What kind of singing voice do i have

All rights reserved. This image may not be used by other entities without the express written consent of wikiHow, Inc. Locate a piano or keyboard if possible. The easiest way to identify your range is with the assistance of a tuned instrument that you can play while you sing, like a piano or keyboard. If you do not have access to the physical instrument, download a piano app, such as Virtual Piano, on your smartphone, tablet, or other device as a substitute.

Using an online piano on your laptop or device will give you access to a full simulated keyboard. It will also make it much easier to figure out which notes are your highest and lowest because the app will actually indicate the correct scientific pitch notation for a key as you play it.

Find the lowest note you can sing in your normal modal voice for 3 seconds. Start by figuring out what the bottom end of your natural range is by locating the lowest note that you can sing comfortably without your voice croaking or cracking. The goal is to find the lowest note you can still sing comfortably, so do not count notes that you cannot sustain.

Sing the lowest note you can, including breathing. Once you know how far down your voice can reach comfortably, try to go a bit lower, key by key and note by note. Breathy notes that you can sustain for 3 seconds count here, but croaky notes that you cannot hold do not. For some singers their normal and breathy lowest notes may coincide.

For others, they might not. Record your lowest notes. Once you have found your lowest normal-voiced note and the lowest one you can reach, write them down. Do so by identifying the piano key that corresponds to the note and then figuring out its correct scientific pitch notation. Part 2. Find the highest note you can sing in your normal modal voice for 3 seconds. You want to do the same thing you did for low notes but for the high end of the scale.

Start with a higher note that you have no problem reaching, and ascend the scale key by key, but do not let yourself go into falsetto for this exercise. You want to find the highest note you can hit without significantly changing your tone quality or the natural action of your vocal cords.

Sing the highest note you can in falsetto. Most people can use falsetto, a mode in which your vocal cords remain open and relaxed and vibrate much less, to go lighter and higher than they can in their modal register. Use your breathier, flute-like falsetto voice to find the highest notes you can reach without straining or cracking.

If you find that you can go further still beyond your falsetto to high notes that sound like whistles or squeals, you may well have a whistle voice, too. Your highest note will fall in that register. Record your highest notes. Again, you want to track the highest notes you can reach without straining. For example, if your highest note in your normal voice is the fourth ascending F on the keyboard, then you would write down F 4 and so on. Part 3. Identify your range and tessitura. You should now have four notes, two low and two high, written down in scientific pitch notation.

Arrange them from lowest to highest. Put parentheses around the lowest and highest pitches and a dash in between the middle two. This notation expresses your full vocal range. The outer two notes in parentheses represent your full range, that is, all the notes that your body is capable of producing. This is helpful to know when you are selecting the appropriate voice type for singing music. Count the notes between your lowest and highest notes.

Using a keyboard, count the notes between the lowest note you could sing and the highest. Calculate the octaves in your range. Every eight notes is one octave. A to A, for instance, is an octave. However, the last A will also count as the start of the next octave. You can, therefore, determine the number of octaves in your vocal range by counting the total number of notes between your highest and lowest pitches as sets of seven.

Include the partial octaves as well. The reason for the half is because the person could only comfortably sing three or four notes in the next octave. Translate your vocal range into a voice type. Now that you have your vocal range written down using scientific pitch notation, you can use it to determine your vocal classification. Each voice type has an associated range; find which type aligns your full range.

Your range may not fit perfectly into these standard ranges. Choose the one that fits closest. If your full range does not seem to fit obviously into a single voice type, use your tessitura instead to see which type it most closely aligns with. You want to pick the voice type in which you will be most comfortable singing.

So, if you, for instance, have a range of D 2 G 2 -F 4 A 4 , you would most likely be a baritone, the most common voice type for men. Part 4. Learn about voice-type classifications. Many people have heard the terms soprano, tenor, or bass, but may not know exactly what they mean. In opera, voices are another instrument that must reach particular notes on demand, just like a violin or flute.

Consequently, range classifications were developed to help identify voice types, which made it easier to cast opera singers for specific parts. Informally, it can even help you figure out which songs you can effectively cover when singing karaoke.

The different voice types descending from highest to lowest are: soprano, mezzo-soprano, alto, countertenor, tenor, baritone, and bass. Each type has a typical associated vocal range. Figure out how to distinguish between vocal registers. You can divide range classifications into categories based on their respective vocal registers. Each register has a distinct timbre and is produced by a different action of your vocal cords.

Your modal or chest voice is essentially your comfortable singing range when the vocal folds are in their natural manner of action. These are the notes you can reach without adding a low, breathy or high, falsetto quality to your voice.

Falsetto--the voice most people use when impersonating female opera singers--is included in the head-voice register. The typical baritone range is from A2 to A4, and might extend down to F2 or up to C5. The tenor is the highest type of male voice, typically comfortable between C3 to C5.

Tenors generally have greater control over their falsetto head voice , allowing them to reach notes well into the female register. The alto is the lowest type of female voice. The typical alto range lies between F3 to F5, though there are those who can sing above or below this range. Though altos have a very similar range to mezzo-sopranos, their voices are usually richer and fuller in the lower register than mezzos.

The mezzo-soprano voice is the middle-range voice type for females, overlapping both the alto and soprano ranges. The typical range of this voice is between A3 and A5. Many times, mezzo-sopranos will sing the same voice part as sopranos until there is a 3 way split between sopranos, mezzos, and altos. Spend some time experimenting with these different ranges and find where your voice feels most comfortable.

Header photo by: Kelly Sikkema. Username or Email Address. Remember Me. Stay Connected. This spot is called the transition spot. One singer might have a deep, rich voice, while another singer in the same range can have a lighter, brighter voice. Timbre can be thought of as the quality or texture of your voice. Your age and the amount of experience that you have singing will also affect your voice type.

Your physical characteristics such as how tall you are and how much you weigh will also have an effect on your voice. Lyric Coloratura Soprano: A high, agile, and bright voice type that features a full timbre and a warm tone. Dramatic Coloratura Soprano: While still high and very flexible, this voice type includes a much more dramatic tone and incredible power. Lyric Soprano: This voice type is usually divided between light lyric sopranos and full lyric sopranos.

Both involve a full timbre with warm tones. Light lyrics possess more of a youthful sound, while full lyrics have a larger, more mature tone. Dramatic Soprano: This deep, rich voice is much different from the lighter tones of the coloratura.

This emotive voice tone has a dark timbre and features a lower tessitura most comfortable notes. Character Soprano: Bringing a more theatrical feel to the vocal tone, this voice type is bright and airy, with a bit of drama thrown in.

Coloratura Mezzo-Soprano: Highlighted with warm, bright tones, this voice type is flexible and rich. Lyric Mezzo-Soprano: With a lack of agility and size, this voice type is seen by a smooth and sensitive quality. Dramatic Mezzo-Soprano: Similar to the dramatic soprano, this voice type features deep, rich, imposing tones and an incredible size. The only difference is that dramatic mezzo-sopranos sing in a lower register. Coloratura Contralto: Light and agile, the coloratura contralto is at the higher end of the contralto classification.

This is a rare voice type that is not commonly heard. Lyric Contralto: Also light and airy in its timbre, this voice type only lacks the higher range of the coloratura contralto.

Dramatic Contralto: Here comes the powerhouse! Dramatic contralto is the lowest possible vocal type for a woman, and has the heaviest tone. Again, this is a rare voice type.