All About Your Singing Voice | Beginner Tips+FAQ 

I wish their were more parts being wrote for alto's that aren't middle aged women

when you are a girl but your best match in hamilton is George Washington or Peggy

katherine: jeremy jordan me: *spazzes out because i heard my husbands name*

do you think you would ever do a head voice vs chest voice vs mixed vs belting kind of video?

Is anyone else sad that the only time theatrical contraltos are recognized is when we're talking about opera villains from the 19th century?

I have a really weird voice: I have a deep ish speaking voice and than my singing voice is around a middle c to a high f. Any beauty and the beast song is fairly easy for me. I use vocal fry whenever I'm either breaking down or trying to be Finnick in the hunger games

i'm a low alto so in a formal chorus i sing alto 2!! but last year we did In The Heights and i was ensemble but i was cast as a vocal tenor!! it was actually so fun i had the most versatile singing role in the show as i always would sing the highest male part written even if that line was written for a lead just because i was the only girl who could go low enough and no boys could go high enough, definitely an interesting situation but i loved it!!

soprano tips: -dont feel bad when you dont get cast in contemporary musicals, it's out of your control and you probably have a beautiful singing voice -dress up femininely for auditions -laughing in head voice is good for your voice and feels so much better, more comfortable and more natural

My range is weird, cause i can't really do Alto cause it's too low for me and i can't do Soprano either cause it's too high. I've always said that i'm a Mezzo (because that's what's between Alto and Soprano) but i feel like i don't have a strong enough belt! I mean, i can kind of belt but i feel like it doesn't have enough strength. Any tips for strengthening your belt?

I'm naturally a low alto, but I decided that I wanted to play girls that aren't middle age woman, so I tried to expand my voice! And it worked! I would practice every day for about 10-15 minutes, and now I can sing really high songs! It's possible to expand your range! Fellow altos, don't feel discouraged! (Or you could do what I tend to do a lot and play guys because there are only 3 guys in your drama troupe and 2 don't do musicals and the other has the vocal range of Christine from POTP.) There're nothing wrong with gender-bending!

I have the best vocal coach ever!! She was Ellen in Miss Saigon on Broadway and was the only person to play Fantine, Eponine AND Cosette in the traveling company of Les Mis!! Her name is Lisa Capps and there's some videos on RU-vid :)

Tenors kill me TBH like I'm in love with all of them and idk why but when JJ belts it makes me want to cry 😂😂😂

I'm a mixey, beltie, sassy person! Whoop whoop!

I'm on a Theatre Thursday binge and I'm loving it!

Don't scream! Cheerleading may have been a mistake....

my friend is a mezzo and she keeps getting swapped between soprano and alto because my school only has soprano alto and tenor😂

3 dislikes?! Huh.. thanks hermione

I'm a soprano but I have a LOT of vocal range. I can sing very low and pretty high too. But I'm mostly in the high group. But I rlly want to be the villain in musicals. Like I want to be Lafou in Beauty and the Beast in my school production but idk how to let my instructor know I want to sing that part. We also all sing the same audition song so we can't audition for specific parts we want. Any help??

I left theatre almost 5 years ago, but I can't stop binging your videos. Your advice is incredibly helpful and your personality is so lovely. You make everything entertaining and your bubbliness is infectious. Thank you for making these videos!

i wish more roles were being written for altos in modern musicals!!

Katherine: Elle Woods Me: 🙌

I love you so much! I'm from England and I am going to study musical theatre at college, and then I want to go on to do theatre professionally but my mum isn't supportive at all so I've found it really hard to talk about. You are so inspirational and beautiful. Thankyou! ❤

How does she not have 1,000,000 subscribers?

her brows are intense

Thank you for doing this video♥️ I'm a Mezzo and I was feeling so down about it lately cause I thought it was a bad range for musical roles, now that you mentioned Sutton Foster, Pippa and Renée from Hamilton I feel like this -musical theater songs- might work out for my voice♥️ so thank you very very much♥️♥️♥️

