What Is My Voice Type? What The Fach? LIVE STREAM - Ken Tamplin Vocal Academy
The Vocal Fach System was developed in Germany at the end of the 19th Century for opera houses to create distinct categories for all the roles in an opera in order to aid auditions and casting.
Fach means classification, specialty, category. Singers were placed in a Fach according to their voice types and they would only study the characters that belonged in that category. ( laugh sometimes because I think of it like the Indian "Caste" system. Meaning, once you were born into poverty, no matter how many times you come back in reincarnation, you will always be a pauper. Or if you were born into royalty, you would always come back a king. Nonetheless, it is still a very helpful way to understand "voice types." With that said: Opera houses would keep records of singers according to Fach and they would call them in for auditions according to which roles were available.
All together singers and roles were placed in a Fach according to the following vocalcharacteristics:
• range – the notes your body can produce
• weight – light voices, bright and agile; heavy voices, powerful, rich, and darker
• size – the amount of sound you can produce and your voice's dramatic effect
• tessitura – part of the range which is most comfortable to sing
• timbre or color – unique voice quality and texture
• transition points – points where you change from chest, to middle, to head register
• vocal registers – how extended each register is
• speech level – speaking range
• physical characteristics – height and build
• age and experience
The Fach System is still used widely throughout the world (especially in Europe), and although it might seem as a very stringent way of classifying singers, knowing your specific voice type can help you make better decisions when auditioning.
Most composers have particular voice types in mind, some times even specific singers, when working on their operas. Nowadays, directors and conductors try to recreate the feeling of particular characters by choosing singers whose voice power, size, timber, color, and range match the composer's intentions.
Think about it: would a soprano with a heavy and powerful voice be a good fit for the role of a young girl like Gilda in Rigoletto? And how about a bright and airy tenor for the role of a dramatic character like Canio in Pagliacci?
I wish this book was translated into English. This book by Rudolf Kloiber's Handbuch der Oper, is the definitive complete manual on voice types, auditioning, and roles. Since it hasn't been published in English, below please find a very scaled down version of vocal fachs, their categories, their characteristics and their ranges (which I will include as well).
Here is the LINK to the full article: https://kentamplinvocalacademy.com/2018/09/what-the-fach-what-is-your-vocal-type-2
Now that you have learned all about the major categories in voice types, I'm sure you'll want to know how to distinguish between the secondary categories. Do you know the difference between a lyric soprano and a dramatic soprano or a leggero tenor and a spinto tenor? How can you tell which one you are? We will be discussing this in our Youtube Live Stream!
See you soon!
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