Who is Aaron and what is vocal range?!

Today, I’m going to introduce you to Aaron, the first of the 3 students in the 8 week vocal challenge. With all 3 students, and along this journey one thing we are going to look at a lot is vocal range. Almost every student I work with, has the goal to either find out what their range is, or to extend it. But what does that mean, look like or sound like?

Your range is basically how far your voice can go. Low or high. Like many singers your first experience of vocal training may have been in a choir or in classical training. You may have been told which box you fit neatly into. Some students come to me saying, “I’ll never sing that high note, I’m an alto”. It makes me crazy and a little disheartened. Yes, there are some limits to what each person’s voice can do, but if you think you can only go so far, and have been told you can only go so far….guess what?? You’ll only go so far.

Here are the various vocal ranges. These are what that many people are told they fit neatly into:

In the studio, I work with every voice individually to find what it is capable of, and give every client the tools and techniques to extend their ranges and achieve their goals. Again, everyone’s voice is different, not everyone will hit notes like Mariah Carey, but my passion is to help you safely find where your voice can go. Not put you in a box that limits you.

With each of the 3 students, we are going to be looking at their range, (along with many other elements) and see if, over the next 8 weeks, they manage to add some notes, and strengthen different areas of their range, so it’s important that in the first session, we take note of the starting points. I’m also going to record their first take of their goal songs, which, some clips will be shared with you at the end, with their permission! We will of course share the final polished songs, so you can hear their improvement.

So onward….. let’s meet Aaron!

Aaron is 27 and is an IT Tech for Alberta Health Services, he loves to sing, but feels he needs more confidence to actually be able to enjoy singing in front of people. His goal is to be able to sing at a casual event, like karaoke, and feel he has done well and know he can rock a song and make the audience feel good!

Aaron has chosen 2 songs to work on and improve over the 8 weeks, “She’s So High” by Tal Bachman and “My Life” by Billy Joel. We will add more songs, and his goal songs may change as his voice improves.

His range currently looks like this:

Light notes, hit very gently with a lip roll: D5

Chest voice: C#4

Lowest note: G2

On a keyboard, this is where those notes sit: