Nina Hagen's Vocal Range is Unreal

Nina Hagen's voice is absolutely otherworldly. That G#1? Some bass singers can't go that low. (Even in fry register.)

Alison Goldfrapp's otherworldly vocal range

I'm a little obsessed with vocal range videos. Every once in a while I scour youtube for new ones and I'm always happy to see a somewhat under-appreciate singer of whom I've been a fan for a while.

Alison is a soprano with a pretty impressive chest voice (I'm an alto, and I don't go that deep). I think she's been sort of pigeonholed as a dance or pop singer, though musically and vocally she more than transcends that.

Five singers who subvert the "prettiness imperative"

I've been reconnecting with the music of my misspent youth. And as someone whose musical musical diet relied on healthy servings of punk and indie rock, that means lots of white boys and guitars. Of all the genres and sub-genres of popular music, rock and all its permutations has been the least able to achieve some sort of parity, and, not so surprisingly, still maintains a sense of credibility among critics, It's plainly obvious whose music is considered art, while whose is considered commerce.

This week it's been Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot I've had on repeat. I've long been a fan of Wilco -- Jeff Tweedy is from just outside my city, so he's always had that "hometown hero" appeal, even though he rarely plays and lives in the windy city now. At just over a decade old, it may not be cool anymore, and singing its praises now more than marks me as an aging rock fan, but YHF is one of the most intriguing records to come out of the 00s. and I've been paying a lot of attention to Tweedy's voice. While I've never really been a fan of his singing, which stylistically wavers from a Dylan-inspired twang to a hoarse Jerry Garcia, his broken rasp fits perfectly with the music. I wondered, what would happen if a female artist sang that way?

I keep going back to this Tiger Beatdown piece from a few years ago, but it flawlessly illustrates the "prettiness imperative" that female artists face. To make good music, one must be willing to takes risks -- to sound "ugly," but not at the cost of the inherent sexiness that sells records. 

"Because for women, prettiness reigns. Being pretty, sexy, fuckable, is of paramount importance. This extends not only to appearance but to action. Which is where rock ‘n roll comes in. Because in order to make good rock music, you have to be able to do things that are not pretty. Pretty is not interesting, pretty is not groundbreaking (unless it’s juxtaposed with things that are not pretty), pretty is boring. And pretty is the thing that our culture enforces on women with a vengeance. The prettiness problem excludes women from rock ‘n roll in a three-phase process."

Earlier this year I wrote about Merrill Garbus, whose album whokill was topping every critic's best-of for 2011. While she garnered tons of critical acclaim, some pop culture pundits were flummoxed, notably Chuck Klosterman. Her vocals are noticeably un-pretty by conventional standards. Granted there have been, and are, many artists who don't rely on sex appeal, but their voices still fell into what's considered acceptable for a "girl singer." I tried to come up with a few more examples of female singers who aren't afraid to make an "ugly" sound.

The right way for a woman to sing

Since the fallout over Chuck Klosterman's tUnE-yArDs piece, which I addressed last week,  I've been thinking how women's voices are policed within the music industry. Critics seem especially befuddled by women whose singing voices are deemed "unconventional."



Merrill Garbus's voice is undeniably powerful, but not pretty in the way that female singers' voices are, even those fully ensconced within the the indie world. In fact, it's distinctly un-pretty --  emotive, but sort of brash and borrowing equally from jazz, dub, and reggae,  sounds not commonly heard in pop music.  In an interview for The Guardian earlier this year, she said,"I adored [Nina] Simone when I first came across her, because she didn't fit any typical idea of the feminine voice [...] Listening to her, I realised that in music, there is this ability to shake off those stifling ideas about what women are 'meant' to be."

Silvana wrote a great post about "the prettiness imperative " for Tiger Beatdown's Ladypalooza series a few years ago. In it she explains how having a conventionally pretty voice can work against a performer, while subverting the pretty paradox can have equally damaging effects to a woman's career:

That’s the kind of experimentation that is hard to do when you are a member of the oppressed sex class that is women. Because for women, prettiness reigns. Being pretty, sexy, fuckable, is of paramount importance. This extends not only to appearance but to action. Which is where rock ‘n roll comes in. Because in order to make good rock music, you have to be able to do things that are not pretty. Pretty is not interesting, pretty is not groundbreaking (unless it’s juxtaposed with things that are not pretty), pretty is boring. And pretty is the thing that our culture enforces on women with a vengeance.

