Talk:Vocal weight

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Contents 1 Proposed edits 2 Classical vs. pop examples 3 Absurd 4 Kathleen Battle a lyric soprano??

[edit] Proposed edits

I happened upon this article via another, and I have a few questions/potential objections that I thought I'd ask about before just jumping in and editing. In no particular order:

• The classification "piccolo" simply doesn't exist for voice. I've read a fair bit on vocal training and I've never seen it. A Google seach doesn't turn it up anywhere except here and answers.com, which gets it from here; the Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians doesn't list it. Looking at various article histories, in particular the one on the piccolo, it seems to be something that an unregisterd user put in an article and has since spread. If someone can point me to a real source that uses this term I'm fine with it, but I certainly don't know of such a thing.
• Same point with "splint" - never run across it, nothing turns up on Google, nothing in Grove. Can anyone tell me where this comes from?
• Similar point on "full" as a voice type. This is much harder to research as "full" is used with a variety of meanings in singing - a Google search turns up thousands of pages with various contexts. Again, though, I've never run across it used with this meaning and it's not in Grove. Help?

--George 02:57, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

Splint comes from Estelle Liebling's book on voice. Piccolo isn't a "classification" but an adjective denoting a particular type of coloratura. Full voice I learned on here Antares33712 13:21, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Classical vs. pop examples

Almost all examples in this article are non-classical singers, while the terminology used ("lyric soprano", "coloratura" etc.) was developed for operatic voices and is not really applicable to pop singers, or only by analogy. In general, this article lacks objectivity. - Karl Stas 19:52, 19 July 2005 (UTC)

If you think about it, I never heard about pop singer voicetype classification, and opera singers are quite obsure nowdays -- making such analogy needed. I just think it lack examples, could use a little more explanation, etc. - Random User, 23:50 (GMT -3), 2005/Jul/4.

- I did think this piece was a bit unusual, but I can see the pedagogical value in applying these categories to more "familiar" voices. Whether or not the categorizations made are appropriate is beyond my scope, but I don't know why the idea should be offensive in itself. The point of the article is to discuss the concept of vocal weight, which presumably refers to some relatively robust consensus (e.g., "any singer who can be called "lyric" must have characteristic agility, and sing in the middle range") which can be more or less verified. I agree that some reference to the singers upon whom the critical tradition is built should be included.

Wynn, 12:12, Oct. 7

[edit] Absurd

While I appreciate the attempts to make this page accessible to non-operatic types, the inclusion of pop singers to illustrate operatic voice-types is patently wrong (i.e. heldentenors include USHER?!). The faulty rationale in applying operatic fachs to Pop singers is that they will never be placed in a dramatic situation on-stage. Usher will most-certainly never sing Siegfried or Florestan. This page NEEDS to be clarified and amended to explain the DRAMATIC conventions that contribute to the classification of fachs.

I agree, which is why I majorly revised the page just now. Hope that it's improved.

Could not a new heading be devised, specifiying that this article applies to operatic or classical voices which are generally heard without the use of microphones. That it does NOT apply to musicals or pop singers? Orbicle 16:36, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

Equally, an alternative name from "Vocal weight" might be more a propos. Voice Types, perhaps? Orbicle 16:36, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Kathleen Battle a lyric soprano??

I think not! She was also on the soubrette list, and that is where she belongs. She is the soubrette of soubrettes, and has a very flexible voice, but she is NOT a lyric.

In other words, I removed her name from the list of lyric sopranos, because it does not belong there.

Signed, a rabid Battle fan.

(I mean this all in good spirit, of course.)

Melange fiesta 20:11, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

I don't know enough to agree or disagree, but some promo material listed her lyric voice having the brightness of sunlight and the coherence of a laser beam. Also, she can sing the High E and what-not, no? 216.141.226.190 05:13, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

It doesn't matter how high someone can sing: tessitura and vocal weight are what matters. I can hit E6 too, but my light vocal weight and bright timbre keep me a soubrette.

She's a soubrette. Like listening to a wonderful youth, even in her elder years as she approaches them.--I'll bring the food 02:40, 3 December 2006 (UTC)