How to determine your own vocal type?

i agree with the last line of your question. you obviously have what’s called “range.” you are able to sing both parts. you are the mariah carey of the tenor section. enjoy the gift.

my former music teacher classified me as tenor.

I think it really depends on your preference. If, as you say, you can sing both the baritone and tenor lines, then good for you. Which do you prefer singing? If you don’t have a preference, audition for both parts. I can sing both alto and soprano, but I prefer soprano, so I tend to go for those parts most of the time.

@Les i know exactly what you mean. i teach three part harmony for a choir (soprano, alto and tenor). so i have to know all parts. i have lazy altos who lean toward soprano or tenor, but cannot understand the importance of their own part that “balances” harmony. any suggestions on getting altos to focus on the “middle” or “meat of the sandwich” sound?

A lot of it depends not only on what range you can sing, but where the break in your voice between chest voice and head voice is, and on what kind of vocal color you produce in the different registers of your range.

If you have a break at E above middle C, and you can get a clear sound between middle C and the G or A above middle C (without extra straining or tiring out your voice too much), you’re suited to tenor parts.

If your break is closer to middle C, and you’ve got a bright warm sound between about D below middle C and middle C, you’re suited to baritone parts.

i sing the tenor :)

As someone who sang and had a decent range (past tense because I am HUGELY out of practice) I agree with @Les…a lot is what you prefer. I could sing alto and soprano and I usually sang soprano, but I had choral instructors put me with the altos to try and help out weaker altos and because the alto part is more challenging sometimes (it was easier for the sopranos to stay on cause they were singing the melody – harmonizing is harder)...So it really is about preference and where your directors want you.

Ditto @Les and @hitomi – while I’d call myself a second soprano to anyone who actually knows what that means, basically I can sing most soprano and most alto parts, just not SUPER high or SUPER low. When you audition for a group, you can always say something like “I tend to sing second tenor, but I can do most tenor or baritone parts.” And of course feel free to throw in a “But I prefer to sing _________” For example, I tend to prefer the soprano parts but my voice gets tired when I sing soprano ALL the time, so I like groups that let me jump around. I usually mention that when trying out for a group to get a feel for the rules. In high school my chorus teacher used to put me on whichever part needed more voices. :)

I always preferred Second-Soprano or Alto. In High School, I was a soprano only because I could hit the high notes accurately, so I was placed next to a girl who could project the high notes, but had a tough time staying on pitch.

In College, the director had each of us go through the scales a couple times, and based on what @cwilbur said, he chose our part… I was a Second Soprano. :-)

@fireinthepriory I actually tend to call myself a mezzo soprano, although I am capable (easily) of singing the higher soprano parts. In musical theatre mezzo soprano simplified things because I am NEVER cast as the ingenue, who is usually a first soprano, (I’m always the other woman :-D), so telling directors that I was a mezzo made them more comfortable casting me knowing that I could sing the lower parts.

@hitomi Mezzo! I totally forgot that term. Thinking about it, I think that’s the term to use, as opposed to “second soprano” which would be describing the part (in terms of the music) rather than the voice type. :)

I used to try to avoid being cast as the ingenue, especially in high school. Too much eyelash fluttering involved in that for my liking. :) The “other woman” parts are always so much more fun to play! Plus there’s usually just that one note in one song that I can’t quite hit comfortably in those first soprano parts… And it’s always like four measures, too!

Ok, so I’ve been singing along with a couple of tenor musical theatre songs, and I don’t think I can hit the top tenor notes.
For example, the occasional note in ‘Dancing Through Life’ sneaks into my falsetto. I think that if I maybe was able to expand my range 3 or 4 notes then I’d be able to hit the top notes.

Do all the notes have to be in full voice for me to be classed as tenor, or can falsetto be included to some degree? Or will I have to stretch my range a bit in order to get the leads (because let’s face it, most major male musical leads are tenor)?

@NuclearSnail: It’s not a question of either/or, it’s a question of both/and. For a tenor, the natural break between chest voice and head voice happens around the E above middle C, but the goal is to blend them above and below that. If you sing mostly in chest voice until you can’t any more, and then hit the other notes in head voice (falsetto), you’re doing it wrong; the ideal is for you to blend your chest voice and your head voice throughout your range, while being conscious about what you’re doing.

And another issue is that hitting higher notes is often a question of relaxing sufficiently. Practicing and training mindfully will get you there.

@cwilbur Wow. Thanks a lot. I’ve never really thought about blending the chest and head voice like that. How do you physically go about blending them though? I’ve always been taught chest voice and falsetto to be very separate things. =S

Just checked with a piano, and I do have to switch to falsetto at the E above middle C. Does that definitely make me a tenor then?

@NuclearSnail: You find a good voice teacher who understands registration and who is willing to explore the characteristics of your particular voice, and do the exercises that he or she recommends.

The core of the technique is isolating your chest voice and working with it until you understand what it feels like, then isolating your head voice and working with it until you understand what it feels like, and then learning how to blend them, and how different vowels and different sections of your range draw on them differently just by the nature of how vowels and voices work. This will also give you better control of your color and your intonation—chest voice is easy to tune, because it tends to be brighter (more overtones), but it tends to go flat, especially when you’re tired; head voice is harder to tune, because it’s darker (fewer overtones), and tends to go sharp.

But exactly what exercises will accomplish this in your case is really not something I can tell you here, without hearing you. This has a lot in common with personal training—a good personal trainer will look at your body type and the progress you’re making, and recommend changes to your workout routine that are tailored to you specifically. That’s why it’s important to have a good teacher.