Unfortunately I generally can’t, which is to say I can fake it and sound like I can sing for a little teeny snippets of songs but somewhere along the way I lose it and it sounds terrible.
But today I was singing along with Richard Kiley, mostly “Dulcinea” (the original cast recording of Man of La Mancha, 1965… my mom actually took us all I was just a little kid but we had amazing seats, I remember that…) and out of nowhere I’m nailing it. No cracks, no failure, no collapse into some bleating goat noise. As long as I’m singing along with Richard Kiley I can actually sing!
Does this mean I am a baritone? The Google claims it makes me a mezzo-soprano but that doesn’t sound right. What’s an alto? What’s a contralto? How can you tell the difference?
I don’t know what part perhaps alto?/or key, but if you can stay in pitch in a relatively lower key, you could probably learn to sing in at least a bit wider range with training. It sounds like you need to learn how to supprt notes in your upper register.
When people talk about what key a singer is singing in, they’re usually referring to the key of the piece, not something particular about the singer’s voice. You can sing in any key you want to. Richard Kiley sang Dulcinea in G, so if you were singing along with him, you were singing in G as well.
First, “alto” generally isn’t used to describe a voice category. It’s a choral part. People who sing the alto part are generally mezzo-sopranos or contraltos. Contraltos are the lowest common female vice designation. Mezzo-sopranos (literally “middle sopranos”) fall in between contraltos and sopranos.
You may be a contralto; it’s impossible to say on a single anecdote and without actually hearing you. An untrained voice can’t really be classified at all. My guess is that you’ve never developed your “head voice” (an inaccurate term, but a well understood one in the industry) so your comfortable range is similar to your speaking voice. Most people speak fairly low in their range, in what is (equally inaccurately) called “chest voice”.
Really the only way to tell would be to work with a teacher and develop some basic knowledge of vocal technique and function.
If you are singing with the original track, I’d say you are a baritone.
Most average male voices are.
If you are male, you are almost certainly not a mezzosoprano.
Reminds me of a time when the guitarist of our band decided he wanted to sing lead on a song (can’t remember exactly what it was now), so we worked it out and started playing…
And I had to gently tell him: Skip, you’re singing that an octave below what it’s recorded in!
That doesn’t really work…
Don’t you hate it when that happens? We had a drummer who told us he’d found his voice. My husband observed later that drummer’s voice would have better stayed lost.
I think most female natural singing voices tend to be in the alto range, but as others have said, you’d probably want to check with a professional voice teacher for a reliable answer.
Singing along with Indigo Girls (the most sing-alongable group in history), I’ve noticed I have exactly the same vocal range as Amy Ray, which is solidly contralto. I can match her note for note. Admittedly she doesn’t have the widest range.
Range isn’t really what determines voice type. It’s important (you need to be able to sing the appropriate notes) but vocal weight, tessitura, timbre, etc. are more important than pure range. Just because somebody has low notes doesn’t mean they should be classified as baritone/contralto/whatever.
These types of classifications aren’t really all that relevant in pop music anyway. They’re far more relevant in classical, acoustic singing. That can include (to a somewhat lesser degree) some musical theater contexts.
Are there any other songs you can sing along with? Can you sing “Happy Birthday” in a group? How about when you’re alone?
If your answer to the last question is “no”, maybe you just don’t have enough independent sense of pitch or pitch memory. Most people are like that, so don’t feel bad about it.
Some kind of ear training could develop some level of this ability. I don’t know exactly what kind you need.
Lots of people in amateur choirs can only sing along with someone else. I had a friend who also sang in amateur choirs. He played very well on acoustic guitar and sing okay. However, the few times I attempted to sing harmony to his melody, he immediately switched to what I was singing.
Just as an aside… It took me many years of being on the planet to realize how fucking great musical theater singers are, generally speaking. Probably because I’m not a fan of musical theater. But man every time they open their mouths what comes out is flawless.
The Google claims it makes me a mezzo-soprano but that doesn’t sound right. What’s an alto? What’s a contralto? How can you tell the difference?