Comments on: Tenor? Baritone? Oy…

By: Tenor or Baritone? Updates | Ian Sidden

Tenor or Baritone? Updates | Ian Sidden — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 15:04:29 +0000

[...] on how we’re producing tones in the various parts of our voices. I agree with the comment made by kenwanderson: What a person CAN do, and what is easier (and more appropriate?) on the voice may not be the [...]

By: Back to Baritone | Ian Sidden

Back to Baritone | Ian Sidden — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 03:58:15 +0000

[...] I switched to tenor I really believed that it was appropriate, but after a year and a half where I’ve performed [...]

By: Ian

Ian — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:47:44 +0000

Thanks for the comment and video! A number of baritones have (or had) fabulous high A's (or higher) including Thomas Hampson, Leonard Warren, and Sherill Milnes. Here's a fun video of some extreme high baritone singing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl0TQ6zAjAo

By: Hansel

Hansel — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:19:21 +0000

Fischer-Dieskau sings "Ich grolle nicht" with a heroic high A in 1956. Just to illustrate your point, and because it's beautiful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5W3qGUa9XU

By: Ian

Ian — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 23:13:38 +0000

Hi Ken,

Thank you so much for stopping by.

Your points are very well taken. After I wrote this post, I continued to have doubts about it for several months. Slowly but surely though it has gotten easier, and I've gotten smarter about accessing the top. My teacher and I have also carefully found what rep is appropriate.

You're definitely right about "What a person CAN do, and what is easier (and more appropriate?) on the voice may not be the same." Just today I met several gentlemen who have big easy tops with easily voiced low tones. No one is totally sure where they are most appropriately placed vocally, so these guys just have to take it easy and explore their voices.

I love your blog, by the way.

By: kenwanderson

kenwanderson — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 20:59:49 +0000

Hello Ian,
It seems that your situation is something not unlike that of baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. He too had the same choice to make, but rather than choosing tenor (Helden tenor), he took what was kinder/easier on his voice and chose lyric baritone. By doing so it seems he has sung well, even into his seventies. What a person CAN do, and what is easier (and more appropriate?) on the voice may not be the same. Also, what you want to do--because there may be a higher earning-power, and what will give you a longer singing life may also not be identical. Then, obviously, there are just "DAYS" ... when you wake up feeling more ONE way than another. I'm speaking generally.

At one stage in my development I had a teacher who was a lyric baritone. Most of the time he billed himself that way. But occasionally he'd be the "tenor" soloist in a performance of "Messiah" (Handel). As his student, I thought he was wise that he chose the "baritone" designation for 90% of this singing ... including all his solo recitals.

If, like Domingo, your development has opened up for you the tenor territory with comfort, go for it! As a light voice, choose your material wisely.

Best wishes.

Ken W. Anderson
PS. By the way, thanks for referencing my blog.

By: Tenor or a Baritone? 5 Questions to Help you Decide | Beginning Singer

Tenor or a Baritone? 5 Questions to Help you Decide | Beginning Singer — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:42:29 +0000

[...] Spring, I switched from baritone to tenor. Since I wrote about it, a lot of people have found this blog by asking the question via Google: Am [...]

By: Sophia

Sophia — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 23:28:53 +0000

Exactly. I think the very best thing is to concentrate on singing anything you sing in a healthy manner. The rest comes with time.

By: Ian Sidden

Ian Sidden — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 16:28:41 +0000

Good point. To expand on what you said, I think that most people in their 20′s should not get too attached to any one fach because it can drastically change. Our mutual friend Andrew was a light lyric tenor in his 20′s and then in his 30′s grew into the Helden tenor that we know today.

We just try to do the best we can with what we have and try to forget about what we were or what we may possibly be in the future.

By: Sophia

Sophia — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 09:55:53 +0000

I know EXACTLY how you feel. I have a feeling I will not know my true fach, for certain, until I have correct technique totally solid and until I am not sick anymore. For now, it’s just making as much progress as I can and singing as healthily as I can, while I wait. What’s been working for me, so far, has had a significant (and good) change on my sound (and feeling), though, and it opens the possibilities for even more repertoire than previously expected, in the future. ALWAYS exciting.