How is a vocal range estimated?

Question:For example, supposedly Mariah Carey has an 8 octave range... playing that on the piano, I don't think that's physically possible for one person... is it? or are vocal ranges estimated differently?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: For example, supposedly Mariah Carey has an 8 octave range... playing that on the piano, I don't think that's physically possible for one person... is it? or are vocal ranges estimated differently?

Hi Alligator Wine,

You're right to suppose that vocal ranges are not 8 octaves, like a piano. Your question is a good one, especially in the use of the work “estimate.” Although my reply looks lengthy, you've actually chosen a huge topic that cannot be thoroughly dealt with in this space. So, I'll be speaking “generically” “generally” and somewhat “stereo-typically.”

Range is the vocal compass of a voice by which we discover and “measure” a voice's lowest useful singing note and a voice's highest useful singing note (the range barriers). When people sing, they generally use the part of their vocal range that is comfortable to use for them. That is, they don't generally spend most of their time screaming their highest notes, or growling their lowest notes. (Those that do this end up injuring their voice.)

Range has been studied for long enough that music is written for men and women within ranges that is most commonly accessible to them. Thus, we have choral music for singers: bass, tenor, alto and soprano. Discovering a person's vocal range is a key criterion in “classifying” whether they are bass, baritone, tenor, alto, mezzo-soprano or soprano. You see this has been a study for centuries, so these six general voice range classifications are widely understood. The designations listed move from lowest (starting in men) to highest (ending in boys with unchanged voices, girls and women).

Finding where these “ranges” lie on a piano keyboard is probably the easiest way to illustrate vocal range. Speaking in generalities, adult singers (20+) will often have a useful two octave range. Adults with considerable training (say in opera) may develop and use a range wider than that – and rare voices are heard using 3 (and slightly more) octaves of range. But two octaves of useful range isn't where things start. Pre-adolescent boys and girls may find they have only one octave (or a little more) of useful singing range. This is to say that range changes with age and maturity, and while there are “stable” periods before and after adolescence, the adolescent years can be (or feel) insecure.

Here's an overly-simplified scale of voice ranges, high to low: soprano, middle C to two octaves higher; mezzo-soprano, A below middle C to two octaves higher; contralto, F below middle C to two octaves higher. The ranges for men: tenor, baritone and bass in this overly simplified example lie correspondingly to their female counterpart at about one full octave below the women.

I hope this has been helpful.

No, you're right, it's estimated just like how it is on a piano.

To learn more about vocal ranges, check this page out:

http://www.musesmuse.com/forums/index.ph...

8 octaves are not humanly possible. mariah actually has a 5 octave voice. for comparison, most people have 2-3 octaves.