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City of Dunedin Choir presents Handel's Messiah
Tuesday 8 December 2009, 7:30pm
Dunedin Town Hall

Examples and discussion: Soprano, mezzo-soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, bass...

The following is a cross-post from my blog The Chorister. I have copied it to here, because I thought members of City Choir might find it interesting. I hope so.

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The following post provides example clips and discussion of these voice parts: whistle register soprano, soprano, mezzo-soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, bass, basso profondo and oktavist.

A lot of people find it hard to work out which voice part they should sing. Soprano or alto? Tenor or bass?

These samples may help you. They're all of well-known singers, starting from the top to the bottom, who can be classified into the various voice parts.

If you're not sure where you fit in, try singing along with the clips. They might just help you put yourself in place!

I've used popular music clips in this post, and kept away from opera-style vocal stuff, because that is what most people are familiar with, and that is how most of us sing as choristers - I hope!

Correctly classified? Maybe!

Some of these singers are easily classified, others not. Mariah Carey is obviously a soprano, and John Denver is obviously a tenor.

Other singers, such as Charlotte Church, claim to be one thing when the evidence suggests otherwise - to the best of my knowledge, she is still claiming to be a soprano, but my ears tell me I'm hearing a very definite mezzo.

And some have debated whether Elvis was a tenor, but I'm hearing baritone, and Elvisologists (yes, they exist!) now agree he was a baritone.

I hope these clips are useful as well as interesting. What they show me, as a chorister, is that human voices - like people ourselves - are not easily classified into little boxes where we can be categorised and labelled.

Voices follow a spectrum from high to low, and there are a number of us who can sing a variety of voice parts. Flexibility can be incredibly useful, both in the amateur and in the professional world.

Enjoy!

Whistle Register - Soprano

Mariah Carey is a soprano, who can also sing in the highest part of the voice, the whistle register. In classical music, the whistle register is famously used in Mozart's Queen Of The Night aria.

Here's a clip of Carey.


Mariah Carey using whistle register.

Common, or garden variety, soprano

Chloe Agnew is a fairly typical clear-voiced soprano, although a bloody good one. Listen to the way her voice pops out at the top of her range, and disappears as she moves lower down in her range.


Chloe Agnew, Soprano, sings Panis Angelicus

Mezzo-soprano

Charlotte Church is a well-known child star, who rose to fame as a child soprano, but who is now, if you listen, clearly a mezzo-soprano. She also clearly has tuning problems in this clip, but that is not the point of using it.

Listen to the richness and lower tone to her voice, compared to Carey and Agnew (both sopranos). Sure, she sings high, but her voice lacks that bell-like clarity, and is richer and more solid in its lower notes than in its higher pitches.


Charlotte Church, mezzo-soprano, sings Ave Maria

Contralto

Karen Carpenter would have been welcomed in any alto section! Listen to the richness and depth to her voice, and the ease with which she manages lower notes!

Carpenter is an absolute delight to listen to, and made lower voiced singing for women an art form. Women aren't just lovely when we sing high - we can be damn sexy in our lower notes too!


Karen Carpenter, alto, sings We've Only Just Begun.

Tenor

John Denver is absolutely a tenor, and wouldn't have sung anywhere but the tenor section in a typical choir. Listen to the easy, higher tone of his voice - it echoes with warmth and lightness.

Denver's repertoire, focusing on natural beauty, home pleasures and country joys matched his voice perfectly, resulting in massive commercial success.


John Denver singing "Calypso". Clearly a tenor.

Baritone

Elvis was a baritone who had great command over his upper register and incredible soul to his voice. When people first heard him sing on the radio, they found it hard to believe that he was a white man.

Because Elvis' higher notes were so solid, people have wondered whether he was a tenor, but his lower notes place him firmly as a baritone.

Never say that baritones are boring in my presence, or I'll hit you with a big whacky stick!


Elvis, the one and only, singing "Amazing Grace". A baritone, who often sang tenor-range songs. Pure bliss to listen to.

Bass

Leonard Cohen is a well-known bass. Those lovely deep notes are something only a true bass can pull off.

Only about 10% of men in western societies are true basses, according to a well-respected voice and music expert I am friends with back in Australia.

If you're a bass, and have good pitch, you'll be welcome in just about any choir!


Leonard Cohen singing "Hallelujah". A bass.

Basso profondo

At the bottom of the vocal range is the basso profondo and the oktavist.

