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| Lazarus (Adam G) |
Vocal Range...for Valjean is Tenor, correct? I know there are a lot of High As for Valjean, so I'm assuming he's a tenor.I'm trying to figure out exactly what I am, and if I could play ValJean. I can go from a Low F to Top G and above (C above Top G). Does this classify me as a Tenor? I ask because I can go pretty low for a tenor, so I'm confused. 
Edit: Obviously, the higher notes are head voice. Belt up to Top B. |
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| Kate1197 |
As far as I know, Valjean is a tenor or sometimes a baritenor - although I am only a fan of Les Mis and not as knowledgeable about the show as others on this board!
As far as what your vocal classification is, it really depends on the timbre of your voice, not the notes that you can sing. If you have a high-sounding voice, then you are a tenor. If you have a low-sounding voice, you're more likely a baritone or a bass. That said, your range sounds like you're a tenor or baritenor, and if you can belt to a high B then you can almost definitely sing Valjean. In fact, if you can hit the low F, too, than you pretty much have the range for any part in the show 
If low F to high B is your range, what's your tessitura (most comfortable range)? Because you should look at that as well as your top notes, to figure out whether the majority of the notes that Valjean sings fit into that range. In the school edition, Valjean's note range only differs from Javert's by two whole tones, but Valjean's solos sit much higher than Javert's. That's probably way more than you wanted to know, but I hope at least some of it is helpful! If you could send a recording of yourself it would be easier to judge. -Kate |
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| Lazarus (Adam G) |
It really depends on what warm-ups I do. I can usually hit a Top C easily. Top G and above are pretty easy to hit if I warm-up. So I guess the Tenor range is most confortable. But my speaking voice isn't high... (when recorded by the program Audacity, which can messure notes, my speech-level in Middle C). So I sit right on the passage between Tenor and Baritone. | ||
| Kate1197 |
Well, as far as I can tell it sounds like you're a tenor.
-Kate |
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| MsDivaKate |
Re: Vocal Range
The character of Valjean is technically speaking a tenor role. It was originally written to be baritone, but I believe the vocal range was adjusted for Colm. As was already said your true voice classification lies in the overall quality of your voice, not range alone. I was classified falsely as a soprano for years. I have the range on the top end, but I also have quite the range in my lower voice. It turns out, I'm a mezzo, which makes sense because I have a darker quality to my voice. |
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| Lazarus (Adam G) |
Okay, I'm confused now! 
So if a baritone had a Tenor range, could they perform a tenor role? And if a tenor had bass/baritione range, could they play a baritone role? 
I've never been good with Music theory. |
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| MsDivaKate |
I suppose. If you could sing the part and sound decent on it, regardless of what your actually voice type was, you could be cast. For example I have a friend who is a Soprano. She recently played The Old Lady in Candide, a mezzo role. She's also sang several other mezzo roles. While she is technically a soprano, her voice vocally fit the range for the role and sounded appropriate for the character. If a baritone has a high A in his range there's no reason for him not to be able to sing Valjean. Your voice range is determined by where your voice is the strongest. For mezzos and baris its typically the mid to middle high range of the voice and for sopranos and tenors its the mid high to high passagi where the voice is at its highest level of comfort. |
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| Aimee |
The London Valjeans are all barritones.
They need the top notes but more important than that is the rich rone in the mid and lower ranges that tenors, strictly speaking, don't have in such quality. Many 'real' teenors I know can't even sing Valjeans lower notes at anything more than a whisper. |
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| olly |
You can search on MTI for the ranges in the School Edition characters.
MTI, or any other site I have, gives the ranges for the professional production. I can look in my score, but I can't be bothered as that would take a hell of a long time. Generally, the ranges will be the same. However for more of the main male characters, some songs may have been brought down a few semitones. I know Valjean and Javert's have, for example. |
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| Beagle On Stage |
Lazarus, you sound like you have the same kind of voice as I do - I definitely recognize a lot of what you're saying. I'm a tenor, and my voice is very high, agile, and bright. I also have low notes (down to an E, or even D on a really good day), but there's definitely no passing them off as bass because they're much harder to project, and they still keep that sweet, light quality that the rest of my voice has. Not that I don't use them - I have often sung particularly low roles - but there's just no hiding the fact that it's not a bass, it's a tenor singing low. So yes, tenors and baritones are often very capable of singing roles meant for the other...just it's going to have a different tone to it. This is something that's been confusing to me in the past, too, and I think we're in the same boat vocally...my AIM is on here if you want to talk. | ||
| Buff Daddy |
Whether you are a tenor or baritone is based solely on what notes you can sing. It's also the quality of those notes and the sound you produce.
