Tenor or a Baritone? 5 Questions to Help you Decide

Do you know what the real definition of a lazy tenor is?
A very rich baritone!
–Thomas Hampson

Last 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 I a tenor or a baritone?

The answer: it depends.

Fach Identity

There is a lot of identity that goes with singing within a certain fach (voice type). One person’s personality may be attracted to one kind of character over another, but their voice may point them in a different direction.

Baritones, alas, tend to play more villains (Scarpia, Jago, Jud Fry, Javert) or ‘dudes of questionable integrity’ (Count Almaviva, Oppenheimer) than tenors.

At best, tenors tend to be lovers (Nemorino, Fenton, Rinuccio, Rodolfo, Alfredo, Faust) and heroes (Siegfried, Jean Valjean), and, at their worst, they can be jerks (Pinkerton) or creeps (Hermann), but they are rarely murderers (Don José).

If you are a baritone who wants to play heroes all the time, your options may be limited in opera (both Figaros, Valentin) and more plentiful in musical theater (Curly, Lancelot, Marius).

In my situation, I was looking at a handful of baritone roles that I could credibly play. I was hoping that I could be the next Thomas Hampson and get some of the rarely performed baritone versions of popular tenor roles tenor roles transposed (Werther ). Something was amiss.

Questions to Ask Yourself

None of these questions are fool-proof. Some baritones have high passaggi and some tenors have a hard time with high C’s, but these can get you thinking more clearly about who you are:

1. Are you uncomfortable or in pain?

   If you feel sore when you sing, whether it’s high or low, then you may want to try something else. If A2 on the bass clef feels bad to you, then you may be a higher voice. But if E4 feels bad to you even after regular practice, then you may have a low voice.

2. Where is your passaggio?

   Where is the most unstable area of your voice? That’s your passaggio. Usually, it is a good guide to help you decide whether you are a high or low voiced person. While I was singing baritone, I could never sing G’s very loudly and was worried about that. Well, I couldn’t sing them loudly because they are within my passaggio.

   Normally, we speak of having two passaggio breaks: the first break (primo passaggio) and the second break (secondo passaggio) with a zone in between (zona di passaggio).

   For me, the zona di passaggio feels similar to singing on a tight rope where one wrong move will cause me voice to flip in and out of falsetto in a fluttery kind of way. It is also difficult to hear my own voice properly there.

   Here is the chart from Richard Miler’s The Structure of Singing laying out men’s passaggio points (with those in parentheses being alternates):

   Voice Type	primo passaggio	secondo passaggio
   tenorino	F4	Bb4
   tenore leggiero	E4 (Eb4)	A4 (Ab4)
   tenore lirico	D4	G4
   tenore spinto	D4 (C#4)	G (F#4)
   tenore robusto (tenore drammatico)	C4 (C#4)	F4 (F#4)
   baritono lirico	B3	E4
   baritono drammatico	Bb3	Eb4
   basso cantante	A3	D4
   basso profondo	Ab3 (G3)	Db4 (C4)

   Test out your voice by singing a truly pure “Ah” vowel beginning in your speaking voice area. As you ascend, you will reach a point where you have to tilt your jaw up if you continue to sing in the exact same manner as you began. That’s your primo passaggio. A fourth above is your secondo passaggio. This doesn’t work in 100% of cases, but it usually is helpful.

3. What are the extremes of your range?

   I knew that I could sing C5 about 5 years ago when I listened to some tenors and concluded, “I can do that”. I would sing it, but for years I didn’t trust those high notes.

   Trust yours. If you have extremes on either side of your voice like extreme low notes or extreme high notes, then admit that they might be telling you something. They may not be developed and strong. But a tenor will not be able to sing B1. If you can, then perhaps you should avoid singing tenor rep. Baritones can’t sing Eb5 outside of falsetto. If you can…

4. What is your reaction to other singers?

   If you listen to a singer and think “Yes, we can!”, then give it a shot and see. Try what they do. Don’t get attached because it might be wrong for you right now, but there’s nothing wrong in trying something out once. Your gut may be telling you something.

   If you feel inadequate after listening to a singer or a sense that it is totally beyond you, then maybe that repertoire is not right for you.

5. Are you faking it?

   You may not feel any discomfort or pain when you sing, but you may be faking it. Examples of baritone “fakery” include a tongue shoved into your throat or an overly lengthened vocal tract by shoving your lips outward. You may be pulling your top lip down to darken your sound. You may be modifying your vowels too early to create an artificially low passaggio. You may sound incredibly loud to your own ears but small voiced to everyone else.

   Fake tenors may have a larynx that is pulled up into the backs of their throats. Or they may be shouting their high notes just to force them out. To give the appearance of a high passaggio, they may keep their voices spread instead of modifying their vowels appropriately. This sound may not sound like singing at all and may be highly unpleasant to listen to (though even the prettiest voice can sound unpleasant if it’s loud and in a small room).

   Try singing as simply as you can for awhile and forget all of your technique. Just intone some “Ah”s and try to avoid creating any tension in your throat. Record yourself. What do you hear?

Do I have a choice?

For most people, the answer is ‘no’. For most people, they are clearly in one camp or the other, and there is very little they can do to alter that. The question becomes “What kind of (bass,baritone,tenor,alto,mezzo,soprano) am I?” That takes time to learn as well.

But for some others, they may have a choice. Lauritz Melchior sang as professional baritone before he switched up, and he must have been credible to audiences at the time. Thomas Hampson could probably have made a credible tenor, but he’s done ok for himself.

The choice to remain or change is a highly personal one. If you are toying with the idea then talk to your teacher (and maybe several; I got a second opinion with my teacher’s blessing) and take some time to play with it. There’s no harm in play.

[Have you made a change in your fach? What was the experience like? Was it easy, hard, in between?]

{“Si se puede” frog by artfulblogger.}