Paul Robeson was probably the best basso profundo in the history of the world, for ever and ever, amen. Here he is, singing "Old Man River" from the movie musical "Showboat".


Paul Robeson, basso profondo, singing "Old Man River".

Oktavist

Finally, here's an interesting clip from a famous oktavist named J D Sumner. He's in the Guinness Book Of Records for singing the lowest note on record (C1, three octaves below middle C).

Oktavists are named such because of their ability to sing a full octave below the bass part in Russian Church music. Now that's impressive!


J D Sumner, oktavist, performing Wayfaring Stranger.

So there you go, from high to low, a few examples of the human voice, what it can sound like, with examples from popular music.

Interesting, huh?

Bohemian Rhapsody for Muppeteers

A few weeks ago I posted a YouTube of Bohemian Rhapsody For Geeks.

Now here's one for the Muppeteers among us.

Besides, you all need a break from that dreadful Cyberbass, don't you?

Enjoy!

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(Sorry about posting twice in one day. I really do have a life!)

Fun with the Glory of the Lord

You had to be there, but I'll tell you about an hillarious moment at last night's rehearsal. Our illustrious conductor, David Burchell, decreed that the opening chorus of Handel's Messiah, And the Glory of the Lord, shall be sung with the scores closed. Right. We all agree that will make for a very powerful opening statement, as it were, to the performance. We do sound better when we don't have our heads buried in the copies. We've been warned, so now our memories were put to the test.

David did promise he would bring us in at the right place, so we all watched him like a hawk (or would that be a flock of hawks?), him being the only one allowed an open score.

Of course the Altos have the honour of the very first entry, an easy one to get right but very much exposed with no other supporting voices. We (I'm one of them) were on our toes at that point, and elicited an "Altos, that was smashing!" from David. That was not the funny bit, but pleasing nevertheless.

Then further along it all collapses, David admitting to being the cause: "Basses, I misled you - I looked at you and you sang!". On we go...

And then the whole choir dissolved in hysterics when the Sopranos forgot to come in on "For the mouth..." which caused the Altos to miss their cue.

Not to worry, in the end we got it right, and there are a few rehearsals yet to get the order of the notes firmly fixed in the little grey cells.

It's all in the name

George Frideric Handel (German: Georg Friedrich Händel) (23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-English Baroque composer, who is famous for his operas, oratorios, and concerti grossi. His life and music may justly be described as "cosmopolitan": he was born in Germany, trained in Italy, and spent most of his life in England. Born in Halle in the Duchy of Magdeburg, he settled in England in 1712, becoming a naturalised subject of the British crown on 22 January 1727.

Handel adopted the spelling "George Frideric Handel" on his naturalization as a British subject, and this spelling is generally used in English-speaking countries. The original form of his name (Georg Friedrich Händel) is generally used in Germany and elsewhere, but he is known as "Haendel" in France, which causes no small amount of grief to cataloguers everywhere.

The picture is of a carved marble statue of Handel, created for the Vauxhall Gardens in 1738 by Louis-François Roubiliac, and now preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Vauxhall Gardens was a pleasure garden, one of the leading venues for public entertainment in London, England from the mid 17th century to the mid 19th century.

[Extract from Wikipedia.]

Don't miss the City of Dunedin Choir's performance of Handel's Messiah on 8 December 2009 at 7:30 pm in the Dunedin Town Hall. Tickets are on sale now!

Sam McGredy's Handel

Sam McGredy the well-known rose breeder, moved to NZ from Portadown in Northern Ireland in 1972. This climber was bred in Northern Ireland in 1965. It is called HANDEL - which is why I've posted the pictures I took of it in the Botanic Garden on Saturday. Like paint colours the naming of roses is full of deep unfathomable mysteries. Maybe McGredy had just heard a performance of some Handel - though I doubt it would have been Messiah, as that is a traditional Christmas oratorio. Roses and Christmas make sense down here in the southern hemisphere, but not of course in Portadown!

20 get A-round at Orokonui

20 brave souls were proud to sing Christopher Marshall's "Earth Song" written in 2000 at the Grand Opening of the Orokonui Ecosanctuary. Mastering this cheeky little number was with challenges for the innumerate, but blessings for those with ears only for their part. At the end, there was a subtle victory of bravery over brains. We rounded it out, as it were, with, I might add, musicality! Alan Edwards and Roland Storm have a new devotion for the tambourine. In fact, I believe they are commissioning a tambourine double concerto for the proms - a rare treat for the composer(s) among us! David was pretty good, but then he always is.

