Haley's Vocal Range

[john]

In the videos I posted the first samples show video and some of her old jazz videos and claims a range of A3-E6. The second samples her album and other recorded but unreleased cuts and claims D3-G5 as the range. The 3rd samples the idol performances and reports G#3-E6. The final one samples studio recordings from Idol and claims G#3-G5.


http://www.digitaldreamdoor.com/forum/vi...?f=4&t=702

[30CamdenSquare]

I always thought the Mezzo Soprano was between the Alto and Soprano

Choral uses divides voices into 4 types - Bass, Tenor, Alto, & Soprano

Classical divides them into 6 types - Bass, Baritone, Tenor, Contra-Alto, Mezzo-Soprano & Soprano. They use this one to classify pop/rock/country/jazz/blues etc. artists as well.

Edit:
Midnight - Real quick I just wanted to say that, if you combined the 2 systems then what you're saying is basically true. I'm just trying not to because, I don't want to make this any more complicated than it is.

OK, I'll be back a little later.

[kaypea]

LOL-this is starting to look like and assigment from Music 101.

I still maintain that if you listen to all of Haley's stuff that a large majority of the notes fall well within the main part of the alto range and I can hear the difference between that and what's been posted here on Mezzos.What might throw some people and make it seem like its something that its not is that in the lower part of her range the tones start to get darker and lose some definition while as she gets into the the higher range the notes are clear as-well-I remember one reviewer described it as "stunningly clear".

Going into whistle tones is something else altogether-they're actually like false notes.Some male tenors can go falsetto and go way up into the alto range but you would never refer to them as an alto voice.

Maybe someone should tweet Haley and ask her.

[mercfan3]

John, that likely means her range is D3 to E6. Pretty wide range, actually much more than I thought it was. (But I'd like to see her hit the D3 live. ) That actually puts her tied with Adam Lambert for 3rd for idol contestants (Behind DeAndre Brackensick and Kelly Clarkson) for largest range ever.

But I'll be honest, Haley struggles with the lower notes that she has hit on the idol stage. And it always seems like it's very clearly the lowest she can go. (In fact, if her range is expanded at all..I'd say she could probably learn to whistle higher.)

Haley's incredible voice was not founded in her range though. As good as it is. (Even the G#3 - A6 is very good) but more in the texture of her voice, and what she was so able to do with it. "You can take your voice anywhere you want to go."

But I'd still say she's a mezzo. Most great singers can sing in several of those categories, but the quality of sound is where a singer is placed. Haley is very clearly more comfortable with higher notes. IMO, if she wasn't a Mezzo, she'd be a clear Soprano.

[lovinghaleyr]

I always thought the Mezzo Soprano was between the Alto and Soprano

MNB:Today you really crack me up,that's funny
In another hand i don`t care how voice range she has,I only kew one
thing:when she sing I feel chills every time don`t matter how many
times I heard before that song.You want define her voice? I can:
H.E.R. VOICE IS UNIQUE (Here ending this tread for me)

[Miguel]

NYT:

Probably no voice in the history of jazz exerts a deeper fascination than the vulnerable, intimate slur of Billie Holiday, who died in 1959 at the age of 44. With a vocal range of barely an octave and the timbre of a muted horn, Miss Holiday's singing was far from athletic, but it spanned the emotional range of the universe, communicating joy and pain with an immediacy that seemed at once artless and profoundly sophisticated.

"Vocal Jazz" from Wikipedia:

The entrance of Billie Holiday into the world of jazz singing in the early 1930s was a revelation. She approached the voice from a radical angle, explaining, in her own words,

I don't feel like I'm singing, I feel like I'm playing the horn.

Compared to other great jazz singers, Holiday had a rather limited vocal range of just over an octave. Where Holiday's genius lay, however, was to compensate for this shortcoming, with impeccable timing, nuanced phrasing, and emotional immediacy...

A voice-training blog

It is alleged that Billie Holiday’s vocal range just about exceeded one octave. One octave! In this day and age of mammoth singers...a potential singer with just over one octave would probably have reason to think that they have little hope or future… yet, Billie only ever worked within one octave, as did Bessie Smith, one of the ‘first ladies of Blues’. They show us that bigger definitely isn’t better, or that BIG, indeed, is only and truly measurable in ounces of heart, litres of sweat, and yards of soul and tears, rather than the distance between this note and that one on the keyboard… And that a ‘great singer’ is measured by how much they have to say, not on how loud or over how many notes they say it.

http://voiceoutvocaltraining.com/2011/12...nt-better/

[lovinghaleyr]

NYT:

Probably no voice in the history of jazz exerts a deeper fascination than the vulnerable, intimate slur of Billie Holiday, who died in 1959 at the age of 44. With a vocal range of barely an octave and the timbre of a muted horn, Miss Holiday's singing was far from athletic, but it spanned the emotional range of the universe, communicating joy and pain with an immediacy that seemed at once artless and profoundly sophisticated.

"Vocal Jazz" from Wikipedia:

The entrance of Billie Holiday into the world of jazz singing in the early 1930s was a revelation. She approached the voice from a radical angle, explaining, in her own words,

I don't feel like I'm singing, I feel like I'm playing the horn.

Compared to other great jazz singers, Holiday had a rather limited vocal range of just over an octave. Where Holiday's genius lay, however, was to compensate for this shortcoming, with impeccable timing, nuanced phrasing, and emotional immediacy...

A voice-training blog

It is alleged that Billie Holiday’s vocal range just about exceeded one octave. One octave! In this day and age of mammoth singers...a potential singer with just over one octave would probably have reason to think that they have little hope or future… yet, Billie only ever worked within one octave, as did Bessie Smith, one of the ‘first ladies of Blues’. They show us that bigger definitely isn’t better, or that BIG, indeed, is only and truly measurable in ounces of heart, litres of sweat, and yards of soul and tears, rather than the distance between this note and that one on the keyboard… And that a ‘great singer’ is measured by how much they have to say, not on how loud or over how many notes they say it.

http://voiceoutvocaltraining.com/2011/12...nt-better/

Good point Miguel,that's what I said,don't matter how range you have,
the important is how you use them and Haley know a lot about this.

[Miguel]

Sometimes less is more. One reason Haley may not favor "Undone" is that it's not very dynamic. But her voice on that song pulls people in.

[30CamdenSquare]

Miguel - That was a good article you found about Billie Holiday. And I agree, having a massive vocal range is low on the list of things that make a singer great...In fact, I'm sure I said that earlier today. There are definitely other legendary female jazz/blues singers I like better than Ms Holiday, but that's not saying she wasn't extremely talented & expressive. I think she uses some acting skills to support her style as well.

[makefigure8s]

For the record, for hs choral groups, Haley sang soprano not alto. [Still might be a mezzo-soprano which an opera term describing range, color, etc. BTW, It's evidently not uncommon for alto and mezzo-soprano to be used interchangably (but not technically accurate since it mixes two different terminologies-choir vs opera voice types). ETA: To add to the confusion, I think it's not uncommon for mezzo soprano voice types to be singing alto in choirs.]

Video of her singing in a choir group in HS, comment from a friend of hers (who posted the video):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pla...V1IRrmOt_o

loudxlaugh: just so you know, its the second soprano that you are hearing, not the alto, which is on the far right.
Denise Garcia: are there two seconds? or two altos? or did you guys make a 3rd soprano part..?
loudxlaugh: haley was the first, the two middle girls where seconds, then the far right is alto.