Velvet contralto voice. What is the main secret of his popularity?

Contralto is one of the most vibrant female voices. Its velvety low sound is often compared to a cello. This voice is quite rare in nature, so it is highly valued for its beautiful timbre and for the fact that it can reach the lowest notes for women.

This voice has its own formation characteristics. Most often it can be determined after 14 or 18 years of age. The female contralto voice is predominantly formed from two children’s voices: a low alto, which from an early age has a pronounced chest register, or a soprano with an inexpressive timbre.

Usually, by adolescence, the first voice acquires a beautiful low sound with a velvety chest register, and the second, unexpectedly for everyone, expands its range and begins to sound beautiful after adolescence.

Many girls are surprised by the changes and the fact that the range becomes lower, and the voice acquires beautiful expressive low notes.

The following situation often occurs: And then, after about 14 years, they develop expressive chest notes and a feminine sound, which is characteristic of contralto. The upper register gradually becomes colorless and inexpressive, while low notes, on the contrary, acquire a beautiful chesty sound.

Unlike the mezzo-soprano, this type of contralto in sound resembles not a rich girl’s voice, but the voice of a very mature woman, much older than her calendar age. If a mezzo-soprano’s voice sounds velvety, but very rich and beautiful, then a contralto has a slight hoarseness that the average female voice does not have.

An example of such a voice is singer Vera Brezhneva. As a child, she had a high soprano voice that, unlike other children’s voices, seemed expressionless and colorless. If in adolescence the soprano of other girls only gained strength and became richer in its timbre, beauty and chest notes, then Vera’s voice colors gradually lost their expressiveness, but the chest register expanded.

And as an adult, she developed a rather expressive female contralto voice, which sounds deep and original. A striking example of such a voice can be heard in the songs “Help Me” and “Good Day”.

Another type of contralto is formed already in childhood. These voices have a rough sound and often sing as altos in school choirs. By adolescence, they become mezzo-sopranos and dramatic sopranos, and some develop into deep contralto. In colloquial speech, such voices sound rude and sound like boys.

Girls with such voices are sometimes victims of ridicule from their peers, and they are often called male names. During adolescence, this type of contralto becomes richer and lower, although the masculine timbre does not disappear. It is often difficult to understand in a recording who is singing, a guy or a girl. If other altos become mezzo-sopranos or dramatic sopranos, then the contralto’s chest register opens up. Many girls even begin to brag that they can easily copy men’s voices.

An example of such a contralto would be Irina Zabiyaka, a girl from the group “Chile”, who always had a low voice. By the way, she studied academic vocals for many years, which allowed her to reveal her range.

Another example of a rare contralto, which is formed after 18 years, is the voice of Nadezhda Babkina. Since childhood, she sang alto, and when she entered the conservatory, the professors identified her voice as a dramatic mezzo-soprano. But by the end of her studies, her low range expanded and by the age of 24 she had formed a beautiful female contralto voice.

In opera, such a voice is rare, since there are not too many contraltos that meet the academic requirements. For opera singing, the contralto must not only be low enough, but also sound expressive without a microphone, and such strong voices are rare. That’s why girls with contralto voices go to sing on stage or in jazz.

In choral singing, low voices will always be in demand, as altos with a beautiful low timbre are constantly in short supply.

By the way, in the jazz direction there are more contraltos, because the very specificity of the music not only allows them to beautifully reveal their natural timbre, but also to play with their voice in different parts of their range. There are especially many contraltos among African-American or mulatto women.

Their special chesty timbre in itself becomes a decoration for any jazz composition or soul song. A prominent representative of such a voice was Toni Braxton, whose hit “Unbreak my heart” could not be sung beautifully by any singer, even with a very low voice.

On the stage, contralto is valued for its beautiful velvety timbre and feminine sound. According to psychologists, they subconsciously inspire trust, but, unfortunately, many young girls confuse them with smoky voices. In fact, it is easy to distinguish such a voice from a low timbre: smoky voices sound dull and inexpressive compared to the low but sonorous character of the contralto.

Singers with such voices will be clearly heard in a large hall, even if they sing in a whisper. The voices of girls who smoke become dull and inexpressive, lose their overtone coloring and are simply inaudible in the hall. Instead of a rich and expressive female timbre, they become completely inexpressive and it is more difficult for them to play on nuances, switch from a quiet sound to a loud one when needed, etc. And in modern pop music, smoky voices have long been out of fashion.

The female contralto voice is often found in various directions. In opera, famous contralto singers were Pauline Viardot, Sonya Prina, Natalie Stutzman and many others.

Among Russian singers, Irina Allegrova, singer Verona, Irina Zabiyaka (soloist of the group “Chili”), Anita Tsoi (especially heard in the song “Sky”), Vera Brezhneva and Angelica Agurbash had a deep and expressive contralto timbre.