For Florence Ballard Fans: Was Florence Ballard a soprano or mezzo sopranoi

[franjoy56]

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Was Florence Ballard a soprano or a mezzo soprano?
In: Music Genres [[http://www.answers.com/T/Music_Genres) [Edit categories]






As posted on ask.wiki.answers.com
Florence was a Soprano. However, she could sing low too and on many of her leads she sings in her chest voice in the Contralto/Mezzo-Soprano range. Leads on songs like "Buttered Popcorn" and "Ain't That Good News" recorded while she was a Supreme are good examples of her more soulful sound. Most recordings that feature her on backing have her singing the soprano [[high) part. One of her lowest notes can be found on her cover of "Yesterday" from her shelved solo album from 1968 that was released in 2001 as The Supreme Florence Ballard.

this article also lists songs she sang background on like "let me go t right way", "long gone lover", "let me hear u say i love you", "Who could ever doubt my love" among others check out the cite for a complete wrap up on her upper to lower ranges.

[antceleb12]

Florence was most definitely a soprano, alright. When they refer to her "soulful" sound, I'm assuming they mean her chest voice [[a la "Buttered Popcorn"), versus her mixed voice [["People") or head voice [["Silent Night," most of her backgrounds). I would say Diana had more of a mezzo-soprano sound, while Mary had the more alto sound - although it's hard to say since these terms apply more to classically trained voices. Florence had one of the more trained voices at Motown, with the most controlled range. As a group, the Supremes had three totally different voices which, however, blended well together, creating a full but balanced sound.

[floyjoy678]

Florence did take the bottom harmony quite a few times while in the Supremes as well like "Somewhere", "Falling In Love With Love", "[[Love Is Like A) Heatwave", etc.

[smark21]

Besides the music classes she took in the Detroit Schools, what vocal training did Flo receive before The Supremes signed with Motown? Did any of her teachers privately tutor her, or find her a scholarship to study with a vocal coach? Did Flo continue vocal training after she left the Supremes?

[franjoy56]

Besides the music classes she took in the Detroit Schools, what vocal training did Flo receive before The Supremes signed with Motown? Did any of her teachers privately tutor her, or find her a scholarship to study with a vocal coach? Did Flo continue vocal training after she left the Supremes?
Mary would probably know more about that, I know mary flo and martha supposedly had same elementary school teacher, mr silver. And winne brown a sister in law told me flo took extensive vocal lessons while working on new music tracks for her 70s comeback which never materialized unf. Although I would give anything t hear t june 1975 concert in detroit flo was in with angela davis and lily tomlin.

[midnightman]

^ I didn't know Angela Davis and Lily Tomlin attended that concert in Detroit... I'm sure Flo wore her 'Fro too.

[Roberta75]

Mary would probably know more about that, I know mary flo and martha supposedly had same elementary school teacher, mr silver. And winne brown a sister in law told me flo took extensive vocal lessons while working on new music tracks for her 70s comeback which never materialized unf. Although I would give anything t hear t june 1975 concert in detroit flo was in with angela davis and lily tomlin.

I wonder if Flos teacher mr Silver is still with us? He could answer this soprano and vocal lesson question best imo.

Roberta

[cleoharvey]

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Was Florence Ballard a soprano or a mezzo soprano?
In: Music Genres [[http://www.answers.com/T/Music_Genres) [Edit categories]






As posted on ask.wiki.answers.com
Florence was a Soprano. However, she could sing low too and on many of her leads she sings in her chest voice in the Contralto/Mezzo-Soprano range. Leads on songs like "Buttered Popcorn" and "Ain't That Good News" recorded while she was a Supreme are good examples of her more soulful sound. Most recordings that feature her on backing have her singing the soprano [[high) part. One of her lowest notes can be found on her cover of "Yesterday" from her shelved solo album from 1968 that was released in 2001 as The Supreme Florence Ballard.

this article also lists songs she sang background on like "let me go t right way", "long gone lover", "let me hear u say i love you", "Who could ever doubt my love" among others check out the cite for a complete wrap up on her upper to lower ranges.




Technically, many people would say that Florence's range was in the tenor range. She had a huge voice but her harmonies sat in the the tenor range giving her wide possibilities of what she could do with her voice, whether going high or low, or the mid-range.

[marv2]

Technically, many people would say that Florence's range was in the tenor range. She had a huge voice but her harmonies sat in the the tenor range giving her wide possibilities of what she could do with her voice, whether going high or low, or the mid-range.


OMG! Cleo, how have you been?

[marv2]

Technically, many people would say that Florence's range was in the tenor range. She had a huge voice but her harmonies sat in the the tenor range giving her wide possibilities of what she could do with her voice, whether going high or low, or the mid-range.

I very much liked Florence singing in her high or soprano voice.

[antceleb12]

Technically, many people would say that Florence's range was in the tenor range. She had a huge voice but her harmonies sat in the the tenor range giving her wide possibilities of what she could do with her voice, whether going high or low, or the mid-range.

As a female, that's really not possible. Altos would be the closest thing to tenor, but even their voices are higher. Florence's voice, just as other sopranos, are an octave higher than tenors.

[cleoharvey]

Just fine my friend, thank you. Still in this damned business...LOL!!!

[cleoharvey]

Do not mean to argue but there are women's ranges that are technically considered Tenor because of the quality of their tone. Dionne Warwick [[in here heyday was considered one). They are able to sing extraordinarily high aping the classical soprano but also have power in the lower ranges. I think we can all agree that Florence had a wonderful voice.

[marv2]

Just fine my friend, thank you. Still in this damned business...LOL!!!

You and me both LOL! So good to see you posting here again.

[marv2]

Do not mean to argue but there are women's ranges that are technically considered Tenor because of the quality of their tone. Dionne Warwick [[in here heyday was considered one). They are able to sing extraordinarily high aping the classical soprano but also have power in the lower ranges. I think we can all agree that Florence had a wonderful voice.

Florence had a superb voice! All the material given to her may not have been appropriate, but we get excellent glimpses of her remarkable vocal skills on recordings like "Come See About Me", Marvin Gaye's "Can I Get A Witness" etc,etc just to name a very few.

[antceleb12]

Do not mean to argue but there are women's ranges that are technically considered Tenor because of the quality of their tone. Dionne Warwick [[in here heyday was considered one). They are able to sing extraordinarily high aping the classical soprano but also have power in the lower ranges. I think we can all agree that Florence had a wonderful voice.

I have been in choirs [[particularly gospel choirs) where some of the altos sang tenors, but, as a classically trained singer, I have never heard of women actually being classified as tenors. There is Marian Anderson, the opera singer with a deep voice, but she's a contralto.

Would you mind sharing any links to give more support? I just have never heard of women being classified as tenors before!

[brothadc]

A woman cannot be classified as a tenor because the vocal ranges are by definition gender related, just like a cow is a female and a bull is a male. Contralto, alto, mezzo-soprano, and soprano are female vocal ranges, and bass, baritone, second tenor, and tenor are male vocal ranges. Now I know that a lot of "church folk" who are involved with the choir, who probably have never had any formal education in regards to music theory, have been for years dividing the voices into only soprano, alto and tenor, not being aware that those terms are gender associated, even though the tenor section usually consists of the men in the choir. Still, in some cases you will hear things like, "can she sing the tenor part because her range is low". Well, no she can't because she is not a man. She can sing notes that are within the tenor range, but doing so does not make her a tenor. The only way technically she could be classified as a tenor is if she went and had a sex change operation and came back to the choir as a male!