I'm starting voice lessons this year. The voice teacher I'm going to is also my music teacher. I'm so excited and nervous. I was sick for awhile so musical theatre really helped me. I don't have any experience nor do I know my voice type. But, I've wanted to do theatre forever. Thank you for all the advice! It's helping me so much!❤️❤️❤️

heyo! i need some help, pLEasE my dood. so, i'm a girl who's a tenor/contralto. a young girl. I'm only 12, but I've been acting since I was 5 (not anything serious, just a bunch of small parts in musicals and improv and acting classes for small kiddos, i didn't start getting serious about it until about 2 years ago.) I LOVE ACTING, actually, I prefer doing some Poe or Shakespeare than any musical. althOUGH I LOVE MUSICALS I'M OBSESSED-- I just have a very small range, and I can easily sound like a young boy (aka I could sing 90% of the parts in Newsies) I always have to sing REALLLLYYY low in order to harmonize with my alto friends, who can't sing high enough so I can sing at my comfortable notes and still harmonize.. If that makes any sense ;0 My first serious role was Ariel in The Tempest from Shakespeare, and I've been doing basically the same casting types ever since. Either the main characters best friend who's crazy, a psychopath, or a strange character that could be any gender. So when doing musicals, my director is so mixed up because there's no.. characters? in popular musicals that we do, or at least characters that I can play, being so young (Also I consider myself.. kind of mature looking/acting for my age? I'm pretty tall and still growing, and I've played a 15 year old before, so..) It's REALLY hard to find parts I can sing, and also very boring waiting for them to do a show that either has a male role I can play or a show that has a female character who has my vocal range.. And I nEeD HELP. i'm SO sorry this was so very long, but if anyone can help please hit me up with a reply! Thanks! ;) (P.S, my exact vocal range is C#3 to a E4)

I've tried to figure out my vocal range and I got alto. I can match sopranos but I can't belt high notes. If I have to belt high notes I go into headvoice because if I try to do high belts my voice will crack. How do you get better at belting high notes. I can sing lower notes easier and belt those easier. The lowest note I can sing is F3 and my highest is E5. Idk if that's good or not. Plz help thx

Have literally found your videos and they are the best most educational videos on musical theatre

Relatively new subscriber here !!! I love your hair like this ! It’s so pretty . Your videos are always helpful and accurate . I finally took the plunge yesterday and decided I wanted to take voice lessons because I stopped singing seriously after high school . I actually took a class offered by Adam Pascal on Zoom. Y’all, I HIGHLY recommend signing up for a one on one . It was so incredibly helpful and inspiring !! Also what an opportunity too!

I love you Katherine! This video is so helpful. There are so many theatre people out in the world that think that they can't sing a part just because of stereotypes that the OBC sets, and you break those stereotypes in this video, so thanks Katherine! You are truly an inspiration! I love you! Theatre Thursday Fam for life! 😋😊

Girl I’m straight bingeing your vids

Yaas Kathrine back at it with the best eyebrows on the internet

i’m a girl and i’m a tenor someone save me

I have to be honest here: I really don't know what's (been) going on in the theatre world, but I love your videos so much that I can't stop watching 😍 Keep up the good work, so we have something to look forward to every Thursday! ☺️ #TheatreThursdayFamAllTheWay ❤️

I once auditioned for a pantomime where the audition song for the girls was Defying Gravity (because that song was featured in the show). I conside myself a low-alto at best so I was terrified! Luckily, for the audition we were able to sing it in any key we wanted so I sang it a lot of semi-tones down which was a bit embarrassing but it was a safe move. In the end though, I ended up getting the part that required me to actually sing Defying Gravity in the show - in the original key!! I was so scared but actually surprised myself in the end and was able to do an alright job, despite my insistence that I wasn't able to sing above low alto-range. Just goes to show that your voice can sometimes do a lot more than you think! (Love your videos, have subscribed!)

Great video, I really wanna be Christine in Phantom of the Opera (London) or Eponine in Les Mis. OR BOTH. I'm only twelve and I have seen Phantom 4 TIMES! Your videos really inspire me and make me happy. I am auditoning for Annie in less than a month so this really helped me! I was wondering what your vocal range is? I am a Mezzo :)

“Aaron Tveit and Jeremy Jordan and all the other various weaknesses in my life...” I felt that

Wow so I’m somewhere between a tenor and an alto then 😂 everyone you listed for those voices are literally all my favorite roles, that’s exciting!

Is theare such thing as a mezzo-alto-soprano-tenor 😂😂 I need help Most of the time i sing low Most of the time I sing high Most of the time I sing uhm okay

I'm lucky to be in two different singing places- church choir, where traditional 4-part harmony is utilized so I sing soprano, and then in musical theatre, I'm the youngest belter at my community theatre group. Basically I'm working to keep diversifying my range, so I can belt high but also sing those beautiful, more classical roles.

I cannot figure out if I'm a mezzo or a soprano. Uhggggggggg

Love my vocal coach, Ronald Land. One of favorite people EVER

Super important stuff! I had to go through speech therapy because my speaking voice was so unhealthy. I'm a mezzo and my singing voice was crazy healthy but I was talking in vocal fry all the time and was losing my voice because of it!! So happy that I went though speech therapy! I would highly recommend it to anyone going through the same issue! Also steaming is amazing for your voice!

