# Current male voice ranges?



## exprofundo

Hello; I am a long time out of the business so I wondered; If I were at college now. What would be the criteria applied in terms of singing range to distinguish between Basso Profundo, Bass, and Bass Baritone?.


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## Krummhorn

From what I remember from my college days:

Basso Profundo: D2 (two octaves below middle C) to D4 (just above middle C)
Bass: E2 to E4
Baritone: G2 to G4
These may not be the standards they are teaching today ... college for me was 40 years ago   

Kh


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## Guest

I think the difference between Bass and Bass-Baritone is not only a question of range (although a bass-baritone ought to be able to sing sustainedly in the area of C4-F4, especially in the Wagnerian roles), but also timbre.

A Bass-Baritone is a "brighter" voice with more upper harmonics and resonances. Compare for example Terfel's sound (brighter, more baritonal) to Tomlinson's (darker and more bass-like... even though he has the upper range available).


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## Sieglinde

For the difference between a basso profondo and a basso cantante, see also Grand Inquisitor vs. Philip. For example, Halfvarson vs. Furlanetto demonstrate is very well.


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## Kopachris

Though the timbre of my (speaking) voice would usually put me in as a baritone, my range is typically D2 to middle C, just hitting D, E, and F above for very short durations. That's the range I sing naturally, but that's not what I actually sing. I actually end up singing C3-E4, because that's the range that all our pieces use, and because "you're not supposed to drop an octave, dammit!" (Our accompanist is a tenor, and it really bugs him when I drop an octave. :lol: )


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## emiellucifuge

Ah thats interesting to read.guess im a profundo.

C2 to D4


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## sospiro

emiellucifuge said:


> Ah thats interesting to read.guess im a profundo.
> 
> C2 to D4




Can I marry you Emiel?


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## emiellucifuge

Im not legally allowed....


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## sospiro

emiellucifuge said:


> Im not legally allowed....


Oh well it was worth a try


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## emiellucifuge

Im quite flattered really!


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## sospiro

emiellucifuge said:


> Im quite flattered really!


:lol:

Well it's OK for a guy to *appreciate* a woman's physical attributes so it should be OK for a girl (I use the term loosely) to *appreciate* a guy for his physical attributes.


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## KJohnson

sospiro said:


> :lol:
> 
> I use the term loosely


Just low loosely?


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## sospiro

KJohnson said:


> Just low loosely?


I presume *l*ow is a typo & you mean *h*ow?

I'm too old to be called a girl is what I meant.


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## KJohnson

Ah.. I hate leaving a typo, especially when making a cheap joke.


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## KJohnson

More with the topic... How common is Bass-Baritone? Is it reasonable to expect that he may reach the low F?


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## JGNog

KJohnson said:


> More with the topic... How common is Bass-Baritone? Is it reasonable to expect that he may reach the low F?


It is reasonable although it won't be very powerful. As an example Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro is commonly sung by bass-baritones and he has a low F written. But this is in a cadence of a sextet and the orchestra doesn't make one sound during that low F. The lowest note in an aria of Figaro is a Bb.


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## Jobis

I always thought Basso Profondos had to be able to hit a C2 with a lot of resonance, I can sing the low C2 fairly clearly but I would definitely not consider myself a Basso Profondo. They are one in a million.


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## rborganist

Reiner has made some very good points; range alone does not determine voice type; timbre is equally important. Sherril Milnes in his prime could hit a high B flat, but his timbre labeled him as a baritone rather than as a tenor. A basso profundo is probably the rarest of the male voices, and many can actually sing below C2, down to the B, B flat, or even A below C2. Look at some of the anthems from the Russian Orthodox liturgy (for instance, "Salvation is Created"). Basses and Bass-baritones can sing some of the same parts (for instance, Don Giovanni and Mozart's Figaro). Only a full fledged baritone with a solid, easy high G can sing Rossini's Figaro, however. As these voices get higher, they usually get brighter. Once we hit the tenor range, timbres can vary a bit more; the lyric tenor will definitely be on the bright side, while the dramatic and heldentenors will be a bit darker, as many of them start out as baritones and then (as in Lauritz Melchior's case) discover that upper register. Placido Domingo is another example of this; he started by singing baritone parts in zarzuela, which requires a high A of the baritone, so he only had to learn to hit the B flat, B natural and high C. (Domingo was never completely satisfied with his high C and if given an alternative would usually take the lower, though it would depend on the tessiatura and the vowel). Then, of course, we can get to the countertenor voice, which is sung mainly in head voice, and perhaps shouldn't even be discussed here, but there are more of them than there used to be, and they are more listenable. They are men who, by used of their head and even falsetto voices, carefully blended together, sing alto. Some of them, notably David Daniels, are very good, and it is hard to do a Handel opera without at least one. Of the male voices, especially among untrained singers, the most common are probably the bass-baritone and baritone.


