Last week was very exciting! Fergus gave us the full score to the opera. It is pretty big and resembles a mini thesis! He also gave us all a copy of the cast, one of the girls scanned the list quickly and said to me “Rozz, you’re on it!”
I get to sing as part of a duet as part of a group song, if you understand! They seem to think I’m an alto2. For those who are unaccustomed to vocal ranges (like me, than!), I;m going to give you a mini Rozzie-opera style class, sort of a Opera for dummies. Please, don’t take offence! Not calling you a dummy or anything!
Okay, right at the top are the cream of the crop-The Female Sopranos, these women( in my observation) can sing rather well, rather high and they can also read music. Amazing. They also seem to be able to pick things up quickly but are given an average amount of attention from the person who is coaching us.
They also sing rather loud, drowning everyone else out. Which is probably the point seeing as they are so good,everyone elses job is make them sound fantastic.
Within each vocal range, you have a 1 and a 2. Number 1 seems to be where everyone wants to be, for some reason. Though, just because you are a number 1 doesn’t mean you will rock. It just means you are more naturally able to sing at a higher range within soprano. However, that doesn’t stop the sopranos all trying to be a Soprano 1, I can tell by listening to some of them that they are really no. 2s and they have developed a soprano 2 complex.
This, of course could be totally incorrect seeing as I know very little about all of this.
But, it could be true…
Now, to the Altos, which is where I am. The 2nd highest range and the most coolest, of course. Again, you can be a 1 or a 2. I can sing both but after my auditions, I have been placed in an alto 2 range. So, I guess that cements it for me. I’m an alto 2, that’s it. The altos seem to get little attention, we hear the song once and we are expected to remember it straightaway. Because, we are harmoninsing and making the Sopranos sound brilliant, it doesn’t really matter if we are singing the right note or not. That is going to change though. We are getting the CD of the opera next week, sung in our own special range!
Below the Altos, you have the tenors and the bass, majority of them are men. I do get suspicious when I see a female in this group. They seem to need the most attention. I’ll be sexist and say it’s because they’re men and they don’t listen but maybe, this group are older and need more time but then you might say I’m ageist.
Finally, it could be down to some obscure reason that my little and unknowledgable opera brain cannot answer.
Idea, please? On a postcard.
So the 4 vocal ranges sing altogether in entirely different notes and ranges, starting at different times resulting in pleasing opera type music!
Very smart?
Did I mention how happy I am with my part? I can’t go into details but I’m glad I got this part and not the other part I could have nearly got. Very mysterious, I know.
My advice, book some tickets and find out!