The evening also included Sir Alan Mark, David Ellison, Ralph Allen, Andrew Noone and Colin Campbell-Hunt who all gave tribute to the dedication of those who created this haven for New Zealand’s indigenous flora and fauna.

Orokonui Ecosanctuary is a wonderful thing. The visitors' centre provides stunning views out over Waitati and beyond to the Kilmog, has great information booths and promises to make a good coffee. All of which makes it a must on anyone’s walking calendar.

So stretch the legs and share the pride.

Contributed by Marian Poole.

Messiah in Cleckheaton

Most people will at least have heard of the great oratorio Messiah by Handel...

... but have you ever been to a live performance of it? One such performance was being given in Cleckheaton Town Hall many years ago, and old Cuthbert Briggs from Liversedge thought he would like to go. He tried to persuade his wife to go with him, but she wasn't too keen.

'Nay, Cuthbert lad, tha knows it's nowt in my line. Gi' me a bit o' comedy, or a singsong on t' end o' Blackpool pier. No, tha go listen and tell me abaht it when tha comes home.'

So Cuthbert went on his own. He had no idea what to expect, in fact he had never heard of 'The Messiah' - it was just that he fancied doing something a bit different from his usual Saturday night visit to the Sun Inn.

When he got back home his wife was all ears. 'Come on then, tell me all abaht it.'
'Ee, well', said Cuthbert, 'it were all reyt, but not quite what I expected. There won't a lot o' movement on stage. In fact, there won't a lot o' room on stage. It were full o' singers. Ah'd been sat there a bit when in comes a load o' fellas carrin' fiddles. Then they brought in t'biggest fiddle ah,ve ever sin. It were so big they 'ad to wheel it on in castors, an' a little chap rubbed it's belly wi' a stick, an' you should 'ave 'eard it groan. It sounded like cow wi' croup. Well, all t'fiddles joined in an' made such a racket.

Then they settled down an' it all went quiet. After about a minute in comes t'Messiah; well, I think it were 'im, because everybody clapped, an' all t'fiddles stood up to welcome 'im. He were a dapper sort o' bloke, all dolled up in a white weskit wi' a red carnation in 'is button'ole. Yes, I'm sure 'e must 'a bin t'Messiah. Then 'e picked up a little stick an' started wavin' it at everyone on t'stage. They were all starin' at 'im, wondering wot were up. Then they started to sing, and before long they were fratchin' like cats. They wanted to know who were the King O' Glory. First one side said HE were t'king, then t'other side said he were, then they went at it 'ammer an' tongs. But.. it fizzled out in t' end.

Then there were a right ter do abaht some sheep as 'as gone astray. Some of t'singers must a bin partial to a bit o' mutton, because they kept singin. 'O we like sheep.' Personally, I likes a bit o' well done steak, but ne'er mind. Well, ah think as them lost sheep must 'a beloged to one o' t' singers, because 'e stood up an' sed every mountain an' 'ill should be laid low. 'Good', ah thought ter missen, 'if they flatten all t'mountains, they'll be sure ter find t'sheep as 'ah gone astray'. Then t'organist started up an' t'band joined in and by gum, they seemed to be getting' mad o'er summat. T'wat thet were sawin' at them fiddles ah were expectin' 'em to fall apart.

Then, after that all t'women stood up to sing. Believe me, some of 'em were a bit past it, by lookin' at 'em - they must a' bin 70 if the were a day, an they sang 'unto us a child is born', an all t'fellas shouted 'wonderful'. Ah thowt, 'it's a bloomin' miracle!' Then they all composes thesens a bit and sings abaht a woman called Joyce Greatly. A've never 'eard o' her, but apparently she's a daughter of Zion, whoever 'e is.

Ah were getting' a bit fed up b'now, ah'd been sittin' for nearly two hours, when all o' a sudden ah gets a cramp in me leg. Ah jumped out o' me seat, an' d'yer know? E'rybody else jumped up at t'same time. They must a' got cramp, same as me.
Then t'choir shouted 'Hallelujah, it's going' ter rain for ever and ever'. Well, ah'd never thowt ter bring me brolly, so ah thowt ah'd best get off 'ome afore it started. So, seein' as 'ow ah were on me feet, ah reckon ad 'ad me money's worth.

Anyroadup, it were a good do, but ah do 'ope they find them lost sheep.'

