Soprano
Range
Chest: G3-Eb4
Lower passaggio: Fb4
Lower middle: Bb3-C5
Upper middle: C#5-F#5
Upper passaggio: F#5
Upper: G5-C#6
Flageolet: D6-A6
Lyric coloratura soprano: The lightest, highest, and most flexible type of soprano. Often weak at the bottom.
Dramatic coloratura soprano: Darker tone, but still very high and flexible. Think "Queen of the Night" from The Magic Flute.
Lyric soprano: Fairly light tone, lots of clarity, warmth, and "bell-like" sound. Blossoms in the upper middle of the register.
Soubrette soprano: Very light tone. Often plays the "maid" sort of characters in operas. Typically, only younger singers are soubrettes.
Spinto soprano: A little darker and fuller, less flexibility but a "fatter" sound.
Dramatic soprano: The darkest, "fattest" soprano sound. The type of soprano often used in Wagnerian opera.
Mezzo-Soprano Range
Chest: E3(F3)-E4(F4)
Lower passaggio: F4
Lower middle: C4-Bb4
Upper middle- B4-E5(F5)
Upper passaggio: E5(F5)
Upper: F5(F#5)-Bb5(B5)
Flageolet: C6-
Lyric mezzo-soprano: Less upper range than a soprano, more strength and full tone in the bottom registers. Fairly light tone and good flexibility.
Italian mezzo-soprano: Darker and fuller than a lyric mezzo. Often seen in Verdi.
French mezzo-soprano: Slender, low tone. Think "Carmen".
Contralto "Alto" Range
Chest: D3-G4(Ab4)
Lower passaggio: G4
Lower middle: F4-A4
Upper middle- Bb4-D5
Upper passaggio: D5
Upper: Eb5-Ab5
Flageolet: A5 (rarely developed)
Contralto: The lowest female voice. Almost tenor-like in sound. Very comfortable on the bottom, pushed on the top. Mostly used in oratorio, not often seen in opera.
Vocal Registers
Chest
Nearly all singing done in the "chest register" involves a mix. It is the “spoken” sort of sound that pop and Broadway singers use almost exclusively. Because of the thickening of the vocal folds that singing in chest entails, the glottis closes firmly so that when air pressure builds up below, it bursts out. Each puff of air opens the glottis explosively- essentially slamming the folds together, then ripping them apart again. This makes the use of chest register VERY hard on your vocal folds, and can cause permanent damage through the exclusive use of this register. It is only appropriate in the pitches below the lower passaggio in each voice type.
Lower and Upper Middle
A mixed tone is a way to create colour and fuller sound in the middle part of the register- the lower the pitch, the more chest can be used. When the pitch raises, so does the amount of "headiness" in the tone. Some teachers choose not to differentiate between the lower-middle and upper-middle, instead choosing to present them as one long middle register, which I prefer to use as well for more elementary explanations. Mixed voice is simply the use of elements of both pure chest and pure head registers.
Upper
This is often referred to as "voce di testa"- there is a unique feeling after the upper passiggio into this register, and the reason for it is a thinning of the edges of the vocal folds. It happens all the way through the middle register, but after the passaggio, it instantly become more pronounced, and singing feels very different, as less of the folds are available to offer resistance to the breath. The glottis will not open and close completely. This is where the "pure head register" begins.
Flageolet
The flageolet register has a very different timbre from the others- it's called "bell", "flute", and "piccolo" for a reason. Timbre in this range can be described as the ringing of a bell of the echo of a high pitch. Developing this register strengthens the upper register directly beneath it, and it's essential for coloratura and soubrette sopranos.
**A quick note on passaggio: passaggio is the "break" that occurs when switching from mixed register into either chest or upper register- these notes are often weak and uncomfortable to sing for beginners.
“C4” is ‘middle’ C (as it is four octaves from the bottom of the piano). Therefore, C5 is one octave above ‘middle’ C, and G3 is a major fourth below. Make sense? If not, here are some quick examples:
C4 - middle C
C3 - the C below middle C
F3 - the F below middle C
B5 - the B above middle C
C6 - the C two octaves above middle C