I've never been more interested in hearing someone talk about vocal ranges! And hey mezzo squad where u at

it's so cool watching old kat bc she looks so different but she acts exactly the same

I’m a mezzo and can confirm that Eliza and Angelica are very comfortable for me as a mezzo

I've gone through a lot of change with my vocal type lmao. I started out thinking i was a soprano, then thinking i was a mezzo because me singing higher notes was a train wreck, and then i decided I was an alto altogether. That stuck for a few years until I was cast in The Magic Flute and put on top soprano in the chorus and I learned how to sing soprano haha. That was a year ago and my voice has definitely grown into my soprano range and I can definitely say I'm a soprano cause i can't sing that low anymore tbh. I absolutely love being a soprano and I'm going put for Johanna in Sweeney Todd this fall!!

I am one of those extremely lucky people who can sing any part. I always put my full range in notes on my resume and then put my vocal part in parentheses next to it. But I do change my vocal part depending on the role I'm auditioning for. It's also very important to know your company. the company I'm working with now has literally one tenor who comes back to audition for them. So if I were to audition there again I would most likely write tenor on my resume because that's my best chance at getting cast.

LOVE YOU KATH!!!

Hey Cath! Your videos are amazing!

Baritenor. Where has that word been all my life? That is my range! My choir director never knows where to place me, sometimes even letting me be Tenor 1. I have like a 4 octave range, so I don't really have a vocal part name. Like Baritone and Tenor both feel natural for me. Anyway. I've been bingeing your videos, and am learning so much!

The moment you named Aaron Tveit and Jeremy Jordan and immediately said they were your biggest weaknesses among others, I knew you were the perfect RU-vidr for me 😂 of course I'm not only suscribing because of that (or am I?), but I can relate so much lol

I'm a soprano 1 in my choir at school and I LOVE it! High notes excite me!

Im a bass/baritone(im on the higher end of bass currently). Im basically just sorta built to play the weirdos in theatre - Sweeney, Gomez, Turpin, etc. I weirdly love that. Thanks for curing my voice insecurities lol

Well I've nailed the good vocal coach part! She's coached people who have made it to my dream (Broadway) and I'm hoping that I'll be one of them.

This was really helpful!!

I had too much fun changing my vocal range when I was a teenager. I started off as soprano and then I did a production of Scrooge which totally changed my definition of soprano and over the 9 months of rehearsal my range expanded upwards. Then I got a cold (RIP high notes) and then out of sheer boredom during choir practice I decided to join the altos. At last check I was a second soprano but it's been a long time since I've properly sang.

“-and how your muscles are built” Me: *looks down at my noodle arms*

Woo! As a mezzo, I can get my Heather C groove on for the school talent show! XD

okay so according to this i am a mezzo THANK YOU I HAD NO IDEA WHAT I WAS AND IT WA LIKE STRESSING ME OUT THANK YOU

Man I never knew that there was a difference between a mezzo soprano and second soprano. I always just assumed they were the same thing. Partially because when I was in a musical last summer, they placed the mezzo sopranos in as second sopranos. But the way you described it makes me think I'm a second soprano and not a mezzo because I stink at belting. Never consider myself a belter. This was very enjoyable! Thanks!!

mezzo/alto club 🥴✌🏼 and fun fact my favorite musical is a very potter musical which i’m sure you wanted to know

This is so crazy. I am a nat contralto and sing very low, but all of my dream roles are mezzos. About a month ago I started singing only songs that were mezzo or higher (I should have kept singing low too, because I now can't sing lower songs well anymore) and I can now say I'm proud of my performance of first time in forever (I'm auditioning for Anna in a month) and can belt up to the second "into the unknown" (I know more frozen references but it's the best description). Its pretty crazy and 100% proves her point.