Source: http://www.emmitsburg.net/humor/daily_additions/2009/jan/5.htm

NZ Listener letters to editor

I hope everyone reads the Listener. There is one especially good letter about a recent performance of the Magic Flute in Christchurch. Modesty forbids me to say who wrote it.

SOUNZnews magazine October issue is out now

SOUNZnews is the Journal of the Centre for New Zealand Music. It is published twice annually in April and October and contains news and information about New Zealand composers, their music and activities, newly premiered, published or recorded works, opportunities and more.

Download a PDF copy of the latest SOUNZnews.

Elizabeth Goes Home

Members of the choir may like to know that the ashes of our late colleague Elizabeth Evans (soprano section) were scattered in the bay where she grew up on D’Urville Island, together with her brother Max’s, on Sunday 25th October.

Her daugher Lisa wrote from London that her Mother’s cousin was to read the following dedication:

‘We thought we'd bring you home Mum, (Auntie Betts and Kupy cousin) to the island you loved so much, to have a final swim. You loved the sea and it's Labour weekend, the first time you were allowed to go swimming in the bay as a child after the winter. Although generations come and go and the land is weathered and altered by years of changing occupation, the water here has always been here, standing sentinel - an ever-present yet always changing constant, ebbing and flowing as the ages come and go. We commit you to that constant. Thank you for everything.’

Lisa says after her mother’s family left the island in the 1950s, Elizabeth only returned to D’Urville once, with Lisa in 1981 when they attended a family reunion. The place was greatly changed. Her family’s house was only occupied during the shearing season and the wharf had gone.

According to Lisa, Elizabeth said she never wanted to visit again. However, she was very much hoping to do a boat trip around the island and area, which was arranged for a few years back and then cancelled due to the weather. Unfortunately by the time the trip could be organised again, Elizabeth wasn’t well enough to go. Although Elizabeth had no specific wishes for what to do with her ashes, the family felt that it was fitting to return her earthly remains to the water she loved so much.

Lisa says she would love to have been there. However, ‘As the boat chugs up from Nelson, I’ll be singing Carmina Burana about ever-changing fate and the circle of life in the Royal Albert Hall.’

[Submitted by Jane Edwards]

Remembering Mozart Requiem

Listening to Mozart's Requiem on my computer while I work, reminded me of the awesome concert in 2005 where City of Dunedin Choir, Auckland Choral Society and Southern Sinfonia combined forces to lift the rafters in the Dunedin Town Hall. Now you know why the Town Hall will be closed next year for 12 months for an upgrade!

As part of a concert presented by the Southern Sinfonia, the conductor was Ryusuke Numajiri; Soloists Madeleine Pierard, Kate Spence, Kenneth Cornish, David Griffiths.

Here is a wee taste - there is more of this delightful music on Youtube if you don't have the CD.



John Eliot Gardiner conducts the English Baroque Soloists and the Monteverdi Choir. This performance was filmed at the Palau de la Musica Catalana, Barcelona in Dec. 1991.

A Requiem Mass in the Roman Catholic tradition is a service designed to pray for the souls of the departed. The parts of the liturgy that are meant to be sung are what constitute all Requiem Mass compositions, including Mozart's.

The structure is as follows:
1. Introit
2. Kyrie
3. Sequence: a. Dies irae b. Tuba mirum c. Rex tremendae d. Recordare e. Confutatis f. Lacrimosa
4. Offertory: a. Domine Jesu Christe b. Hostias
5. Sanctus
6. Benedictus
7. Agnus Dei
8. Lux Aeterna

Mozart died before finishing the Requiem Mass, and his wife Constanze gave the task of finishing the work to a pupil of Mozart's named Süssmayr. From the Sanctus onward, the Requiem is the creation of Süssmayr, though he did use portions of the Introit and Kyrie for the Lux Aeterna.

Despite, or maybe partially because of, the controversy surrounding this Requiem Mass, it is widely regarded as Mozart's greatest masterpiece.

Orlando Gibbons and stop that Gibbon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rs_38sXDLxQ

I realise some people may be a bit worried about how I get distracted. Yesterday I heard some Orlando Gibbons, and that really made me want to hear the Stop that Gibbon song from the Goodies. Well, the link to YouTube provides that, and I know some people like that, so there it is. I hope this does not look too popular for an important social choir blog. When they wrote Stop that Gibbon, I sure they did not mean stop that Orlando Gibbon, which was a nice piece.