Kurt's Singing Voice

Let me introduce myself:
I'm a Kurtsie, and I'm a vocal coach. I love Chris Colfer's singing voice.  

Chris has a very rare voice with a rich timbre and an amazing vocal range. He can put emotion in his voice like noone else can, plus he is very versatile when it comes to music styles.

In this thread I will analyze and review the songs Kurt Hummel sings in Glee.
I will show you the vocal techniques Chris used, the music choices that were made, and all other aspects that turns a bundle of random notes magically into a song.
Now I'm not Chris' vocal coach (I wish I was), and I wasn't there when these songs were recorded. I don't know everything I need to know to completely understand the choices that were made to create these songs. I cannot look into the heads of the music arrangers of Glee or Chris' head when they were recording Kurt's songs (and I don't think I want to   ). But I can guess and speculate about the production and recording process, and why songs turned out the way they did.

Since most of the people who will read these reviews don't know much about music or vocal techniques, I've build in a learning curve. I will not mention all the difficult music terms and vocal techniques in the first reviews, but slowly walk you through them, using Kurt's songs to gradually introduce music terms and explain the vocal techniques that can be heard.
It's funny, because throughout the first 2 seasons of Glee Chris was learning with every new Kurt song he sang too. When Chris started on Glee he didn't have much professional vocal training, and he's improved so much in only a few years.
Reading through the reviews you can really notice his improvement and follow Chris' own learning curve discovering and mastering his singing voice. I'm very grateful for being able to show you this.
It has made me love and respect Chris' singing voice even more.  


-ETA- :
I already made a lot of reviews of season 1, 2 and 3 (with the build in learning curve) on another forum: Glee Forum. When I made this first post here I thought that copying and pasting these reviews over on this forum would be an easy task. However: the lay-out of this board is very different from Glee Forum so it takes a lot of adjusting and editing to transfer those reviews here. Plus I really want to revise and expand the oldest reviews, as I was new at this back then and still needed to get my 'groove'.
Alas, my time is limited, and I am sorry to say that I have not been able yet to transfer all the reviews I did over on GF to here, on CCFF. So to make up for that untill I can fulfill my promise and post all the reviews here as well, here's a link to all the Kurt reviews I made so far: Kurt's Singing Voice - Glee Forum.
(ETA 2013-12: unfortunately Glee Forum recently has decided to make large parts of their forum private, so the Kurt Singing Voice thread there cannot be read anymore by non-members. Therefore I’ll try to make haste with copying all my reviews from there and post them on tumblr and the CCFF as soon as I can. But that’s not as easy as it sounds, as it will mean adapting the reviews to different formats and e.g. finding gifs and videos again, and I’d also like to revisited the reviews a bit before posting them again. But I am aware of the problem and will try to fix it as soon as I can. Please be patient.)

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This first post will contain a list of all the songs I've reviewed, and the direct links to them. I will update this list everytime a new review has been added.  

- introduction: A first impression of Kurt's singing voice

- 1x09 - Defying Gravity (solo / duet with Rachel)
- 1x15 - 4 Minutes + Like a Prayer (duet with Mercedes + group number)
- 2x18 - As If We Never Said Goodbye (solo)
- 3x00 - Little solos in group numbers
- 3x17 - I Have Nothing (solo)
- 3x18 - Music of the Night (solo)
- 3x18 - Not The Boy Next Door (solo)

- 4x03 - The Way You Look Tonight/You're Never Fully Dressed (trio number with Isabelle & Rachel)
- 4x09 - Being Alive (solo)
- 4x10 - White Christmas + Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (duet with Blaine + group number)
- 4x15 - Come What May (duet with Blaine)
 
- 5x01 - Got To Get You Into My Life (duet with Blaine)
- 5x02 - Get Back (duet with Rachel)
- 5x08 - Christmas Don't Be Late (the Chipmunk Song) (trio with Rachel & Santana)
- 5x08 - Away in a Manger (trio with Rachel & Santana)

A first impression of Kurt's singing voice.


