The Mellotron Group

On Aug 9, 2008, at 7:19 AM, Mark Pring wrote:

> Hi Mike,
> Re Sandy Denny, I think she did have a lot of off days and sadly   
> her heavy smoking pretty much wrecked her voice in later years,  
> ( not that there were many of them, she died 30 years ago this  
> year ) but on a good day she did have a very expressive voice, I  
> think "The banks of the Nile" from the Fotheringay album would be a  
> good example.
>
> Mark
>
> PS How about Janet Baker, Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, Kathleen Ferrier  
> and Christa Ludwig?

Hey, folks, I don't think there's a singer on the planet who can sound  
good from a low G to a high F. That's the real issue: not whether they  
can sing three octaves, but whether they can sing the three octaves  
needed for a mellotron.

I have heard one tenor sing a high F and he sounded like a chicken  
being strangled. As for women, Mozart's Queen of the Night aria in the  
first act of The Magic Flute (Martin's favourite opera) has to sing  
some high F's, for example, but these singing specialists (coloratura  
sopranos) generally sound pretty poor on low Gs.

Rick