VOICE CATEGORIZATION

As developments in voice science continue to contribute to a collective body of knowledge concerning the physiological nature of voice classification, the possibility grows of a less-controversial means of assessing the voice type of a particular singer. A more thorough understanding of the importance of the physiological dimensions of the vocal instrument in pre-determining the potentials and limitations of any given instrument will doubtless lead to more accurate voice classification in the future. Yet the controversy of which operatic repertoire is appropriate for a given singer will continue to haunt teachers and singers alike as long as Fach, the system of categorization of roles, continues to be treated as a synonym of voice type. While the body of critical and analytic texts concerning voice training grows, so, too, does the discourse continue to develop its on-going debate as to the importance of various criteria involved in voice classification. There exist also numerous documents from previous centuries which may be explored for insight into historical conceptions of voice classification. Yet as this body of literature on physiology and pedagogy continues to grow, there remains a lack of critical writings examining the Fach system. Indeed, th