In this post I just give my opinion on his voice in a general manner, referring mostly to 'Mr. Cellophane', because this is the first time we heard Kurt/Chris sing, and it is the purest performance before he started vocal training (learning on set and probably with a vocal coach as well).

Chris Colfer's audition for Glee, singing Mr. Cellophane:


Kurt's audition for the New Directions, singing..... Mr. Cellophane:



There are 3 things that are important in judging a voice :

1- the quality of the voice itself, the natural gift.
2- the learned techniques,
3- the flexibility and smartness of the person who is singing (which also influence the emotion of the performance), in other words: their personality.

When I look at Kurt/Chris and consider these things :
1-Voice:
Not a problem. His voice is pure, clear, loud enough, unique, high-pitched but with a darker timbre underneath, flexible, he has a very large range. All good qualities, and very rare.
He also can sing duets and back-up vocals. Not everyone can sing a different melody than just the main voice/melody in a song. So he has the musical talent for that. Another plus.

2-Techniques:
When he sang 'Mr. Cellophane' in his audition Chris (I say Chris here because I'm referring to his audition in front of the producers, not his audition in the Pilot) still had to learn some techniques, but had already figured out a lot by himself, especially at that age and without proper training. I can hear that at this point in life he has had no formal training, but is already experienced and used to singing in front of an audience. His voice is clear and loud enough, and doesn’t show much nervousness.
What is still lacking in technique when he sang 'Mr. Cellophane' is a better balance between his lower voice and his higher voice. His higher voice was softer, and had another tone color. He needed to bend both voices more towards each other: train the best qualities of each individual voice (the strongness of his lower voice and the clearness of his higher voice), discard the lesser qualities, and then apply the best qualities in both voices, making them sound more alike.This is hard to learn and now as I listen to his later songs (As If We Never Said Goodbye) I'd say he mastered that skill very well.
He also needed better breathing-techniques, inhaling at unlikely places in the song and too often, but that is improved as well (or he would have not been able to sing a song like 'Some People').

3-Personality:
Well, what to say about that ? We all know that RM created a roll especially for Chris, that should say enough. He is smart, flexible (in more ways than one ), has a lot of imagination and knows how to put emotion into a song. When he sings a song he tells a story, and we feel it. Maybe that is the best quality of all. And you can't teach that, no way.


Two observations :

- It astounds me that Chris learned himself the techniques that he showed in 'Mr. Cellophane'. Instead of singing 'like a man', and ignoring his higher voice-range as most men do, he cultivated that higher voice. He didn’t train his voice as boys/men usually do, namely using and cultivating only their lower voice. Instead Chris acquired techniques that I would teach a girl/woman (using his lower and higher voice and constantly changing from one voice to another and back). That is hard work (and maybe the reason why most boys/men don't do it?).
What made him choose that? Of course, he has a high voice when he speaks, but Chris is so driven and talented he could have learned himself to speak and sing lower on a daily basis if he wanted to. There are techniques for that. He has shown that he can do it in a couple of interviews. He also said in those interviews that it just takes too much effort to do so every day. Fine, I love his speaking voice as it is, don't change please.
But singing?
Is it because he found out that he can do it, and other boys/men can't (and most girls/women can't either)?
"Being different made me stronger." (Wheels)
Or is it because he loves female power ballads so much, and he listened to them growing up and adjusted his voice to these female singers he admired?
"I make my living singing girl songs." (Funeral)
Whatever the reason: it created his uniqueness, and strength.

- I would also like to note this: I do hope he keeps developing his lower voice as well, because I love to hear him use all of his potential (listen to '4 Minutes' and the glissando in 'Le Jazz Hot'). It also would make him more 'usable' in many different songs, and maybe Mr. Schue will finally notice this. And as a vocal coach I know that when you train your lower voice it also enrichens your higher voice. I do want to hear him sing in all his amazing vocal range as much as possible.

REVIEW: Defying Gravity (DF).


We had to wait till episode 9 to finally hear Kurt sing.
We did hear him sing in the group number 'Sit Down You're Rocking the Boat' in the Pilot, one of the purest glee-club numbers imo, and Mr. Schue knew how to blend Kurt's voice well in the glee-club then (he forgot along the way).
Why Kurt doesn't sing 'Single Ladies' himself in Preggers we will never know. He could have done it. Maybe it's because if he sang the song while he was dancing on the show he couldn't have told his father that he was practising/working out for the footballteam. It will remain a mystery.

So, back on topic: we had to wait till episode 9 for 'Defying Gravity' (DG). And then the poor fellow had to diva-off against the most experienced singer of them all, Rachel/Lea……and throw the game. What a lousy introduction for a character…..a lot of the (sometimes explosive) dynamic between Rachel and Kurt (and their fandom) started with this song.

DG is meant to be sung by a girl, I guess we all know that by now. And Kurt does sing the song as a girl. He doesn't transpose the song to a lower key, but sings it in the same key as Rachel and is forced to use his higher voice/register. Just the fact that he can do that at all is a little miracle.


Boring lecture :
Now I need to give a boring lecture first, in order to go on with my song analysis.
(Stay with me, please. Since this thread is about Kurt's voice it is very important.)

People (women and men) have basically 2 voices, also called registers. When we go through puberty the vocal chords grow as well as the rest of our body and become longer and thicker. Compare it to a harp: the longer and thicker strings produce lower tones, the shorter and thinner strings produce higher tones.
So our speaking voice changes and drops a few tones into the lower register. For girls this drop will be about 3-6 semitones, for boys this drop will be about an octave, which is 12 semitones. The voice will start to 'break'.
Then something very interesting happens. Girls keep singing the same songs in the same music keys as they were used to do before their voice 'breaks', they therefore are forced to sing in both registers and quickly go back and forth between them. This is difficult at first but with practice it becomes easier.
Boys on the other hand will only use their lower register after their voice 'breaks', and ignore their higher register (except when singing like the BeeGees, remember 'Staying Alive'? ). Why do boys do that? Because it is considered to be more masculine. (Sidenote: through history this has not always been the case: it is socially enforced or rejected in different centuries).
As the total vocal range of a boy reduces because he will not use his higher register he will start stretching his lower register/chest voice in the higher notes and therefore regain some part of his former range (it is called belting). But this technique only goes so far. Chris/Kurt can sing in high register a full octave (12 seminotes) higher than his male colleagues (on a good day and while driving alone in his car, as Chris told us).

Chris has clearly been using both his registers during and after puberty, just like a girl. I don't know why (see my first post). As I said it takes time and effort to learn to blend both registers and to quickly go back and forth between them. And that is where Chris had a disadvantage: girls learn this on a daily basis (singing songs together, giggling) and gradually and naturally learn this technique in 1-2 years. Chris probably didn’t have that much day-to-day training, or many male singers who sang like him that he could listen to and imitate (like Freddie Mercury or Mika). We all know the stories that he was never allowed to sing girl songs in highschool (although his grandmother let him sing them in church ).

And thus ends the lecture.


Defying Gravity: Kurt version:



Returning to Defying Gravity :
Kurt sings DG in a clear voice. His techniques are already reasonably well established (although he will improve more over the years), especially for his age. Remember that they shot the pilot in September 2008, and DG in May 2009 (according to his twitters). That gave him 8 months to practise.
His breathing has improved already, and his lower register is strong.
The only thing he hasn't mastered yet is what I described above: the quick changes between his registers. You still can hear 2 distinctive voices. For some listeners that is irritating, personally I find it endearing (because it is Kurt ). But yes, technically it is not fully developed yet.
To let him compete with Rachel/Lea at this point is cruel. She has had a lot more experience and practise, and it is not 'weird' to hear a girl perform a girl song. I'm sure that if Kurt had competed with a 'normal' highschool girl he would have excelled.
(Just to keep the Rachel/Lea fans from hating me: I love Lea's version of DG too, I think she is a great, great singer and a wonderful person in real life and on the show too. Please don't hurt me.)
If you listen to one of the videos of DG on the Live Tour 2010 you can hear that Chris is already a much better match (vocally) to Lea.

Defying Gravity: Rachel version:


Another difference between Kurt and Rachel in DG is that Rachel sings it as the powerful Broadway song that it is. Kurt chooses a more softer, gentler way of performance, more like a ballad. Why?
Purely based on technical skills I can argue that his higher register isn’t powerful enough yet to handle the loudness/volume that is necessary. And I think a lot of critics have interpreted it that way.
But based on performance and emotion I can argue that Kurt/Chris did it because singing it this way he gets the meaning of the words and his struggle more across to us, the audience. It makes his performance more vulnerable, but determined..
I prefer the second argument, I am a Kurtsie after all.


The high F:
The highest tone in 'Defying Gravity' is not a F, it's a F sharp, sung right before the high F (on the word "you").
When Kurt practises on the piano he actually sings an high A flat. And for those of you who have read all my previous posts: you can see him use a wrong technique right there: he 'cups' his mouth to sing that highest tone while practising.


Defying Gravity: duet version:



The duet version :
When you listen to the duet version you can hear that Kurt sings the 'second voice' to Rachel's higher lead voice. They repeat this style in 'For Good' (how I love that song). And this reveals one of Kurt's strengths: for him singing the lower parts of a girls duet adds a very special timbre/tone color to the mix. It does not sound the same as 2 girls singing together, to me it sounds so much better. His 'masculine' but high and clear timbre is a powerful tool (other males have to stretch their voice too much to be able to do that *cough* Finn *cough* ). Mr. Schue should use that tool more in the Glee-club. It is a soundmix made of pure gold.


Last remark :
When Kurt messes up the high note he actually does not. He lets the tone vibrate in a bad way, but he sings it. If he really messed up there would have been a croak. As a vocal teacher it is funny to watch because it actually takes a sort of special technique to mess up like that. It is like thinking backwards: instead of trying to do your best you have to force yourself to ignore all that painfully achieved muscle memory. Poor Kurt/Chris, thankfully he was allowed to showcase that he could do it right on iTunes and on the Live Tour 2010.

Defying Gravity: live version:


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For those of you who are interested in the techniques I mentioned in my DG review, here is a YouTube-link. It is a girl song ('Bali Ha'i' from 'South Pacific') sung by a man. This song gives me goosebumps every time.


Mandy Patinkin - Bali Ha'i


Mandy Patinkin is a great, great singer. He uses the same techniques as Kurt/Chris does, only he is much more trained and matured.
Notice how he emphasizes the differences between his 2 voices/registers, instead of blending them together. He does this on purpose and it makes me cry (in a good way ) every time I hear this song. His lower register is very rich, deep and strong, and his higher register is clear and vibrating.
And just when you think you have heard it all he sings a whole chorus while belting with power! (right after the lower part of the song). Now here is a role model for Kurt/Chris.

Glorfindel wrote:A first impression of Kurt's singing voice.




Chris Colfer's audition for Glee, singing Mr. Cellophane:

His audition still remember how the producers laugh when he sang higher in this song, still don't understand why they laughed at, probably they were shock :O

Glad to see your reviews here Marie

Review: 4 Minutes - Like a Prayer.

In the Madonna tribute episode Kurt is heavily (and heavenly ) featured in the performed songs.
He's in 'Vogue', '4 Minutes', 'What It Feels Like for a Girl' and 'Like a Prayer'.
He doesn't sing in 'Vogue' and only talks in WIFLFAG. I cannot hear him sing in the backup vocals in WIFLFAG, so I think they used only studio singers for back up.




I'll start this review with 'Like a Prayer'.
Kurt sings only one line ("I have no choice, I hear your voice, feels like flying") but it makes a deep impression. He sings it crystal clear, in his higher register (aka head voice or falsetto). He sounds like a choir boy. I think that Finn expresses my feelings perfectly when he sings (just before Kurt): "I hear your voice: it's like an angel sighing."
I wish Kurt had sung more in 'Like a Prayer', but the one line we did get really stood out, in a very, very good way.




4 Minutes:
Kurt sings '4 Minutes' with Mercedes. Originally it is a duet of Madonna and Justin Timberlake.
First of all : '4 Minutes' is not a real duet. Madonna and Justin just divide the lines between them and only sing in unison, not harmony.

Notice that Kurt sings the Madonna part and Mercedes sings Justin Timberlake's part. This sounds strange, but it's actually a good decision. Madonna has a very low voice (she is an alto), whereas Justin has a high voice (I think he is a high baritone or tenor). Madonna sings most of the song lower than Justin, she sings maybe a total of 4 lines in the song higher than Justin. So for Kurt to do the Madonna part is a logical choice.

Not only does Kurt have to sing a female part again, but …..*drummroll Finn*…..the song is also transposed a 'fifth' (5 tones, 7 semitones) higher as Madonna's version !!!
I don't know why they set the song in a higher key. It could be because Kurt would sound too 'masculine' if he had to sing even lower. I think Chris could have gotten away with that (we know that he can sing very low as well - 'Funk'), but not Kurt. That would be too much of a shock for the Gleeks after 'Defying Gravity'. I think most of us were already quite shocked by 'masculine' *cough* sexy *cough* Cheerios Kurt.
The song could also have been transposed higher for Mercedes/Amber, so she could show off her high tones and runs. I think this is the best explanation, and it worked out well.

Even now that '4 Minutes' is set higher than the original version Kurt can still sing the entire song (okay, minus one little word, "Yeah" in the 2nd verse) in his lower register. He has to belt a little to reach the higher tones, but he can do this easily..
His lower voice is strong and a bit hazy (raspy) and it is very appealing (read: sexy) .
As a vocal teacher I think that he still has to train his lower register more, because it is not strong enough yet (listen to Mandy Patinkin), and I think he will damage his voice if he sings too much like this. But he has already improved now in comparison to when he sang '4 Minutes' in 2009 (listen to the Live Tour 2011). I will explain more about him maybe damaging his voice in my review of 'Pink Houses', so you have to patiently wait for it.

What is also interesting is this:
The following lines in '4 Minutes' are sung by both singers:

"If you want it you already got it
If you thought it it better be what you want
If you feel it it must be real just
Say the word and imma give you what you want"

4Minutes - Madonna ft. Justin Timberlake

In the original version Justin sings a whole octave lower than Madonna in this part. He begins to sing these sentences on a low G. In the Glee version Mercedes should sing this lower part, not Kurt. This is very low for a woman to sing, and definitely too low for Mercedes/Amber. So Kurt did it instead. He has to start on an low D.
So we now know that Kurt can sing a very low D and a high A flat. That means that by this time he already had a vocal range of more than 2 1/2 octaves. That's impressive.

You might wonder why Chris has to start on a lower note than Madonna in this part, when the song is transposed upwards? That doesn't seem right. Let me try to explain:
4Minutes is set higher, as mentioned, so you would expect Kurt to sing the entire song higher. But.....sometimes singing a particular part of a transposed song doesn't sound 'comfortable' or at least it sounds very unusual. It just doesn't fit the timbre/tone color, or 'feel' of the song anymore. It sounds awkward.

E.g.: if you are a woman and try to sing 'Blackbird' along with Kurt you have to sing either very low or very high to be able to sing along. It is not comfortable to sing in this key when you're a woman. So when I sing along with 'Blackbird' I sing parts of the song high and parts of the song low. They call it octavating (in Dutch): you change from one octave to another.
Kurt has to do that in this part of '4 Minutes'. Instead of singing it high he jumps an octave lower, to sound more comfortable and within the coloring of the song. The effect is that he sings lower than Madonna in this part, because of that octave jump.

Thank you Marie for bring your famous KSV reviews here! Still looking forward to new reviews but I know you are super busy, so I will wait patiently.

^Thanks.
Yes, I am very busy right now (and a bit fed up with Glee, tbh).

Bringing the reviews here will take longer than I thought it would.
Reading through the old reviews, finding and embedding youtube videos, and my love for emoticons (which all have a different code now ) is slowing the process. But I'll get there.

don't worry - we will wait patiently for you!!

It takes all of your time Marie for doing your work, we will be here waiting

PS: Still remember the first time I heard 4 MINUTES , I thought there was something 'wrong' with his voice lol but nothing was wrong, he just was singing in a lower tone and I LOVED IT.

^ 4 minutes reminded me of michael jackson. since then i wanted to hear him sing an MJ song and then... well he sort of did.

Just popping in to say how glad I am you're here!

I love the cute little emotes, too.

Look who has become famous at ONTD_Glee

http://ontd-glee.livejournal.com/1766875.html

Needless to say, a lot of commenters were there for the DC shades...

uh Glorfindel I think someone on tumblr is trying to take your job. they tried to do a review or an anaylsis of I have nothing. here's what they wrote-quote-

I decided to wait and watch the songs again before writing the next meta post about last night’s episode. But first, a short interlude on Chris Colfer’s voice (a.k.a. my favorite thing in the world).

In “I Have Nothing,” I heard something I’ve never heard from Colfer before: straining to reach high notes. It’s minor, barely noticeable, but the highest notes near the end of that song don’t sound easy when he sings them. A great singer makes it sound easy even though it’s not.

So I checked the note on my piano, and it’s a high F. Yes, the same high F that in Season 1, the “Defying Gravity” episode, Kurt claimed was well within his range and then purposely flubbed in the audition. He could sing it then, easily, we heard it. He can’t sing it so easily now.

What happened? It’s been two and a half years — is Chris Colfer’s voice finally changing?

I think no. We’ve seen a lot of physical and puberty-related growth in him over that time, but his voiced hasn’t “changed” in the sense of a boy’s voice turning into a man’s voice. That happened to him at the usual age, and he’s still a countertenor. I think that F is still in his range. It’s at the very top of his range, but that’s perfectly normal for a countertenor.

So why is a note that used to be easy and clear for him now a tiny bit of a reach? I think the answer is that his voice is “changing” in the sense of becoming more professionally developed. I’ve heard him say in interviews that before he was cast for Glee, he couldn’t find a music teacher to work with him, because they were all “waiting for his voice to change” (oops — it already had). But since he’s been on the show, he (along with everyone else) has had top-quality vocal training. So what we’ve heard over three years is his natural, raw talent turning into trained, polished talent.

But wait — shouldn’t that make the notes easier to hit, rather than harder? Not necessarily. Since the beginning of Season 3, it’s been obvious that they are heavily focusing on developing Colfer’s lower range. They’re pushing him down to the bottom of his range in songs and he is sounding much more masculine and full-bodied in that range. He’s had very few solos, so you have to pick it out from snippits of other songs (“Love Shack” is an excellent example if you want to go listening, see also “Let It Snow”).

When you start to develop your lower range, male or female, you learn to bring the chest voice quality up into your middle and head voice notes. It makes those notes sound more rich and textured. But it can also have the effect of limiting the top of your range because you’re trying to pull too much from the bottom. If you keep on training, you’ll learn to control it better and get those top notes back. But in the middle stage of training, it’s pretty common to lose your top notes, or to lose the ease with which you used to sing the top notes.

So, if you noticed the slight bit of strain in Colfer’s voice when he hit those high notes, it’s not because he’s growing up or getting worse. It’s because he’s getting better.-end quote.

Is this person right about Chris's voice?I had thought that Chris only had trouble because it was in a high key even for him

I dont think this person wants Marie's job - it's just that Mr. colfer has such an interesting voice he's attracted a lot of vocal professionals to "study" him. I am very curious as to what Marie will say because it would be like 2 professionals exchange their notes.

and Marie did say they should lower the key a bit and he appeared a tiny strained at the top. I, w/ my untrained ears, cannot hear this "strain" at all but that's what we need pros like marie and any one else who is qualified to analyse it. I am glad that this person also loves Chris' voice.

I was kind-of joking about this person wanting marie's job. I am glad though that more people are enjoying Chris's voice and some people were pretty intrested in this post from what I saw on tumblr. And yes I want to hear her opinion on this since it's something I haven't heard inChris's voice
btw here is the link to the post on tumblr. http://kurtcountertenor.tumblr.com/post/21808016951/dws-is-chris-colfers-voice-changing

thank you CCfan for posting it!

No problem now..back to studying for finals..ugh....I can't wait for summer....

CCfan93 wrote:uh Glorfindel I think someone on tumblr is trying to take your job. they tried to do a review or an anaylsis of I have nothing. here's what they wrote-quote-

This is someone who has definitely been reading my reviews. Some of it is almost quoted.
But still, he/she seems to know music and singing, although I do not completely agree.

In “I Have Nothing,” I heard something I’ve never heard from Colfer before: straining to reach high notes. It’s minor, barely noticeable, but the highest notes near the end of that song don’t sound easy when he sings them. A great singer makes it sound easy even though it’s not.

Chris is not straining: he reaches all the notes. You can hear fatigue in his voice, even a little damage done by singing too high too much in the limited rehearsal time, but no strain.
His throat is open when he sings the highest notes.
The high notes don't sound easy, that is correct, but I don't think they are supposed to sound easy in this case: it isn't easy, everyone acknowledges that, so why hide it?

So I checked the note on my piano, and it’s a high F. Yes, the same high F that in Season 1, the “Defying Gravity” episode, Kurt claimed was well within his range and then purposely flubbed in the audition.

It's a high Fsharp, not a high F. And that line is almost the same as mine.

I think no. We’ve seen a lot of physical and puberty-related growth in him over that time, but his voiced hasn’t “changed” in the sense of a boy’s voice turning into a man’s voice. That happened to him at the usual age, and he’s still a countertenor. I think that F is still in his range. It’s at the very top of his range, but that’s perfectly normal for a countertenor.

A countertenor can sing higher, and so can Chris. He's just not that trained and it wouldn't be accepted by the GA. just like IHN is not accepted now, or as 'It's All Over' wasn't.

So why is a note that used to be easy and clear for him now a tiny bit of a reach? I think the answer is that his voice is “changing” in the sense of becoming more professionally developed. I’ve heard him say in interviews that before he was cast for Glee, he couldn’t find a music teacher to work with him, because they were all “waiting for his voice to change” (oops — it already had). But since he’s been on the show, he (along with everyone else) has had top-quality vocal training. So what we’ve heard over three years is his natural, raw talent turning into trained, polished talent.

This is true. His voice timbre became richer and fuller because of his training.

But wait — shouldn’t that make the notes easier to hit, rather than harder? Not necessarily. Since the beginning of Season 3, it’s been obvious that they are heavily focusing on developing Colfer’s lower range. They’re pushing him down to the bottom of his range in songs and he is sounding much more masculine and full-bodied in that range. He’s had very few solos, so you have to pick it out from snippits of other songs (“Love Shack” is an excellent example if you want to go listening, see also “Let It Snow”).

