# Which kinds of voices have operatic potential?



## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

I'm talking here about a voice's "raw material." When a young student begins voice study, how does that student -- or, her/his teacher -- know if that raw material has _operatic_ potential, as opposed to pop or Broadway or operetta potential? What natural qualities in a voice are clues that it could be effective in opera -- and to what extent is it more about a student's _musical_ talent than about his/her vocal talent alone? In other words, does sheer musicality sometimes make the difference between a potential opera singer and a potential pop singer -- or is it actually something like vocal size that makes the difference?


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

This might be of great interest for young singers interested in opera training that won't ruin their voices. 10-star advice:

http://dropera.blogspot.com/2012/01/about-those-child-opera-singers-heres.html?m=1


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

Larkenfield said:


> This might be of great interest for young singers interested in vocal training that won't ruin their voices. 10-star advice:
> 
> http://dropera.blogspot.com/2012/01/about-those-child-opera-singers-heres.html?m=1


Interesting! One correction I'd make to the article, though: Roberta Peters was 20, not 16, when she made her Metropolitan Opera debut.


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Larkenfield said:


> This might be of great interest for young singers interested in opera training that won't ruin their voices. 10-star advice:
> 
> http://dropera.blogspot.com/2012/01/about-those-child-opera-singers-heres.html?m=1


That children should not practice singing at all is to go too far. What about the children in La Boheme and Carmen.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

My sister was a singer and a voice teacher for decades. She said most people don't possess the necessary range to be an opera singer. Even some opera singers don't possess the necessary range... no names will be listed;-)


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> My sister was a singer and a voice teacher for decades. She said most people don't possess the necessary range to be an opera singer. Even some opera singers don't possess the necessary range... no names will be listed;-)


Nobody possesses the necessary range to be an opera singer, that's why you build a voice using vocal exercises. (OK, there are some rare cases where people have operatic voices naturally.) It's similar to the way in which people have to learn a language if they didn't grow up speaking it. Whilst there may be some rare cases where people can't sing for physical, biological reasons, anyone can learn an operatic technique.

N.

N.


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

The Conte said:


> Nobody possesses the necessary range to be an opera singer, that's why you build a voice using vocal exercises. (OK, there are some rare cases where people have operatic voices naturally.) It's similar to the way in which people have to learn a language if they didn't grow up speaking it. Whilst there may be some rare cases where people can't sing for physical, biological reasons, anyone can learn an operatic technique.
> 
> N.
> 
> N.


It seems Rosa Ponselle was one of those "rare cases"; from what I've read, she just naturally knew how to coordinate the correct muscles, etc. for singing.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Bellinilover said:


> It seems Rosa Ponselle was one of those "rare cases"; from what I've read, she just naturally knew how to coordinate the correct muscles, etc. for singing.


Yes, she was one of the ones I was thinking of. However, she was also able to articulate the mechanics of singing in some way as shown in her interview with Jerome Hines in his book Great Singers on singing (or something similar.

N.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

a few physical features can help, especially with certain types of voices, such as
- large head
- lots of space in the rib cage
- big mouth


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I have often bemoaned that it is not in the cultural background for Samoans to consider going into opera. They often have such large, fabulous masks to their faces that one suspects that there are some big, glorious voices hidden within their young people. The Maori are similar and we got the great Kiri te Kanawa out of their midst as she was half Maori. The same issue comes with African Americans. Up until the 1990's we had many great, great opera singers who were black, such as Price, Norman, Verrett, Bumbry, Arroyo, Anderson, Battle, but in recent years their culture just isn't producing anywhere near to the quality and quantity that used to exist. Of course we still have Denyce Graves and Lawrence Brownlee, but they are about the only big name African American performers I can think of today. I remember a study done years ago of the great Ella Fitzgerald and they found she had unusually large resonating cavaties in her sinuses.


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I have often bemoaned that it is not in the cultural background for Samoans to consider going into opera. They often have such large, fabulous masks to their faces that one suspects that there are some big, glorious voices hidden within their young people. The Maori are similar and we got the great Kiri te Kanawa out of their midst as she was half Maori. The same issue comes with African Americans. Up until the 1990's we had many great, great opera singers who were black, such as Price, Norman, Verrett, Bumbry, Arroyo, Anderson, Battle, *but in recent years their culture just isn't producing anywhere near to the quality and quantity that used to exist.* Of course we still have Denyce Graves and Lawrence Brownlee, but they are about the only big name African American performers I can think of today. I remember a study done years ago of the great Ella Fitzgerald and they found she had unusually large resonating cavaties in her sinuses.


Oh, I'm sure many wonderful black opera singers exist today; we just haven't heard them in the major houses, probably.

Personally, I'd be wary of ascribing the greatness of a singer's voice to his or her facial features--which, in your post, comes off as ascribing it to his or her race. While it's certainly true that the facial "mask" helps form the character of the voice, it's also true that one can't generalize. For example, you mention Kathleen Battle right along with Jesse Norman. It's true that both are black, but what a disparity in vocal size! I don't think Kiri Te Kanawa's vocal radiance has anything to do with the fact that she's half Maori; at most, I think we could say that her facial features (which are unique in the sense that no two people on earth look alike) lend certain qualities to her timbre and diction. I have noticed that many male, Jewish opera singers (Merrill, Peerce, Tucker, Shicoff) have a certain type of vibrato -- but I think this comes from the fact that all of these singers were cantors. In other words, it's cultural rather than genetic.

In other words, your post seems to attribute to race things that actually have little to do with race.

*Edited to add:* I realize, of course, that "Jewish" is not a race.


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