A few months ago, I wrote a post about a site that pitched the vocals of pop stars, essentially making them sound "male," except they didn't. Instead, they sounded like women with exceedingly deep voices, but not men, even while the notes dipped into baritone range. I think this is a really good example of the prettiness imperative, especially how much pressure is put on pop singers to sound sexy and available, but still vulnerable and childlike. (Britney Spears has exploited the hell out of this.) Granted, in commercial, American Idol-styled pop music, there isn't a ton of room for experimentation, but less mainstream acts still fall victim to the same kind of judgement.

Ewa Podle's Otherworldly Voice

 

Ewa Podles is a Polish coloratura contralto with an unbelievably wide rage, capable of singing baritone as well as soprano notes.

I know youtube voice breakdowns are only as good as the person making it, but I can't stop listening to this -- just depth and richness of her lower range blows me away.

What Is Vocal Fry?

Since I know a little bit about the phenomenon known as "vocal fry" (or fry register), I thought I'd comment on the rash  of articles published this week on the "trend" of young women talking with creaky, growly voices.

To clear up a few misconceptions, it's not a speech impediment. Science Now  describes it as:

[...] a low, staccato vibration during speech, produced by a slow fluttering of the vocal cords (listen here). Since the 1960s, vocal fry has been recognized as the lowest of the three vocal registers, which also include falsetto and modal—the usual speaking register. Speakers creak differently according to their gender, although whether it is more common in males or females varies among languages. In American English, anecdotal reports suggest that the behavior is much more common in women. (In British English, the pattern is the opposite.) Historically, continual use of vocal fry was classified as part of a voice disorder that was believed to lead to vocal cord damage. However, in recent years, researchers have noted occasional use of the creak in speakers with normal voice quality.

The best example I can provide is Marge Simpson's exasperated creak, "Oh, Homer!"

Some people say it sounds like burping, which I guess it sort of does at its extremes. J.D. Sumner, bass singer for Elvis's backing band, used fry register to hit his lowest notes.



Depending on who you ask, it's either a terrible thing that will wreck your voice for ever, or perfectly acceptable if taught properly. (YouTube has plenty of clips -- just google vocal fry or fry register). Joanna Newsom periodically dips into fry, but the most cited example in pop singing is Britney's growly "Baby, Baby," in "Baby Hit Me One More Time."

I'm not all that familiar with vocal fry as a trend among young woman other than as a possible counterpoint to the "baby speak" of Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian. Frankly, I haven't noticed any more than usual, but I haven't set foot on a college campus in more than a decade. Frankly, I think too much has been made of women's speech just in general: our voices are too high and "shrill," therefore, our bosses do not take us seriously enough; or our voices are falsely low and gravelly, hence, manlike. We really can't win, can we?

Are Adele's Voice Problems a Wake Up Call for Young Singers?

With her second album currently sitting atop the Billboard 200, Adele is one of the hottest young artists around, but a vocal chord hemorrhage forced her to cancel her North American tour. Could this send a message to young singers who overuse and abuse their voices to learn proper technique? According to specialist Phyllis Hoffman, injuries like Adele's are happening more than ever to young singers, usually a result of fatigue, strain, and a lack of training:

Hoffman blames such injuries on “our reality TV music culture,’’ because of the seemingly increasing volume of young singers who go from occasional amateur performances to intense, daily singing sessions in an effort to make a name and build their brand. 

“It’s using the body in an excessive manner. And it makes me cringe when I see it,’’ said Hoffman, BU’s chairwoman of Applied and Performance Studies and a professor of music and voice at the school. “Young people perform on these shows that require them to throw caution to the wind in exchange for a chance at fame.’’

There's some pretty good information about the stress singing does to one's voice in this Jezebel post, too, with a handful of singers and vocal coaches chiming in. As as casual, but wouldn't-embarrass-herself-on-karaoke-night kind of singer, I'm finding these discussions most informative, as I haven't set foot in a formal music class in more than twenty years. I don't sing often, but I've always hated that I can't belt. I can reach the notes, but it sounds more choir-girl than soul singer. I think I'm going to be okay with that.

The Male Britney, Katy, and Beyonce

Maura Johnston , a music writer for the Village Voice,  posted a link on her Tumblr to a site called Voice of Men, which is really the voices of popular female singers pitched so they sound like men, except they don't. Sort of. She adds:

As the person who alerted me to it noted, “The male voice allows us to more clearly see the feminine singing styles and vocal tics that we take for granted in women.” So true.

