To hate my deep singing voice?

[clarabutt]

I am from a very musical family and studied music as a child and through my teens mainly piano and saxaphone. I also sang a lot and enjoyed it until in my mid teens in became apparent that my voice was heading to be a rather rare contralto. My teachers encouraged me and I could have studied at degree level but I always hated my deep mannish, mature sounding voice. So I took a diffrent path.

Now I am 20 years older and I do still love to sing round the hosue and with family and friends but I always wish I had a prettier voice. I know lots of singers like cher, alison moyet etc have deep voices and people love them but I think it takes a lot of guts to get up and sing in your natural voice especially if it goes lower than the average mans.

My friend wants me to do some singing with his jazz band but while I would kind of love it I am also still embarressed by my voice.

You're being very unreasonable. Yours is the sort of voice I love listening to - you're depriving people like me!

Don't be embarrassed - sopranos are ten a penny

But honestly I have sung in choirs and they always want contraltos, - one choirmaster was assigning people to various parts of an all women choir - and when he heard me said 'I think we have tenor'

With me it looks weird because I am a very tiny person and the deep voice is incongruous and my speaking voice is not particularly deep. But there it is - my DD has a similar jazz singers voice, although she can reach higher than me. I love a low woman's voice - those are the type of singers I listen to. Katherine Ferrier's voice just gives me goosebumps - it is so beautiful. Really if you enjoy singing don't let embarrassment stop you, especially embarrassment over something that many people would envy. Life is too short to not do the things you enjoy.

You're a real, true contralto? My singing teacher says those are incredibly rare. I thought I was one at one point and she shook her head and said, "Not that lucky, love!"

YABVU! Take that wonderful instrument and use it. Knock their socks off!!!

give it to me! i've always wanted to sing in tune and pitch but am 'tone deaf'

You lucky thing. Wish I had a lovely radiant contralto. Mezzo here, with a good range - I can get down pretty low but it just doesn't sound warm and resonant IMO. Get out there and use that gorgeous voice.

I'd love to be able to sing. Really, really love it. YABVU not to use such a wonderful talent and a rare one at that. You'll regret it I'm sure. Give the jazz singing a try. Even if it turns out not to be your thing, it might boost your confidence enough for you to start performing again.

Just realised that you can also play piano and sax.

Just embrace it.I do

I have a silly girly voice but dream of that warm deep voice.

Another alto here saying go for it. It is such a lovely voice to listen to, so warm, so expressive emotionally. Yy to Kathleen Ferrier, especially singing 'What is life'.

No other voice can do justice to Stormy Weather', either, imo. Float out those top notes and then hit the depths without sliding down there. Wonderful!

What is your range, exactly??

True contralto s... Are absolutely stunning!

As someone said... No one else can do justice to jazz - stormy weather..

Please don't feel embarrassed!

I am very envious! I used to have a squeaky soprano - I hate this, oddly my speaking voice is quite low! I'm so happy as my range has shifted once I hit middle age...now a very average alto!

Get your gorgeous voice out there! Perhaps once you see other's reactions you'll begin to love it too!!

Another alto (voice as second instument at uni, the first time) I managed to earn a decent living with my voice thirty years ago. Still sing. You should just let it out!

I'd love to be able to sing in tune...with any voice.

I love singing, but I can't hear when I'm out of tune when I'm singing :(

YABU.A contralto voice is a rare gift and not mannish at all .

YY to Kathleen Ferrier. Her performance of the last movement of Mahler's Songs of the Earth, knowing she is dying of cancer brings me to tears every time. It's my number one favourite piece of music.

I get where you're coming from. I haven't an amazing voice, but I have a big range(2 octaves above middle C down to the A below the C below middle C) so can sing either soprano or alto. Because alto is generally shorter on numbers I usually end up.singing alto, but I usually prefer the soprano parts.
However listening to a lady sing I vastly prefer hearing alto. Even the best lady sopranos I tend to find painful to listen to.
(I'm not exactly sure what a contralto voice is though)

I get funny looks when I'm in church and I sing hymns an octave below the women around me And they made me sing tenor in school as they had a shortage of proper tenors. Nothing wrong with a contralto voice though

Just go for it!

I'm an up in the rafters soprano.
I would love to be able sing sultry like in a jazz band.

Yes, it must be terrible for you.

I failed to get into my primary school choir - and they took everyone, pretty much.

YANBU, you madwoman. Sopranos are, as someone else said, ten a penny, and I will never forget auditioning for a highly selective Oxford choir when I (bog standard soprano) was nodded at politely and my German contralto friend was fallen upon with joy and ecstasy. Are you a real contralto, or more a mezzo with a good lower range?

Did you desperately want to sing the classical soprano repertoire or something? Because it sounds to me as if you are stereotyping your voice unnecessarily as 'mannish'. A friend of a friend is a successful countertenor with an astonishingly beautiful high voice (pretty much an exact match for a contralto' range). Ok, there's more repertoire for a tenor, but he has built a career on his very particular voice, of a range usually associated with women (incidentally, while being an incredibly macho creature).

You have the voice you have, and it sounds as if it's unusual and beautiful. Why not embrace it and get singing again?

I have a tenor voice. Hated it at school, and don't mind it now. I would find it more of an issue if I was the sort to want to sing in a choir or do amdram though.

Jazz singing sounds amazing with a deeper female voice as it suits the style of the music. I am a music teacher and although my pitch is very accurate it really isn't pleasant to listen when I sing. Don't be embarrassed by your vocal range as you have an amazing gift!

I have a low singing voice op, I loved it when I was younger as it meant I got to stand with the boys . I could sing tenor parts with ease and they are so much more interesting than alto parts (sorry altos... but you know it's true). Embrace it!

How do you find out if you're a "true contralto", then?