# Voice Type and Body Shape



## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

interesting talk on the physiology of the voice. the part I found most interesting starts around 32:30





judging from experience and observation, what physical traits have you noticed being correlated with certain voice types?

ex: (disclaimer, I am neither an expert nor claiming any kind of perfect correlations. these are merely patterns I've noticed from observations, so feel free to contradict said observations or post your own)

*bass:* generally, they come in three varieties
1) tall and skinny, long neck (sometimes they look like pretty boys and then open their mouths and sound like patriarchs XD)
2) short (like, almost like a dwarf)
3) extremely large, like a lumberjack

*lyric mezzo:* slender, long neck, often taller (they also tend to age well for some reason. lots of the lyric mezzos I know are sexy into their 50s lol)

*contralto:* large round or rectangular face, overall rectangular body shape, wide neck

*dramatic baritone:* barrell chested, short neck, taller than the dramatic tenor

*dramatic voices in general:* big heads, long and broad torso

*lyric baritone:* more slender than dramatic baritone, but comes in a many varieties. generally, they have a medium build, but they can also be skinner (ex: Herman Prey) or larger (ex: dietrich fischer-dieskau)

*darker voices in general:* large nose

*tenors in general:* somewhat short, short neck, rounder faces, softer features

*spinto tenor:* tall, slender, doesn't look anything like either the lyric or dramatic tenor (ex: Corelli, Kaufmann, Solovyanenko)

*spinto soprano:* look like something of a mix of a dramatic soprano and lyric mezzo


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

The fact that I don't look like any of these types may explain why I could never hit either the low notes of a baritone or the high notes of a tenor.

What do you call a singer who's 5'10," 140 pounds, has a high forehead, a finely chiseled nose, wavy brown hair, narrow shoulders, and a 28" inseam (making it hard to find pants that fit), and can grow a satisfactory beard only on the chin?


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Every dramatic soprano I know of had a large face that was wide across the mask. I don't think you can divorce the extraordinary voice of Sutherland or Nilsson from the boon they got from the oversized resonators they had in their big faces and protruding jaws. My sister the opera singer said one of the key factors in Pavarotti's amazing sound was the fact that he had no neck and the voice shot almost directly from his vocal box into his mouth with no detour. Interesting point. Bjorling was the same with a huge face like the Pav.


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## Dim7 (Apr 24, 2009)

I've noticed that in rock/metal where higher male voices tend to be preferred, the singers tends to be kind of short. On the other hand I've seen some incredibly tall men with light tenor voices....


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> Every dramatic soprano I know of had a large face that was wide across the mask. I don't think you can divorce the extraordinary voice of Sutherland or Nilsson from the boon they got from the oversized resonators they had in their big faces and protruding jaws. My sister the opera singer said one of the key factors in Pavarotti's amazing sound was the fact that he had no neck and the voice shot almost directly from his vocal box into his mouth with no detour. Interesting point. Bjorling was the same with a huge face like the Pav.


this probably explains why I've never really considered Pav a true lyric tenor. more like a spinto tenor, but higher and brighter, like a male Joan Sutherland (unfortunately, "dramatic coloratura tenor" is not a fach lol)


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> Every dramatic soprano I know of had a large face that was wide across the mask. I don't think you can divorce the extraordinary voice of Sutherland or Nilsson from the boon they got from the oversized resonators they had in their big faces and protruding jaws. My sister the opera singer said one of the key factors in Pavarotti's amazing sound was the fact that he had no neck and the voice shot almost directly from his vocal box into his mouth with no detour. Interesting point. Bjorling was the same with a huge face like the Pav.


Your sister is a wise woman.:tiphat:


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## Tuoksu (Sep 3, 2015)

I think Dramatic Sopranos tend to have bigger, more protruding cheekbones, and are generally tall and "hefty" (think Anita Cerquetti, Ghena Dimitrova, Maria Guleghina, Ines Salazar and of course Callas before the weight loss.) 
Dolora Zajick is the quintessential Dramatic Mezzo in my opinion. Somewhat similar to a Dramatic Soprano but usually more barrel-chested and with a shorter neck and a rounder face. 
Btw Dolora has something to say about the correlation between body shape and being a Dramatic voice: 




 (here, around 13:00)


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Great. Now we have physical fachs as well as vocal ones. 

She's tall, barrel-chested, has prominent cheekbones and a big nose. Let's hire her for Isolde.

But yeah, it's fun. Sort of like horoscopes are fun. They told me I'd find romance last week. Nothing about the cheekbones, though. I require high cheekbones.


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> Every dramatic soprano I know of had a large face that was wide across the mask. I don't think you can divorce the extraordinary voice of Sutherland or Nilsson from the boon they got from the oversized resonators they had in their big faces and protruding jaws. My sister the opera singer said one of the key factors in Pavarotti's amazing sound was the fact that he had no neck and the voice shot almost directly from his vocal box into his mouth with no detour. Interesting point. Bjorling was the same with a huge face like the Pav.


I do believe you are right! Without having thought about it, I'd always assumed that Pavarotti's neck, or the visibility thereof, was a casualty of his weight gain - yet in his handsome early days his neck was already quite short.










While there are plenty of exceptions, there may be something in this theory of tenors having short necks. Not that I care much about looks if I love the voice, but it's interesting.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

in general, it seems like, for male voices, the longer the neck, the lower the voice


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Does a longer neck tend to contain a longer larynx and longer vocal chords, hence lower notes? Makes some kind of sense. Is there a doctor in the house?