I'm not sure I'd go as far as to call them "female vocal tics," but the inflection, phrasing, and timbre in most women's singing (and speaking) voices in different enough from men's that just lowering the pitch doesn't make women "sound like men." Of course, a lot of this can be chalked up to female pop singers' pressure to "sexy it up," but I think it says more about the way women's speech is allowed to be, or is even expected to be, expressive in a way that men's speech isn't.

It also reminds me of John Oswald's "Pretender" in which he takes Dolly Parton's voice from treble all the way to bass, essentially "masculinizing" her in contrast to her hyper-feminine, campy sex appeal. When I first heard it, I thought, "Ha, she sounds just like... Cher." Then it just got weird.



Deeper, darker women's voices still sound "female," to our ears they're still within the range of what "a woman's voice" is supposed to sound like. As steeped as that is in gender essentialism, it's a large part of why we're so confused when someone steps out of that box.

Vocal Ranges of Popular Singers

My current obsession: youtube videos that break down popular singers' vocal ranges.

I'll be the first to admit, I'm don't know a lot about the mechanics of making music. I don't play an instrument unless you count the piano lessons I look for a year from a women with half-a-dozen cats that would periodically jump onto the keys while I was bumbling my way through The Entertainer. The only aspect of music I can claim any knowledge of is singing. I'm not a great singer, but generally I don't embarrass myself on Karaoke night. I haven't had really any formal training outside of school, but I think I'm a standard contralto, though I can sing a pretty solid C3 -- one octave lower than middle C -- which is pretty deep for a woman. So it should come as no surprise I love a lady who can go low. Stevie Nick's delivers (even hitting some baritone notes here):



On the opposite end is Evanescence's Amy Lee, whose range is phenomenally huge, even reaching whistle register:



Another woman known for her huge range, Kate Bush:



My favorite of all these, though, has to be Paul McCartney. Normally thought of as a tenor, he can hit some really deep notes some baritones have trouble reaching.

Links & Bits for 4/14/11

Vocoder and the Female Voice: Laurie Anderson and Imogen Heap (Bitch)

Is there anyone who isn't sick of Autotune yet? As annoying as the Autotune fad continues to be, vocal effects are nothing new in music. People have made whole careers out of their use of vocal effects, from the “talk box” of Roger from funk band Zapp to the aforementioned dread Autotune of singers like T-Pain.

Sexism and Saturday Night Live (What Tami Said)

It is interesting how uncomfortable people get when faced with the truth of sexism (any "ism" really). Chevy Chase squirmed. He had first tried to blame squabbling in the writers room on women trying to get "women's issues" onto the show. When Curtin additionally pointed out that, as a woman, she couldn't get a credit card in 1975, Chase snarked, "Yeah, 'cause I was holding you back."

On Ashley Judd and the Politics of Citation (The Crunk Feminist Collective)

It’s frustrating when all the work that black women have done to speak back to music that has particular, real world consequences in our lives is ommitted and unacknowledged. We’ve also done this talking back with an analysis of the systemic forces that make black men/rap music the scape goats for societal oppression of women. I know it’s a personal narrative, but can some hip-hop feminist foremothers get a shout out?

Is There a Glass Ceiling on American Idol? (Persephone Magazine)

Of the eight contestants now left on season 10 of American Idol, only two of them are women. I’d like to think that one of them (amazing 16-year-old Lauren Alaina) will win, but given Toscano’s departure, things aren’t looking good for the ladies. While some of the men left are not bad, many of them lack the combination of singing power and artistry that is needed to become a successful recording star. Why are the drippy Stefano Langone and inexplicably creepy alt-country dude Paul McDonald (the official candidate of the snarky Vote For the Worst campaign) still there when the girl with pipes that could stand up to Celine Dion is now watching on TV from the comfort of her own home?

YouTube Music Class: high, low, whistle and falsetto

I haven't been in a formal music class in over twenty years, and lately YouTube has been serving as my surrogate. I really like this video of short clips of various artists hitting some really low notes, belted notes, falsetto (more about women and falsetto here), and whistle register.

Low Ladies: Contraltos

Inspired by this and this, I'd been meaning to write something about women with deep, resonant singing voices for some time. I've always been drawn to singers with rich, throaty, sometimes froggy voices. Part of this, I think, stems from my own vocal shortcomings. I'm not a professional singer, but I've always loved to sing despite my painfully deep voice and little range. On a good day I sound like a bad Cher impersonator. But first let's get some technical stuff out of the way: