in any key you like--maybe some of these will be helpful. Plain old folk songs can also be useful, although you may need to alter the melody line here and there. It's my belief that if you teach good vocal technique using repertoire that fits, the range will expand in its own good time.
Hope this helps!
Jay Lane
President, McClosky Institute of Voice
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