Determine vocal range

Dave!

Hey folks,

Just wondering if someone could tell me a method for determining my vocal range!

I've seen it mentioned elsewhere that you start a middle C, and then move down, singing each note, then the other way. Is that the standard method?

Oh and do you include falsetto in the range or no?

Patricide

Always wondered this, and is there a way to see what tuning is best suited for your voice aswell. I.E. to tell if a band should maybe tune down a half step or somthing cause it would suit the singers registry more.

MattKid

vocal teachers do it with arpeggios, starting somewhere reasonably in the middle of the range for your gender and then start to take it higher until problems start occurring and then lower.

Eoin Madsen

There's a difference between your vocal range and your usable vocal range. I'm more or less a tenor, technically, but I can't usefully sing all the notes in a tenor range yet. You have to train, like any instrument.

Falsetto is a seperate range. You'll have a usable range of falsetto notes and there should be several notes of crossover which are useful to know.

There's no standard method of measuring usable range. Warm up properly and sing as you normally sing. Go up and down a scale (even a chromatic) gradually in different vowel sounds until you can't sing higher or lower with a pleasing or controllable tone. If you want to hit higher notes, you have to be more relaxed, tensing up makes it harder. You'll be able to hit higher or lower notes in certain vowels than you can in others. If you don't sing, generally, the exercise won't tell you anything of any real use.

Zangetsu

^ I figured that out by accident while writing a song, the vocal melody wasn't very comfortable then I put a capo on the fifth, was better but a little high, then dropped it down to the second and it worked perfectly.

Same idea me thinks.

Dave!

Happy days! Just discovered that my piano has a transpose function! Sweet

-=al=-

record yourself singing a bunch of different notes i.e form high to low, then analyse it in an audio program using a spectrum analyser, that will give you the exact frequencies your singing

just a thought..

Paolo_M

Dave! wrote: »

I've seen it mentioned elsewhere that you start a middle C

It's right there that I normally go wrong!! :pac:

BossArky

Play and sing a note 8 times somewhere around the middle of your range which is comfy.

Move down (or up) with the next note, again 8 times. You'll probably find that initially you may not get the full 8 as you got higher and lower towards the end of your range. Move 2 or 3 notes back towards mid range, then come back to the harder ones.

Repeat this a few times... as you warm up you can go further away from your comfy zone. This kind of warming up will benefit any kind of singing... plus help with your hand / voice co-ordination if you are new to it.