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(Disclaimer: I like listening to music, but know very little about music theory...)

I read from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vocal_range that: "Women are typically divided into three main groups: soprano, mezzo-soprano, and contralto.", and that contralto is "the lowest female voice".

I suppose this woman, although she was only 15 in the first video and 18 in the second one, would qualify as a contralto:

Диана Анкудинова - "Human". Diana Ankudinova - Human:

Can't help falling in love (Stereo) – Diana Ankudinova @ ShowMaskGoOn, 1 ep.

According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contralto, contraltos are further subdivided into three subcategories: "Within the contralto voice type category are three generally recognized subcategories: coloratura contralto, an agile voice specializing in florid passages; lyric contralto, a voice lighter in timbre; and dramatic contralto, the deepest, darkest, and most powerful contralto voice."

Which contralto subcategory would you say she belongs to? Just curious.

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  • Far too often, dvs are given with the dver knowing the safety anonymity affords. That or they can't string a sentence together - or can't be bothered. The more effort an OP puts into their question, the less chance there will be for a dv. Also pigeon-holing one individual - at a young age - is not going to be helpful to many folk. Contalto may suffice.
    – Tim
    Commented Sep 7, 2021 at 7:25
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    One of the reasons to downvote is that a question could be deemed "not useful", which category, personally, I see this as falling right into. How many future searchers are going to find this by title or content & need to know the same answer? It doesn't even mention the artist.
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Sep 7, 2021 at 8:52
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    To me, it's unnecessary pigeon-holing, like the current obsession with "what genre is this?" type questions - it's like asking if a band is techno or garage, thrash or death metal… the distinction isn't important enough for me to really care.
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Sep 7, 2021 at 10:50
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    @Tetsujin Do you think asking a more general question might be more useful, e.g. "How to differentiate between [the three mentioned] subtypes of contralto?", and using the singer in question as an example?
    – Arsak
    Commented Sep 7, 2021 at 12:56
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    One of the concerns is: if the point is "let's figure out the vocal range of this one particular person," that's not of great general usefulness; it amounts to a vocal audition. If the question were "help define these vocal categories, since these brief descriptions don't fully explain them," that's useful. But if it continues, "... by giving video examples of each," then it's a question just asking for lists, which are not terribly helpful. Anyway, I upvoted because, heck, I don't have a good working definition of lyric vs coloratura etc., so that's worth elaborating on.
    – Andy Bonner
    Commented Sep 7, 2021 at 14:19

2 Answers 2

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Her low, heavy, deep, powerful voice leaves no doubt: she's a dramatic contralto.

(As another evidence, and for what it's worth, if you google for:

  • "coloratura contralto" "Ankudinova" => 10 hits
  • "lyric contralto" "Ankudinova" => 5 hits
  • "dramatic contralto" "Ankudinova" => 2680 hits)

This is truly remarkable. Contraltos are rare, dramatic contraltos very much more so. But a 15 yo (dramatic) contralto is out of this world!

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Sorry for my english, but I think that they are asking weather Diana is a contralto profondo, contralto basso or a different type of contralto. Because Diana is still young, and one can have both dramatic and lyric qualities in their voice, to remind the obvious fact — all people have both to some extent, for example: spinto sopranos can have both qualities equally strong.

Diana is probably a contralto, but not the lowest type. Notice that people confuse countertenors and spinto tenors all the time or call baritenor "tenor singer" just because during this one specific day and this specific performance he was using tenor technique of singing and expression.

Also, notice that spinto sopranos often have lower voices and greater/equally big vocal range than many contralto/contertenor singers (especially after menopause/reaching certain age) and contralto profondos often are able to sing lower notes, but we still name them for what they are. Your lowest/highest note alone doesn't tell you too much about your voice type, since Diana isn't even able to hit the lowest notes for a contralto, she might be at most contralto profundo or higher contralto voice.

Her voice might change in many directions. For example my own voice was lower when I was her age, but after taking certain meds that lower muscle tension many qualities of my voice disappeared because of side effects and too big dosage. When my lowest note was E2, I was told that my lowest comfortably sang note will be C2 in the near future, then after meds and other changes in life my current lowest comfortably sang note is C3. I can create lower sounds when I speak or by an accident but I don't do that in public, it sounds broken.

Later I was surprised to learn that my voice also went higher. My highest note was C7 and I couldn't sing higher than that since my early teens. I don't have too much control over it right now but since my muscles went temporary weaker over night and I had to train them from the beginning my voice went significantly higher.

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