It's Expensive in the Middle

Original Post Date: June 4, 2007

I am a mezzo soprano. It basically means that I am not a soprano and I am not an alto. I used to be an alto. I sang Alto 2 in high school and college. My voice has raised considerably since then. I can now sing a high C, if I'm warmed up and if I worked up to it.

Anyway, that's not what I'm writing about. Here's the thing...since I am a mezzo soprano (a lyric mezzo soprano, if you want to get technical), I can sing pretty much anything. There problem comes when I am trying to buy vocal books. I have recently decided to learn 4 songs by Stefano Donaudy. I went to the music store to order the book, so I can my voice teacher's back to her, and I had the choice between the high voice and the low voice books. Ummmmmm....which do I need? I have absolutely no idea. So I ordered both. This is the not the first time this has happened. When I did the Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel program with my mom and Carol last year (2 years ago? When was that? We've done it a couple of times.) I had to have the High Voice and Low Voice books. I sang two songs, one out of each book. Because of my range and the tessaturas of the songs, I couldn't sing them both out of the same book. I have a feeling the same thing is going to happen with the Donaudy songs. Oh, well. I guess it's my lot in life, being a mezzo!!!

If you're still confused about the whole "mezzo soprano" thing, I have a great explanation I gave to lady at choir practice last night. She heard me sing a really high note and wanted to know why I wasn't singing soprano. I replied "I'm a mezzo soprano. If I want to sing for a long period of time, I have to sing alto." That's the best explanation I have. Any other mezzos want to weigh in on this? Kristi?

Kristi's Reply:

I'm there for you girl: I top out at a high e flat when I'm warmed up, but then I can also get to a low C (that is, below middle). People at CSU had me sing soprano for almost two years because they figured with a high range I must be soprano. BUT it's not what you can sing, but where the warmth is in your voice, and for me it's mezzo. Also mezzos are just cooler people in general. BUT it's always nice to have flexibility in range to keep people guessing, am I right? How's that for an explanation?