For example I was listening to the radio yesterday and a bass was singing a song. I could sing the all the notes he was, but the tone and quality just stood him apart as a bass, while mine was obviously a tenor sound. I didn't have the richness and tone that the bass did. Hopefully that might help a bit as well. Buff 
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| Beagle On Stage |
Buff, I almost told the Snow White having an orgasm story again, but somehow telling it more than once just seemed inappropriate. Your explanation alone will have to do this time. 
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| mrcladwell |
In the 1995 Dream Cast performance, the highest note Colm Wilkinson sang was a Tenor High C. The lowest Valjean note is a low Ab, an octave and a third below middle C.
I never liked Philip Quast as Javert because he has a tenor tessitura, and when he sings some of Javert's songs, it just never sounds right. I prefer a Javert with a baritone or bass tessitura, like Roger Allam. He sang from a low F (octave and a fifth below middle C) to an F# when he jumped into the Seine. |
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| Lazarus (Adam G) |
Does Wilkinson really go up to a C? I thought the highest he went was B, and then the little rip at the end was a G. (The rip really doesn't count as a note, though).
Anyway, thanks for the information, everyone! I think I might be a baritenor, because the tone quality is somewhere in between tenor and baritone. (I can sing Jesus from JCS easily and Valjean, but I can also sing Javert). So I guess that puts me in between. |
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| Webster |
Philip Quast? That man has ne of the richest baritone voices I've ever heard! Are you sure you're not talking about Terrance Mann? And Quast sings every note written for Javert, from the low F to the high F#. |
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| Lazarus (Adam G) |
I think that's a middle F. Unless your talking about the other system with Low, Middle, High, and Top. | ||
| mrcladwell |
In the Dream Cast performance, he definately goes from a D below middle C to a tenor high C on the line "took the silver took my FLIGHT" which then goes into being questioned by the constables and forgiven by the Bishop. I have absolute pitch. Regarding what I said about Philip Quast, he sounded like a tenor at the Dream Cast performance. Maybe you heard him differently, maybe what I perceive as a tenor quality is just his timbre and not his tessitura. It's not like I have a vested interest in whether he's a tenor or not Mackintosh thought he was good enough to perform then, and probably with good reason.
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| windbelle |
I have always considered Philip Quast to be a baritone, although I think he does sometimes show the bright timbre in his voice. I've heard when he was doing The Secret Garden in London the score was specially adjusted for him to suit his range, 'cause the role was originally written for a tenor. |
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| ALoneWanderer |
Phillip Quast is a low baritone, maybe if you're generous just baritone. Definitely not a tenor, though he has played some tenor parts that were rewritten for him (George and Archibald).
Valjean is a tenor, but what you want for the part is a dramatic tenor (which is the quality that makes it sound "baritone-y" to many people). This just means he has to have a well developed low range and a rich quality. The idea is that the timbre is that of a baritone or lower voice part but the tessirature remains high (or at least CAN remain high) so that the higher bits will fit the range. Most of the people who have played the part have been tenors...can anyone give me examples of actors they think are baritones who have played the part of Valjean? People tend to associate dramatic voices with baritones and lyric ones with tenors, but one can be a lyric baritone or a dramatic tenor...it's a combination of where the voice rests and the tone. I've often been thought a tenor because of my tone, but I am undoubtadely a lyric baritone and while I can sing lots of lower tenor stuff I wouldn't touch a lot of the higher tenor material. ~The Lone Wanderer |
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| Lazarus (Adam G) |
Ivan Rutherford was a baritone, and he pulled off the role with ease. |