Expert: David Froom - 5/14/2005

Question
Hey how are you?

I had a question. Is it true that soprano's have a hard time projecting in middle voice? I wonder what range does the middle voice occurs around in the passaggio. I find a particular singer to mind-Kathleen Battle. It is said that she has a thin to a non-existent middle register with even mikes don't project well. I was just curious.

Thanks  

Answer
Why do you keep asking questions about Kathleen Battle having to do with her shortcomings as a singer?  She is one of the world's great sopranos.  

I think you would find, at this level of ability, were you to meet folks close up, that the ability is astounding.  That has always been my experience.

When Battle started having trouble -- and that was confined to a short period of a few years -- it was to do with the difficulty of dealing with her personally at that time, NEVER with her voice.  Maybe people are sniping at her now, or maybe people take pleasure in finding flaws in famous people.  But her voice was/is so magnificent that people were willing to deal with her, no matter how difficult (up to a point).  

Yes, it is true that different singers have difficulty projecting their voices in different ranges, particularly middle and low.  But at this level of ability, it is relative.  My guess is that if she sang for you in your room, she'd rattle the walls in any range.

Some halls -- like the Met in NYC -- are famous for being overly large and difficult to fill with natural voices.  These halls are MUCH larger than the halls for which the operas were originally written.  It has been said that some singers who sing in these large halls often, have ruined their voices by trying to fill them with their sound.  I would understand that a singer who wanted to have a career longer than a few years might want to undersing a bit in these overly large halls, pacing themselves, especially through the longest and most demanding roles.  It may be that such behavior, completely understandable, gives rise to talk about being unable to project.  I do not know if this is the case with Ms. Battle.  I try to avoid participating in this kind of gossip.

If you don't like someone's performing, you don't have to buy tickets for their shows or buy their recordings.  Everyone has different tastes.  But rest assured, at the level of the most famous (and Ms. Battle as at that level), there are going to be a LOT of people who think this is as good as it gets.  And there is ALWAYS much to admire in their performing.

David Froom