I’m a baritone. I’m a tenor. I’m a baritone. I’m a tenor.
Crossroads
Today, I am a tenor. With all this lift stuff, I walked into my lesson and found that I could sing high C sharps with no problem whatsoever. My teacher, who had up until today had serious doubts about me being a tenor, saw the light so to speak. I then sang through “Recondita armonia”, “Ecco ridente” (with an interpolated high C) and some Brahms and Schubert songs in tenor keys with no problems whatsoever.
The idea that I could sing some of those great tenor arias and play some great roles is very exciting, but it’s also frustrating. If I wake up tomorrow, and today was not just some fluke, then I have some serious issues to deal with.
First, I was considering doing auditions sooner rather than later, and that will have to be put on hold while I relearn how to sing and gain stamina in a new fach. Also, I have to decide how to sing some upcoming performances. I am scheduled to sing in NMSU’s opera scenes next week as the Count in Le Nozze di Figaro. So I will still have to do that. I am considering singing a recital at the end of May and perhaps before, so I will have some serious choices there as well.
Part of my consideration must be this, however, and interestingly, I rarely ever read about this in vocal pedagogy books or in discussions of fach: I am not as big as most operatic baritones. Neither physically nor vocally. A couple years ago, I sang in the opera chorus of Arizona Opera’s Macbeth. The guys playing Macbeth were huge. Huge. So were their voices. I can’t fake that. Of course, Macbeth might not be a role for me, but then what is if I have to push and push to get my dark sound heard?
Discussions of vocal fach seem to be rarely cut and dry issues. Several students here at NMSU are in similar situations in trying to decide which path to choose, and it may take years to sort out. Domingo trained as a baritone only to train upwards to a tenor.
Plus, it seems that I have a choice. I could go either way. I just have to choose. But it seems like go with tenor and see what happens.
[Let me reiterate: I am more excited than pessimistic. Something lifts in my heart when I think of singing tenor.]
Wait, so you had some inklings of being a tenor when you were first starting with Andrew?
I had inklings of being a tenor well before I ever met Andrew. I was just so strongly encouraged at UA to be a baritone, so I remained that, and whenever I sang tenor for Andrew, he thought it was interesting but always felt that I would be better as a baritone. Back in Tucson, though, I would practice singing tenor arias, albeit less successfully than I did today. That’s why I could so comfortably just jump into full fledged arias today.
well, you’re not as big as a lot of tenors either, so? Pavarotti, Domingo? So why not bulk up, muscle up and stay a baritone? Nice timing on the part of your teacher, by the way, to suddenly have the dawn break here at the end of your graduate education with so many things coming up. where was his well tuned ear some years ago? And you could always forget the ‘dark sound’ and make some gajillions of dollars in musical theatre but I know that’s considered slumming it.
These things do happen. Domingo did actually switch from baritone to tenor at the beginning of his career. And no, I am not as big (he was tall too) as Pavarotti was…but almost no one is. That’s part of what made him so great. He had a lyric instrument housed in a huge body so that it produced very loud but very beautiful tones. When we think about the standard size for opera singers some people, like Pavarotti, should not be considered. The problem for me is that baritones tend to be bigger in general.
There is no conspiracy by my teacher to sabotage me in some way. Learning about someone’s vocal type is a long term process sometimes, and it is part of the overall process of learning to be a classical singer. It takes time. It was truly an accident that this happened and it was related to another vocal technique that allowed me to access a greater range. Besides, everything that I’ve learned is still valid. My tongue is out of my throat. I can breathe more easily. I can pronounce clearly. I have learned a great deal about languages, composers, styles, and such. Now, I just apply all of that to a different singing sensation.
If it does pan out that I switch to tenor, it will be nothing to be sad or upset about. In fact, it looks like I might be a very able tenor. My range extends to Db without excessive difficulty, and it is the opinion of more than several people (including other voice teachers) now that I sound good as a tenor. It feels easier, and it fits into my own physical sense of myself. Some roles I might be able to sing are all of the Mozart tenor roles, Faust, a handful of Rossini roles, some Britten, and other bel canto lyric roles. It’s not a shabby list, and even that will grow as I expand my awareness of the repertoire.
As for musical theater, I feel like I am moving down a different path now. I have no ill-will toward musicals or musical performers. So, no, it is not slumming it. I just feel like my training has taken me to a different place than theirs has.
Admittedly, I was skeptical and worried about whether tenor was the way to go. I am not as worried now, and my imagination is beginning to play with the possibilities of it.
I hope this helps explain things a little more clearly now that my head has cleared a bit.
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. :D
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.
Exactly. I think the very best thing is to concentrate on singing anything you sing in a healthy manner. The rest comes with time.
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.
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.
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
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
I’m curious about your passaggio? Between what notes is it located?
It’s been years since I wrote this. I’m back to baritone (happily) and my passaggi are Bb/Eb and sometimes B/E. One’s 20’s can be very vocally confusing.
Wow … I see,so you must be dramatic or lyric baritone, or in between. Oh well, I didn’t pay attention to the date. It’s interesting that sometimes the voice can still change it’s fach