Disagree. Chris has been practicing his lower register more in season 1 and till mid season 2, but ever since then I have the impression that they are making him use his higher register more, emphasizing that (and it's no coincidence that this started happening when Blaine came on the show). Nowadays his lower register has less 'masculine' timbre than he had when he sang 'Rose's Turn'. He just knows how to turn up the 'masculinity' a notch when he sings 'Michael' and 'Loveshack', but in his multi-register songs there is more blending of both voices, and more 'softness' in his lower register. 'I Have Nothing' is the perfect example of that, and so is 'Perfect'.

When you start to develop your lower range, male or female, you learn to bring the chest voice quality up into your middle and head voice notes. It makes those notes sound more rich and textured. But it can also have the effect of limiting the top of your range because you’re trying to pull too much from the bottom. If you keep on training, you’ll learn to control it better and get those top notes back. But in the middle stage of training, it’s pretty common to lose your top notes, or to lose the ease with which you used to sing the top notes.

So, if you noticed the slight bit of strain in Colfer’s voice when he hit those high notes, it’s not because he’s growing up or getting worse. It’s because he’s getting better.-end quote.

This is 100% true. In order to improve your voice you have to 'install' new techniques. Usually these new techniques limits your voice (vocal range) for a while, untill you have them under control.
I've lost students because of this. I always tell them they have to sing worse to become better, but for some of them this temporarily sacrifice is too scary and too much.
Much of that temporarily loss can be compensated by also keeping training those high notes, alongside the chest voice/lower notes development. And I think Chris has done that.

As for Chris: I think he can still hit the highest notes, but because his overall voice, including the lower and middle notes in his high register, have become so much broader and fuller in timbre, the highest notes (where he has not yet mastered his new techniques) are conceived as less full and even shrill. When in truth those highest notes have stayed the same in timbre, only the rest of his vocal range got better, and that causes the contrast.

I always appreciate the in depth analysis of Chris' voice. I love that others love his voice as I do. No one on this cast can project the emotion and connection as Chris does.

thanks Marie for explaining everything. this tumblr poster is a lady who is carrying her child, and has another small child. Yes I went on her tumblr to read what more she can say about chris' voice but apparently she started this account in mid march so there was little info there.

All i can say is daring to sing "I am nothing" in Whitney's key is balls to the wall chutzpah....Just f***ng fearless.

and while Amber arguably would have been more technically proficient singing that song (as her fans understandably wanted her to sing it) I doubt she or anyone else could have brought on the emotional heft that Chris brought to the song.

Sidenote:
I always admired Whitney's voice and singing but I didn't *love* here, there is a sterile technical perfection to her vocal gymnastics that lacked a little bit for my taste. That is why Chaka khan's version of "I'm every woman" is still my goto for that song for all that Whitney technically delievered singing her cover.

According to Alex Anders, Chris himself asked to sing it in the original key

www.twitter.com/alxanders

HollyMc. wrote:According to Alex Anders, Chris himself asked to sing it in the original key

www.twitter.com/alxanders

That makes the fact that Chris sang it in the original key all that more amazing! It's great that Chris has that kind of confidence in his high register. He is absolutely amazing! No, he's not Whitney Houston, but he did an fabulous job on the song! Chris really knows and understands his voice better than anyone

Personally, I could hear the damage Marie was talking about, and I think it was too high for him. He seemed to be using only his head voice for it.
It was a very good attempt, but I feel that it would have been better in a lower key.
If the girls get the keys lowered all the time, why not Chris?
I was very puzzled when I saw the tweets.

As music producers, could Alex and Adam not advise Chris a bit more?
They want to sell songs right? I think the sales would have been much better if the song had been in a lower key.

^ I couldn't access that tweet you pointed out. Probably the fault of my internet speed.

But this is the first time I hear of a cast member having any direct input into the song arrangements in Glee.

Oh well, if what Anders had tweeted is really true, then it blew my conspiracy theory out of the water.

If this was what Chris had wanted, then I can only feel happy on his behalf. He said he was terrified of singing that Whitney Houston song in the original key and had to do vocal Olympics training to prepare for it. I wonder why he didn't choose to make his own life easier.