WHAT DO YOU MEAN, I'M A SOPRANO??
I have been on the mezzo-soprano track as long as I've been around classical music (which is as long as I can remember.) The human voice is like a Pokemon, and female voices evolve to our final form around 27-30. Until then, we make our best guess based on the available evidence, and train in that direction. In my case, I have always had a large voice with a big range, tension around E-flat 4, and ease in my lower register. I'm also 6 feet tall, which usually correlates with lower voices (think of the difference between a violin and a cello.) So imagine my surprise when, abroad for a Young Artist Program, I am told by every pedagogue and coach who hears me sing that I am not actually a mezzo but a lyric soprano! The signs were equally present for this - a high extension, bright sound, and a higher passagio, disguised by relative ease compared with the tension I confused for my passagio around E-flat. So we bet on the wrong horse. What's the big deal? Well, from a pract...