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

Woodduck said:


> Does a longer neck tend to contain a longer larynx and longer vocal chords, hence lower notes? Makes some kind of sense. Is there a doctor in the house?


you disdain the concept of fach. why are you even here?


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> you disdain the concept of fach. why are you even here?


I thought it was a good point, and I'm not hugely into the Fach thing either, though theoretically willing to defer to superior knowledge! I'm semi-convinced by the short neck equals high voice theory, though I'm also suspecting confirmation bias may play a part: once you decide that tenors (or whoever) look a certain way, it must be tempting to ignore the ones who don't. Anyway, interesting thread.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

Figleaf said:


> I thought it was a good point, and I'm not hugely into the Fach thing either, though theoretically willing to defer to superior knowledge! I'm semi-convinced by the short neck equals high voice theory, though I'm also suspecting confirmation bias may play a part: once you decide that tenors (or whoever) look a certain way, it must be tempting to ignore the ones who don't. Anyway, interesting thread.


he's not just "not hugely into it", he has a strong and active disdain for it, and we've gone in circles over it on many threads, so I don't know why he's here


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> you disdain the concept of fach. why are you even here?


Heh heh. The kid's got spunk. I like that.

If you must know, it was decided by my parents before your parents were born, though I'm not sure that I'm exactly what they had in mind. But they got used to me, and they learned a lot about music. You might too, so try to put up with me. A sense of humor helps.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

Woodduck said:


> Heh heh. The kid's got spunk. I like that.
> If you must know, it was decided by my parents before your parents were born, though I'm not sure that I'm exactly what they had in mind. But they got used to me, and they learned a lot about music. You might too, so try to put up with me. *A sense of humor helps*.


indeed, hence the "  " (honestly, I enjoy a lot of your posts. tame quibbling here and there over intellectual concepts is not something I am likely take personally)


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## songbird (Jan 10, 2017)

I need your opinion there. I am maybe an exception. I am a lyric Coloratura Soprano, but my physiology is different from the usual.
I have a long neck, i am tall! 1,76 m (5,8 feet) , and slender. Surprisingly although i have a high pitched voice, i have low notes too, that are quite strong. i have reached from C3-C7, although a E3 and a A6 are secure. I have always have difficulties though to connect that voice which is big ranged and flexible. In a seminar the teacher said that my long neck and height is a problem (maybe for my voice type) Any clue?


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## songbird (Jan 10, 2017)

any clue about lyric coloraturas in general..?


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## russetvelvet (Oct 14, 2016)

I think a large build usually can be correlated to longer vocal chords: just take a listen to NBA players in their interviews, the proportion of them having a bass voice is much larger than that in general population.


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## Tuoksu (Sep 3, 2015)

Woodduck said:


> Great. Now we have physical fachs as well as vocal ones.
> 
> She's tall, barrel-chested, has prominent cheekbones and a big nose. Let's hire her for Isolde.
> 
> But yeah, it's fun. Sort of like horoscopes are fun. They told me I'd find romance last week. Nothing about the cheekbones, though. I require high cheekbones.


Physical fachs have been around for quite a while in the age of HD broadcasts. 
For cheekbones all you need is some contouring and highlighting :lol:


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## Elvira0518 (Mar 1, 2021)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> *tenors in general:* somewhat short, short neck, rounder faces, softer features


I only heard about tenors being short, soft, fat and round, and I would agree. 
The only serious research on the topic I saw says that for men the taller the singer is, the lower the voice is. Of course, there're always exceptions, but the median height of a tenor is 166 cm, the median height of a baritone is 174 cm, and the medium height of bass is 178 cm. Notice the big difference between tenor and baritone and not so big difference between a baritone and a bass. They analyzed a big massive of data.

As for the "long neck= low voice" theory, I only have two examples I know well enough to analyse, but it matches the theory in both cases. One of the examples is me - a thick and very long neck and a voice sitting a bit lower than the usual contralto range.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I am reviving this old thread to point out something I find interesting. All of the big dramatic sopranos I know of have overly large faces with one exception. Kirsten Flagstad. You look at photos of her when she was young and she had a normal sized face and a long neck like a lyric soprano. With her it appears it boiled down to incredible technique or incredible vocal cords.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I am reviving this old thread to point out something I find interesting. All of the big dramatic sopranos I know of have overly large faces with one exception. Kirsten Flagstad. You look at photos of her when she was young and she had a normal sized face and a long neck like a lyric soprano. With her it appears it boiled down to incredible technique or incredible vocal cords.
> View attachment 162350


I suspect this a mystery that will not be solved until an underwater paleontologist in the twenty-third century excavates the sea bed that used to be Norway and reconstructs her cranium. There may be resonating chambers that can't be seen in life. Either that or there's something about ski noses. Did Richard Nixon have a loud voice?


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> I suspect this a mystery that will not be solved until an underwater paleontologist in the twenty-third century excavates the sea bed that used to be Norway and reconstructs her cranium. There may be resonating chambers that can't be seen in life. Either that or there's something about ski noses. Did Richard Nixon have a loud voice?


You are a wit!!! The only odd feature she has I have not seen in other singers is that ski nose that is a continuation of her forehead plus she did have a generous mouth. The way her voice was projected was very very unique as singers goes. Inquiring minds want to know. Whereas Sutherland's sounded like it was coming at you from everywhere in the house and Nilsson's hit you in the chest, with Flagstad they said wherever you were it sounded like she was standing right in front of you!!!


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