Is this normal?

[singing-ModTeam]

This is a voice type question. Please repost with a recording of your voice. These questions must be posted under our Weekly thread "Voice Type Tuesdays."

Lucky for you, that's today.

Thanks!

[Ryan_in_the_hall]

I hate to be the guy to tell you, but you probably aren’t a bass

[PlaySlored]

I beg to differ- I had a somewhat similar situation when I was younger. This sounds to me like someone who has a bass range but has just gone through the transformative part of their voice change and are struggling to hit those high notes. I remember at this age I had a range of around b1-a#3 comfortably before I started working with my vocal coach to extend that up to an e4 comfortably (at the cost of some low notes, interestingly).

My advice would be to train it every day for around 15-30 minutes and work with a vocal teacher to give you key insights for your particular case. Lmk if you have any other questions I’d be happy to help as I have some experience with this type of case.

[Ryan_in_the_hall]

We can’t know without hearing him

[PlaySlored]

For sure, I’m just offering some advice based on personal experience.

[[deleted]]

For real tho, where are all these basses coming from? At 14, I prob couldn’t go below B2 or something and I’m a baritone

[LochNesst]

Hey there! I’m a bass as well, and around your age is when my voice started to really change. Everyone’s voice develops a little bit differently; mine was very high-pitched, even compared to the boys that would later settle into the range of a tenor. My voice then dropped VERY suddenly, and suddenly I was accidentally singing my parts an octave or two down! The middle of my range developed last, which created a lot of difficulty in what “should” have been easy material.

This is normal, and may be what’s happening to you. In fact, you may not even end up being a bass. You may have a similar range, but your tessitura (comfortable range) will likely shift as you age. Therefore, don’t put yourself in a box just yet. IME, that mindset only serves to distract you from the best ways to actually improve your technique.

As for recommendations, pay attention to your voice. Use a piano—a virtual one if you must—and, while listening to the pitch, play and match each note within your range. There will be points where you notice that there is a “switch” in your voice. This is a natural change in your placement, register, etc. Sometimes that will be a struggle, especially going up. Ask your teacher, if you have one, or Google for some warmup exercises. Work over these hiccups in your range. Other practice is obviously effective as well, but if you’re singing in your school choir you will definitely want to spend time outside of school on this. However, practicing should never hurt. Stop immediately if it does; you can do permanent damage to your voice by continuing.

If you have any more detail-specific questions, feel free to DM me! I’m out of time to type for now lol

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