How Are Voices Classified?
Voices are classified by their perceived qualities or characteristics, including range, tessitura, weight, and color (timbre), as well as vocal registration and vocal transition points that include breaks in the voice. (I explain each of these characteristics in the sections below.) Personally, I dont ever use register breaks for classifying singers voices because breaks generally occur when poor technique is used around the passaggi – the registration pivotal points – as singers get into the habit of pushing or extending the natural boundaries of their registers. Using breaks as an indicator of registration shifts creates inaccuracy in classification. Whenever a new student has a very pronounced register break, I tend to delay classification until he or she has developed better technical skills, as this may help to reveal more accurately where his or her voice actually does shift into the next register, and thus to which vocal Fach he or she belongs. In both classical and choral music
