Advice as to what voice or in which section I should sing in choir

Question

Need help!

So I am a male of 25. My tessitura sits comfortably at F3 - G5. My voice sits quite high and light (meaning I cannot sing the normal tenor line with the tenors; however my voice can comfortably blend in with the alto and soprano sections).

My voice also blends well if in a trio with two girls (soprano and alto) I sing the countertenor/high tenor melody. In an all male ensemble I naturally sing either the same higher tenor line (I still havent figured it out). In a trio with a male and a female (tenor and alto) I normally sing the soprano line.

My lows (E3) F3 - C4: decent at my age now as my voice has matured, yet not fully dropped the normal octave, but I sit well in the range.

My middle C4 - D5: I consider this part of my voice my normal voice. In this range my voice is strong and balanced.

My mid-highs D5 - G5: my voice blossoms as I have found my chest voice. I didnt have it a few years ago as I heavily leaned towards a more heady sound; I have since found my chest/mixed voice.

Head or falsetto? E5 - Bb5: when the choral music appeals to me and I sing the soprano line, going beyond that my voice just stops. I take it as my limit, but I know I can reach higher with the right training.

Any advice as to where I should sing and maybe tips to break through to my limit?

Thank you in advance

Answer 1

Note that ”what voice type am I?“ questions are a tad bit to specific for this site (it is of little use a different person to know what your exact type is). In this case this question is a bit different, and might be phrased as such. In your case your voice type is a rounded mezzo as a male. These things happen, in German there is the term perverse permutation (so perverted permutation (= voice breaking)) for this.

Basically as a male due to Testosterone you’ll grow a differently shaped larynx with longer vocal cords, meaning a lower voice. In ancient times you had castrati, where boys would be castrated to inhibit Testosterone so that the voice keeps high. Now, occasionally it happens that a males larynx develops more as a female one, and the other way round.

So essentially you are a male with a more female-like larynx ant thus with a high voice. And as long as you feel comfortable doing so and the voice blends well there is no reason you should not sing Soprano II or Alto I in choir.

Answer 2

tips to break through to my limit?

If you're serious about it, find an experienced teacher.

Keep in mind that being able to sing A5 doesn't mean that you should be singing soprano parts, however. Have a look at He shall feed his flock from Messiah, which opens with the alto soloist, after which the soprano sings the same tune a fourth higher. What's comfortable? From your description, I suppose it's the first section.

A baritone who can squeeze out an A4 won't be comfortable singing tenor and won't sound much like a tenor while trying. A soprano with a nice C4 will not likely have much volume down there and will tire quickly trying to sing alto -- adult women tend to dislike singing even boy soprano parts.

Mozart's Figaro sings Non più andrai, which ranges from C3 to F4; the tenor part of the Hostias from Mozart's Requiem ranges from F3 to F4. Should baritones be singing it? Generally not. What's the difference? Non più andrai spends most of its time below G3, with only occasional forays above C4. The Hostias tenor part spends almost all of its time above B♭3.

If you're not comfortable singing tenor, sing alto. Work on your technique and see where it takes you. If you become comfortable singing soprano -- or tenor -- great. If not, go that's great too. There's no point in having an unusually large range if you're uncomfortable, much less if your audience is uncomfortable.