On Mon May 16, at MondayMay 16 1:42 PM, John Howell wrote: > At 11:24 PM -0500 5/15/11, Aaron Rabushka wrote: >> Thanks for all of the input on my low f's! The situation is that I have a >> men's chorus piece that has one pianissimo phrase that takes some of the >> basses down to Sarastro's low F, and I would like to make a version of it >> for women by simply transposing everything up an octave. (If I would to a >> major 9th that would take some of the sopranos up to c#''', where I don't >> want to go.) Owing to it's melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic ruggedness I >> don't think that anyone other than a professional choir will go anywhere >> near it. >> >> With regard to Webern, the orchestration of his choral pieces makes me think >> of the chamber choir model, but I have no evidence for this--any Robert >> Craft fans know of any appropriate comments? I don't know if his cantatas >> were written for any specific group. >> >> Aaron J. Rabushka >> arabus...@austin.rr.com > > Aaron: Pianissimo you should be just fine with a low F in the alto, although > you're still better off knowing the voices you're writing for. > > However, your mention of the 1st soprano range reminds me of a point that > will only complicate your transcription. (Sorry about that!) > > Classical singers, voice teachers, and musicians in general take it as an > article of faith that men's and women's voices are an octave apart, and in a > lot of situations that works just fine. But I spent a good many years > writing just for men's voices, and then a number of years writing for just > women's voices, and I found that simply transcribing what sounds good for one > ensemble with an octave displacement does NOT always sound good for the other. > > In pop voicings, nobody really wants to hear a real soprano voice! So the > interval between men's and women's voices is more like a 4th or a 5th, with a > BIG overlap right in the middle where teenyboppers can sing along with the > recording. And what I discovered when I was learning to write for a women's > barbershop chorus is that the open voicings that can sound so solid and ring > so wonderfully in men's voices can sound ludicrous with women, who sound MUCH > better in tight voicings. In fact in a typical women's barbershop chorus the > leads, baris, and basses would ALL end up singing alto in a classical chorus, > while only the tenors have real soprano voices. > > I relate this to the natural harmonic overtone series, whether it's a valid > relationship or not. Men sound best in the more open voicings found in the > lower and middle part of the harmonic series, while women's higher voices > sound best in the closer voicings found in the middle and upper part. > Whether it's valid acoustically or not, it works well in practice. > > Which means that music intended for one gender or the other might not sound > its best when literally transposed an octave. Worth trying, of course, but > listen carefully to the result. > > All the best, > John
I would concur. John's experience matches mine. Christopher _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
