On female voices below contralto

[Xelebes]

I was talking to this woman who admitted when we were discussing singing that she could not sing contralto as it was too high for her. She commented that middle C (C5) was a complete struggle for her to hit though, despite that, she had at least an octave or more of range below that. Would that essentially make her a female octavist? Or just a deep contralto? What's the word for it?

[jancivil]

"Butch"

[Ogg Vorbis]

Tenor

or perhaps

Teńorita?

[jancivil]

I know a dyke in Berkeley who sings Barry White at pitch. I'm not lying.

[Musicologo]

I've always heard and used the term "Bass" in those cases. I've also learned that Shirley Bassey for instance was a Bass-woman.

In my country (at least) I've learned these registers:

Man: Bass, Baritone, Tenor, Counter-Tenor, Tenorino
Woman: Bass, Contralto, Mezzo-Soprano, Soprano, Sopranino, Whistle register.

[jancivil]

Barry White is bass. Octave below middle C as a bottom note isn't even baritone really.

[Musicologo]

of course "Bass" applied to woman is relative. The Bass in woman is NOT in the same range of the Bass man. For definition woman play one octave higher as man. If I write in treble clef an A, I expect a man to sound 220hz and a woman to sound 440hz in that same written A.

So, a Bass woman, would sound (to me) like a baritone or low-tenor tops.

[jancivil]

Well, it's somewhat inaccurate in terms of orchestration to call an alto voice a tenor or a soprano an alto,
so...

Bass is bass. I know a woman who sings Barry White at pitch. She was born with female nads. Singing Barry White is singing bass. When she did it, my saying 'she's singing bass!' was a true statement.


"Cassandra Wilson gets down into baritone range with clarity" is 'a true statement', IE: one that requires no qualification.

OTOH: "C below middle C is at the bottom of this bass singer's range", is another kind of statement.