I'm a baritone but I can sing tenor and I tend to have to in most roles I get cast in just because more parts that fit my "type" are tenors. Some parts are too high though and I end up having to use my falsetto, which adds a good octave and a half to my vocal range. Actually when we have group numbers with harmonies I'm usually put on the high tenor part just because I'm the only one who can hit the notes. I have to use my falsetto but it works!

love how you drew out f6 in the air when you said it haha

Your makeup is always so GOOD wHaT

Hi Katherine! I sing opera and musical theatre (baritone) And my vocal range is from G2 to G4. But sometimes can hit high A

Omg this actually really helped me!!! I didn't even know a baritenor was a thing lol

I love the phantom of the opera I sing it a lot and you helped me alot

"Angelica and Eliza from Hamilton are both Mezzos." ...MY LIFE IS AMAZING WOO HOO! *runs around like a dork*

4:31 omg Jeremy Jordan omg he is amazing 🖤

Basically this but more for how to help with mixing and matching a defined idea for what a role should be able to do even if it isn't necessary normal for ones voice type. ie. Light airy tenor voice playing macho bad boy

I screamed when you mentioned Aaron and Jeremy

“Don’t talk in vocal fry”...best thing I’ve heard in years. Because I talk. A lot.

I’m 21, and I didn’t even know vocal fry was a thing until right now. Kath, you may have just saved my career, girl. 😂

I feel as though my range doesn't fit my type!!!!! I am tall and quite heavily built, I fit the sassy friend, sporty or 'girl who doesn't need a man' type. I feel as though I should be an alto or mezzo, but I am definitely a high soprano with a range of F3-C6. What do I do?!!

I can sing from a Tenor to a Mezzo :) I think that's pretty good.

My vocal range is from the top of Mezzo to into Tenor 😅😅 Also, I figured out my range by watching warmup videos on RU-vid!!

The first voice coach ever went to I saw for a while. Something always felt off and then I realized she was keying songs up even though I wanted to work on lower songs and constantly gave her songs written for guys. I know it is important to increase range but she keyed up the songs without telling me, and because I was inexperience I couldn't tell just from looking at the sheet music. Most people I know have said that I now sing better without her instruction. I would like to see a different coach but I live in an area where there aren't very many at all.

My range basically ranges from Soprano 1-Alto 1 though I’m looking to hopefully get a vocal coach in the future cause I wanna learn to belt/mix belt as well as extend my lower range.

My voice is still settling in (I'm 17), but I'm at the point where my voice can't possibly get any deeper and any further change will just be the gradual loss of the "kiddish" quality. My natural speaking voice lies within the upper 2 and lower 3 octaves, and I'm naturally a bass-baritone. However, I've trained myself to be one of those "I can sing anything" people you talked about. Like, I played Caiaphas in Jesus Christ Superstar last year, today I could play Judas. My biggest weakness as a singer right now is that I'm still pretty hit-or-miss with my high soft palette range (think "Heaven's Light" from Hunchback). However, I'm confident that I can become more comfortable with it through further training.

What should I do for a vocal teacher while in quarantine?

I just found I'm a mezzo-soprano when I always though I was a soprano. My range is F3-G5!

My vocal range is pretty flexible. But I’d say the place I’m most comfortable in would be in between mezzo and soprano. Maybe it would be called mezzoprano.

I must have a really large range because I Can comfortably sing Alto, Mezzo, and Soprano. Sometimes, I can do tenor (depends on how low) so I might need to start using the notes of my range to explain instead of always picking Mezzo.

Ooh, I'm a mezzo! Great time to be me. Other than the fact that my biggest dream role is in a currently closed show.

I love Michael Ball as a tenor. When he does theatre stuff.

I relate to your soprano problems! It’s hard for me to project below an A3, and my top note is probably around an F6. I could very likely go higher, but I don’t really have a reason to.

Ahhhh I wish you would've talked about countertenors!

I'm a soprano and although I've had a lot of voice-related confidence problems, I like the way voice sounds about an octave or two above middle C most :) However, I have never practiced belting because when I go low, I have a tendency to sing through my throat (but my other notes are relaxed!) and my mixed voice isn't strong but is a little better than weak

Hi Kat, I really enjoy your videos and wanted to ask for some advice. I think I'm a soprano but am still working on strengthening and expanding my higher range and was wondering if you could recommend some songs to do that. I've worked on Somewhere, Think of Me, Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again, Wouldn't It Be Loverly and I Could've Danced All Night with my singing teacher. Thanks! ☺️

I don't know why, but it made me really happy when you said basses and baritones are for your Sweeneys and Turpins (might be because I'm a bass-baritone who's obsessed with Sweeney Todd, but that's not important) :>

Note to self: I must talk in my optimum pitch. Thanks Again Katherine!

im sorry F6??? go off, queen!! as for me, i am a pretty solid mezzo/soprano belter, my vocal range is Gb3 - C#6 with an F#5 belt :)

Yes Elle Woods💗💗💗

I had never heard of mezzo until seeing this.

oh my gosh my top note is an F6 too!!

F3-F6 wooooo

I'm a mezzo soprano. 💚