#bass-baritone

[roseyourewearingablackdress]

Street Scene Video Essay Sneak Peak: On Frank Maurrant’s Aria

[greencheekconure27]

Dorian McCall- Oh Why Am I Moody and Sad? (Ruddigore)

[opera-ghosts]

Today a program from New York 1893. Look the Soloists, Singers and the details on this list. Interesting program.

[totallywylde]

Constant obsession about my voice categorization is hitting again.

Like, on one hand, I am very obviously not a tenor. Some days, E4 is pushing it for my non-falsetto high notes, and I can carry my falsetto from like A3 to E5. I don't have enough falsetto range to be a countertenor, but that's also more of a role one plays than it is a vocal type, and my lack of range is partly due to lack of training and a tendency to try to hold back.

On the OTHER hand, I don't know if I technically have enough resonance to be a bass? It's hard to tell from your own perspective, but I feel like recordings of me on phone microphones always miss some weight (though, admittedly, I don't feel similarly about stage mics or ribbok mics or the condenser mics I've used, so that could just be the recording equipment) compared to other basses I hear. Granted, "other basses" is usually people who are at least a decade older than I am, like Markiplier or Geoff Castellucci or Avriel Kaplan or Tim Foust or Mikhail Zlatopolsky or Glenn Miller or Kurt Moll — the list doth go on. Vocal resonance changes with age, and more lyric voices tend to become more dramatic as the vocal folds thicken.

I think I have a pretty average resonance? When I speak I can feel it reverberating in my chest cavity and in the soles of my feet, but I think that'd be true of anybody who practiced a bit and had some increased sensory sensitivity because of autism or something of the sort.

I've specifically not addressed range here because my range varies too much, especially out on the bottom end. Depending on how loud I can be and what state my voice is in (right now I'm on vocal rest because that state is "minorly fucked up") I can sometimes sing up to A5 or even C6 in falsetto, but for fear of hurting my voice due to improper technique, I usually cap out around E5 for that, and about E4 for mixed voice (thank you to my former choir teacher Mrs. Neel for letting me do "Deep River" for my All-State Choir audition, it really pushed that high end. I still love singing it, as well as Purcell's "Next, Winter Comes Slowly").

If I've remembered to take care of myself properly, I usually bottom out around Ab1 or Bb1, with occasional lower M1 extensions due to a very complex factor I like to call WFKY, or "who fucking knows why." Low extensions vary, but I usually count them if they let me go down to F1 or lower, and I've gotten down to Bb0 three times (in the presence of my delightful girlfriend, whom I think does not have tumblr) and C1 about thirty times so far this year, excluding the Bb0 days.

In any case, I still like my voice. It's dark and rich and warm and I think it fills rooms nicely, though it's sometimes hard to tell where exactly it's coming from because of how it resonates in rooms and I can become unintelligible pretty fast between my tendency to mumble and the fact that high frequencies die out relatively fast in a resonant space.

HOWEVER, having those notes does not equate to being a bass. Plenty of baritones can sing bonkers low, even if it's less comfortable. And sure, I'm most comfortable from C2 to Bb3, but maybe it's just underdevelopment of my upper register and I'm secretly a baritone? Too many possible factors.

Anyway, there's the rant! A positive one for today.

[a-tired-bass]

Hey look, it's me!

I finally got around to uploading these. Here's the first of 3 that made the cut on that recording day, although the perfectionist in me still picks at the flaws

[simone-boccanegra]

types of bass singers

1. friendly bear

2. looks intimidating and strict but secretly a big softie

3. young, hot guy desperately trying to look 20 years older for his roles

4. bass-baritone trying to sing bass roles with mixed results

[treasuresofpolishmusic]

Skołuba’s Aria from Stanisław Moniuszko’s Straszny Dwór (1864), one of the most famous Polish opera arias, performed by bass-baritone Bernard Ładysz.

Libretto by Jan Chęciński

Ten zegar stary niby świat Kuranty ciął jak z nut, Zepsuty wszakże od stu lat Nakręcać próżny trud. Lecz jeśli niespodzianie Ktoś obcy tutaj stanie, Pan zegar, gdy zapieje kur, Dmie w rząd przedętych rur. Dziś zbudzi cię Koncercik taki. Boisz się? Nie, Zażyj tabaki. Te wielkie malowidła dwa, Na względzie waszeć miej. Miecznika praprababka ta, Ta praprababką tej. Przy obcych w nocnej dobie, Te praprababki obie Wyłażą z ram, gdy pieje kur, I nuż w zacięty spór. Niejednym się już Dały we znaki. Strach waści? Nie! Zażyj tabaki. 

English translation (source)

This clock as old as the world Cut chimes with ease. But broken though for hundred years, No reason to wind up. But if all of a sudden a stranger here will stay, Mr. Clock when the morning comes Blows into rows of blown pipes. Today will wake you up, a concert like this. Are you afraid? 'No' Take a snuff. Those two life-sized portraits you shall keep in mind. Armorer's great-great-grandmother there and that's great-great-grandmother's of her By stranger in the night those great-great-grandmothers both Leaves their frames, when morning comes and go into harsh dispute. to numerous men, they got under their skin. Are you afraid? 'No!' Take a snuff.                        

[opera-ghosts]

ONCE UPON A TIME: Bayreuth Festival 1937. The Viennese Jaro Prohaska (1891-1965) sang Friedrich von Telramund in “Lohengrin”. The photo shows the bass-baritone in his dressing room.