THE GOOD SOUNDING RANGE & WHY IT WORKS, by Ken Hatton

On the subject of why womens' quartets have a more difficult time finding singing engagements than do their male counterparts, I am sure some will say it is a difference in locale, marketing or talent, and others will say it has to do with discrimination of gender. While I am sure such is the case on occasion, I believe there are only two main factors which create a perceived difference between the value of the male quartet and female quartet products.

First, as explained to me by the late Ed Gentry, a study headed by Dr. Appleman of Indiana University in the 1960's showed that human beings find certain sounds more pleasing than others. Aside from determining that the ear usually enjoys consonant chords more than dissonant chords, the study showed that people find certain frequencies to be more pleasant than others. Specifically, fundamental tones in the 500 cycle range, and the formants they produce, were found to be more pleasing than others.

This information seems to explain why the voices of most successful solo pop artists tend to create sounds in this range, which is usually called the "second tenor" for males, and "alto" for females. When you listen to the voices of Whitney Houston, Dionne Warwick, Bette Midler, Barbara Streisand, Patsy Cline, Karen Carpenter, Anne Murray, Linda Ronstadt, Gloria Estefan, Amy Grant, Aretha Franklin, etc., you will note that the vocal range is about the same as those of Paul McCartney, Elton John, Mike Love, Dan Fogelburg, Kenny Logins, Dan Seales, Glen Campbell, etc., and the lead singers of many pop vocal groups, both male and female.

There have been male exceptions, such as baritones Frank Sinatra, Ernie Ford, Elvis Presley, Lou Rawls, and Neil Diamond, but even these lower voices tended to post climactic notes in many of their songs which were at or above 500 hz. On the other hand, it is difficult to think of successful female pop artists who have sung consistently in the "first soprano" range. Celine Dionne and Maria Carey come to mind, but even the majority of the notes each sings are in the alto range. Ms. Carey demonstrates virtuosity with her soprano notes, but still relies on her alto range to communicate the emotional message of the song.

When this pattern is translated to the male [barbershop] quartet genre, it is natural for a singer in the 500 cycle range to have the predominant melody, because the related harmony notes in the chord are then attainable by other male voices. If an alto were to sing the melody in the 500 cycle range, the other parts would be too low for most other female singers to sing them, especially the bass part. When you listen to the more pleasant sounding ladies' quartets in history, you usually find that their leads have (or had) exceptional vocal quality in the lower register; notes which approached down to the 500 hz range. This usually means that these quartets had female basses whose lower registers complimented their low leads, or that their arrangements were voiced in such a way as to compensate for the lack of a strong low bass.

A second natural phenomenon which makes the female quartets' path more difficult is the width of the sine wave. The lower the note, the wider the vibration, and the higher the note, the narrower the vibration. This makes it more difficult for the human ear to detect differences in pitch between lower notes than differences in pitch between higher notes. This means that a male quartet with talent and effort which exactly matches those of a female quartet will sound better than the female quartet, even though it really isn't better at all. Flaws in chords with lower notes are harder to notice than the same flaws in the same chords with higher notes.

This understanding gives sophisticated listeners a greater appreciation for the [great Sweet Adelines Champion Quartets] "Sound of Music," "4th Edition," "High Society," and "Ambiance," since they overcame geat physical competitive disadvantages to have achieved their demand. In reality, they may have been the best quartets (male or female) of their eras, but due to the perception of their product by general audiences, they have never received the real credit they were due.

Remember, to the public, perception is reality, and perceived value is what counts to the decision-maker with money in his/her hand. I am not sure what the answer to this problem is, but female pop artists don't seem to be doing too badly. Perhaps some hot singing Queens of Harmony might experiment with arrangements where the bass voice has the melody and is predominant, to see if a new style can be created. Otherwise, I would suggest that women's quartets would be wise to choose their leads and basses carefully, and to voice their arrangements keeping the melody as low as possible.

MHBQA EDITORIAL COMMENTARY:

How does this affect our mixed quartets? Those mixed quartets who sing arrangements in the original men's key will have a much easier time convincing an audience that they "sound great" than will a mixed quartet which has had to raise the arrangement four notes (such as from Bb to Eb or F) to fit their voice ranges! This applies especially to those lucky mixed quartets with a SPEBSQSA lead/bari-range male voice singing the mixed quartet lead and a Sweet Adelines/Harmony Inc bass-range voice singing the mixed quartet bari. Our higher-ranged mixed quartets can also achieve that same level of "sounds great" to an audience, but it will take a greater degree of pitch accuracy and tuning accuracy. At the same time, they will have to work harder to communicate to the audience the message of the song (both via the clarity of the words and via the emotional color put into the melody line.) As Ken has explained, higher-range quartets will constantly have to work harder, to achieve the same level of audience (and employer) satisfaction.

--Kim Orloff, MHBQA Newsletter Editor

For more information on mixed quartetting, contact the Mixed Harmony Barbershop Quartet Association (MHBQA) c/o Kim Orloff, coordinator, P.O. Box 1209, Aptos CA 95001 U.S.A. e-mail:

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