I am not talking specifically about myself in this one; well, not in the being a soprano sense. I happen to have about a 99% chance of being a soprano but considering my age it really doesn’t matter. The voice doesn’t develop until a person is in their mid to late twenties. I am barely twenty so I won’t say I know everything yet.
I do know a considerable amount about the voice and its mechanisms, however. People respect me for that and I am grateful. I like being a go-to person when it comes to the thing I love most in the world. The thing is that I garner almost too much respect for it (ALMOST. I am not chasing away people who happen to think I am smart. Poor lost souls…) and am sought out not only for advice and curiosity, but also for praise. I will gladly and without question praise my friends for a good performance or for a major breakthrough, BUT there is something people look for me for that really bothers me a lot…
“Hey Alyssa! Guess what.”
“I dunno. You found a cure for AIDS?”
“No, almost as good.”
“I can’t think of anything that would be almost that good… maybe a cure for cancer?”
“No. I just had a voice lesson and my teacher says I am a soprano now!”
Please tell me, folks… what am I supposed to say to that? Usually my reaction is:
“Oh. Okay.”
In all seriousness, I shouldn’t be rejoicing with you. I mean, it’s not like your repertoire is really going to change. The cases in which a singer would completely switch register is likely the issue of a bad teacher (at this early in the game. If you are singing Mozart tenor stuff and found out that you need to be in Verdi baritone land, your entire rep is going to change but that usually happens when one is later in their life… like… thirties. For beginning college students you MIGHT sing Star Vicino in a higher key… maybe.)
But really, I fail to see why I am supposed to break out the champagne and balloons for every young singer who tells me she is a soprano now. It’s expensive to throw parties every five minutes for girls who think it’s the most important thing in the world that I acknowledge their “new found fach”. When I found out I was in soprano rep it was surprising to me (though no one else was surprised) but the thing is that it doesn’t really matter. If you like to sing then SING. If it really matters to you that you’re singing Cherubino instead of Susanna then you have bigger problems than vocal range.
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