Has anyone noticed a decline in the numbers of bass singing voices in recent years? At a recent "sing it yourself" Messiah, I was startled to find that with other voices having their sections filled to overflowing, the basses had many open chairs--and this was after the tenors had appropriated a row of their seating! This seems to be a progressing trend.
Church choir is another place that seems to be affected. My quintet played this past year with a very good church choir that was rather well-filled out with the exception of the basses, of which there were only 2! (After the concert, music director comes up to me and says "You don't happen to sing bass, do you?").
Has anyone else noticed this? If so, what do you suppose are the reasons?
My opinion is that (from my own experience) kids and foks with "low" voices are normally told that they don't have good singing voices. I auditioned for chior in fifth grade and was told that I sang an octave too low. Instead of working with me, the teacher just cut me.
Folks with lower voices tend to not sound as melodious as those with higer voices and probably don't fare well in most public school music systems. To top this off, most pop music and even country music (performed by men) is sang in a tenor register. There are exceptions, but they are getting much more rare.
If you compare Elvis to a "pop icon" of today or even Michael Jackson, the difference becomes apparent. I guess it is more manly to sing above the bass clef nowadays.
Chuck(G) wrote:Church choir is another place that seems to be affected.
I think the church scenario is partially due to the move away from 4 part hymns (where basses such as myself could sing their heart out) to "praise and worship" choruses that are melody driven with little or no harmony. Unfortunately, often only sopranos and tenors can comfortably sing the range of these melodies, leaving the rest of us hanging (or playing instruments).
tuba4sissies wrote:i have a pretty low voice for a 14 year old.. i hope to work my voice to a bass level. that would be cool!
You could take the Russian approach - - - drink vodka and sing super low at all-night parties. That is one way to build up nodes on your vocal chords, enabling you to sing in the gorilla-suit register.
(Although this is a proven way of developing insane low chops, I'm not suggesting you really do it!)
I hated tenors from my 20's to the present.I used to sing higher than most but along would come Paul McCartney,Rod Stewart etc...and with a voice of a 20 year old I could hit most of thier range but from 40 onward,It has been necessary to transpose most all tunes down a third or more to continue to sing them.A freaky high voice will get attention long before a baritone or bass but the lower tones wear well with a relaxed audience and allow the vocalist a longer career.
tubatooter1940
MartyNeilan wrote:
I think the church scenario is partially due to the move away from 4 part hymns (where basses such as myself could sing their heart out) to "praise and worship" choruses that are melody driven with little or no harmony. Unfortunately, often only sopranos and tenors can comfortably sing the range of these melodies, leaving the rest of us hanging (or playing instruments).
You may be on to something there. I routinely have to drop octaves or (by watching the bass player) improvising bass/baritone parts just to be able to sing and it sound good.
When the better of the new "praise" choruses hit hymnals, I hope someone will take the time to write out parts for each one.
Doug "not holding his breath, though"
"It is terrible to contemplate how few politicians are hanged."
~G.K. Chesterton