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## Barelytenor

As a singer with the Alumni of the Yale Russian Chorus for the past 46 (!) years, I can say that we have several basses that the Russians would call "oktavisty" or "octavists." One of our songs on YouTube is an arrangement of "Blessed is the Man Who Walks Not in the Counsel of the Ungodly." It begins in A minor for the basses, on the low A in the bass clef, then the Alleluia cadences are in the relative major of C. There are three verses and the song concludes with three groups of threefold Alleluias at the end, each followed by "Slaba Tebe, Bozhe" (Glory to Thee, O Lord), ending back in A minor. On the third and last repetition of three Alleluias, if you listen closely, you can hear the oktavisty singing low Gs and low As below the bass clef. At one concert a few years ago at Duke University, somehow we got started off in F sharp minor rather than A minor. So the oktavisty were actually singing low Es and low F sharps, an octave below the bottom of the bass clef. A couple of them actually made it! Here is the link to the A minor version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIhnWWNVjpY


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## realchanger

As a vocal teacher I cannot agree with these ranges at all. I know for a fact that a choir Bass can hit an F above middle C. A Baritone soloist can hit a Bb above middle C and of course a Tenor should be able to sing a high C. All that aside, it is the voicw quality as much as range which determines the label we put on a male singer.


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## Alfredoz

My absolute range(without falsetto) is : E2 to F#5. I can hit E2, F2 with some effort, when I just wake up in morning. Ironically, after warming up, I can barely hit F2. I tend to be shouty around G4 to A4 and above that, my voice flips into another register(which doesn't feels like falsetto) that extends to F#5.


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## Hepkat

Voice type has surprisingly little to do with range. The most important indicator is actually the part of your range that offers maximum resonance with minimum effort. THAT's what determines your voice type.

Quoting vocal range therefore is pretty much useless. We'd need to hear the properties of your voice in order to offer any useful opinion.


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## Retired

Its not what notes you can sing...its the quality of the sound .. then you must be able to sustain that every day..easily...then you are ready to think about a career. I have known and sung with many well known singers whose greatest ability was endurance.


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## BalalaikaBoy

baritone (something between lyric and dramatic. let's say in the ballpark of Robert Merrill): F2-Bb4 (unfortunately, the low E I had when I was a teenager is long gone, but I no longer have a speaking voice like a gorilla, so I guess that's for the best )
here's a clip of my range (pardon the wimpy production in the upper register. normally I sing much more full voiced than that, but it's 7 in the morning, so I didn't want to risk it lol)
http://vocaroo.com/i/s0AwGN7NWvWW

Edit: and just for fun, the high Db5 to low Ab candenza in Tacea la Notte Placida (not sure what key I did it in, but all the notes are there lmao) 
http://vocaroo.com/i/s1xzFQmafJwy


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## MoonlightSonata

Judging by Krummhorn's list, I would be a profondo (my range is about C2-D4). It sounds like it, too - the lower end is very resonant and powerful.
Oddly, though, my falsetto goes quite high - to about D6.


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## Dim7

MoonlightSonata said:


> Judging by Krummhorn's list, I would be a profondo (my range is about C2-D4). It sounds like it, too - the lower end is very resonant and powerful.
> Oddly, though, my falsetto goes quite high - to about D6.


The boy soprano is still in you!

I can hit C2 decently too at least for the purposes of non-classical, but my voice is pretty light for a basso profundo. Not that I can really sing in the first place.


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## Gaspard de la Nuit

I've always had the heaviest, darkest voice in the choirs I've been in, but my range varies from day to day.


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