Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Alto Assistance

I started taking voice lessons recently and it turns out I'm an alto, which-- if I'm not mistaken-- is the lowest female voice range. It also turns out that most of the music I listen to involves a female singer who's way out of my range (i.e. Bjork). Or a male singer. Which, while it's totally still great music, can be a little frustrating to practice with. So I've started looking into female artists with a classifiably "alto" range and my search has yielded some pretty great things:
  • I'll start with the more obvious/popular findings-- Amy Winehouse and Adele are both altos. I've never really been into their music, but that's a thing.
  • So is Lady Gaga, but personally I lost interest in her beyond The Fame Monster.
  • Lorde is an alto. This is probably most evident on "Ribs".
  • Haim are, collectively, altos. Which is most evident on "My Song 5".
  • Solange, who you may know as Beyonce's sister-- and who has a way more attainable vocal range-- is an alto.
  • St. Vincent is probably also an alto, and she has really cool hair.
  • Marina & The Diamonds is-- well, based on her first album, I feel like she's an alto with a really strong head voice/falsetto, but I could absolutely be wrong about that.

If anyone's interested in taking voice lessons but can't afford it, in terms of time and/or money, there's a surprising amount of Youtube videos that provide free singing lessons. It's obviously not the same as having someone in the flesh telling you what you, specifically, are doing, but it's a start.

Check out St. Vincent's newish alto-friendly video below.


Stay classy,

Caitlin. 

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