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Hi everyone!
There is a website called The Range Planet that indexes the vocal range of lots of singers, of which the threads are made by music enthusiasts. We "notewatch" musical content in order to put together the notes and overall vocal range of a singer. And it turns out that no one ever made nor claimed to make threads for the SCANDAL members. Claiming a thread means engaging yourself to work on it; it is not an obligation, but it helps others knowing if someone is working on a singer's vocal range or not. There is a thread on TRP dedicated for that function with a sheet indexing who "owns" what thread, in which category that thread is, who claimed future threads, and which threads were given up before being completed and posted, or due to inactivity. It is a dynamic community of which I'm glad to be part of.
Now, not to brag, but I happen to have perfect pitch (being able to tell the pitch of a note by ear, without the help of a reference like a piano) and to be a huge SCANDAL fan (today marks the 3 years since I discovered them by the way!), so I thought I can be the one doing these vocal range threads for the members… And now it's all done! There are 1754 notes indexed in these threads, but obviously, I came across a lot more than 1754 notes, since some notes occurred multiple times or didn't necessarily fall in the significant low or high notes. Of course the result isn't definitive, since I will keep editing the threads when I'll find more relevant stuff to add, or when SCANDAL releases new music. I notewatched all their studio songs (albums, singles, B-sides, compilations-only songs, other appearances), all their live releases, most tv and web broadcasts of live performances that I was able to find (solo stuff included), and other obscure material (such as this).
Now, not to brag, but I happen to have perfect pitch (being able to tell the pitch of a note by ear, without the help of a reference like a piano) and to be a huge SCANDAL fan (today marks the 3 years since I discovered them by the way!), so I thought I can be the one doing these vocal range threads for the members… And now it's all done! There are 1754 notes indexed in these threads, but obviously, I came across a lot more than 1754 notes, since some notes occurred multiple times or didn't necessarily fall in the significant low or high notes. Of course the result isn't definitive, since I will keep editing the threads when I'll find more relevant stuff to add, or when SCANDAL releases new music. I notewatched all their studio songs (albums, singles, B-sides, compilations-only songs, other appearances), all their live releases, most tv and web broadcasts of live performances that I was able to find (solo stuff included), and other obscure material (such as this).
If you would like a few explanations on the content of these threads, you can read them in the spoiler below:
- Explanations:
- What do these letters, numbers and symbols mean?
In English-speaking countries, the notes are named by letters from A to G. The number after the letters and symbols are the octaves. An octave is 12 semitones, and starts at C. The notes go in this order: C, C♯, D, E♭, E, F, F♯, G, G♯, A, B♭, B, and back to C on a new octave. As for the signs, ♯ is read as "sharp", and means "The note plus 1 semitone", while ♭ is read as "flat" and means "The note minus 1 semitone". Therefore, it is not wrong to write, say, D♯ instead of E♭, since they are the same note, but written differently.
Why do the significant low and high notes don't start at the same note for each member?
Basically, not everyone starts struggling or requiring more effort at the same notes. That's due to their placement. The placement is usually used to define where the voice resonates, but I've also seen it used to define where the voice naturally sits in terms of pitch, and that differs from person to person. Therefore, when I say "TOMOMI is higher-placed than MAMI", that means TOMO's voice is naturally higher than MAMI's. The placement can also be used to define the singer's voice type. For women, from lowest to highest placement, there is contralto, mezzo soprano, and soprano. For men, it's bass, baritone, and tenor. That being said, not because you are higher-placed than a mezzo soprano that you necessarily are a soprano. You can be a high-placed, mid-placed or even low placed mezzo soprano, instead. So voice types and placements are fairly nuanced.
Why are there questionable notes?
While every note a singer produces can potentially be part of their vocal range, it still has to be of sufficient quality to be "counted". There can be various reasons for which we don't count a note. The most common case is notes being too short, which can mean multiple things: lack of control, voice crack, accident, inability to sustain it, etc. The second common reason is that we can't identify for sure who's singing. A third common reason is the note's weakness, resulting in too little pitch for countability. There is also pitch-shifted notes that we don't count, because they're not produced by the voice directly, but by a software or machine that shifts the pitch of the note for the singer. And sometimes, the reason isn't as obvious… For instance, spoken notes in a non-musical context don't count, because their pitch is usually not really controlled nor purposeful. Comparatively, rapping or spoken notes in a musical context are more purposeful pitch wise, that's why these can count if strong enough. But inhaled notes don't count because they don't employ the vocal chords in the same way as exhaled notes.
Why are there notes in bold?
Bold notes are usually considered as impressive for the singer, but I like to consider them as great or representative examples of the singer's vocal abilities as well. It can be because the note has amazing tone, great control, long sustain, or is iconic… Which is admittedly, to a certain extent, subjective. By the way, the bold notes are all linked, so you can click them if you'd like to check them out!
What does it mean if you have a big vocal range? And what would a big vocal range, to begin with?
An average vocal range would be around 2 octaves and a half that are usable, because most of us won't master and push our voice's limits too much or at all. So 3 octaves and more is starting to be pretty big, and approaching or even surpassing 4 octaves is rather huge. However, if a singer has more than this average, it doesn't necessarily mean they're gonna be a better singer. It sure means that they have more possibilities (which also depends on the variety of vocal techniques used), but the quality of the singing is something else. See it as quantity not necessarily being synonymous with quality; it can be, but isn't always.
I hope this will help to understand what's written below!
I would like to thank sylvia!! (advisor from The Range Planet) for guiding me through my first threads (layout, hesitation on a couple of questionable notes), thoseguiltyeyes for correcting and making my vocal summary texts more flowing, and Vadrith (a SCANDAL fan) for clearing my doubts on who sang a handful of notes! I've started this project in November 2022, so I'm really proud of the result and kind of moved to finally be able to publish it on The Range Planet, and especially, to share it with the SCANDAL fandom!
I hope you'll enjoy going through these vocal range threads!
…And as of the August 25, 2023 updates, the HARUNA thread became too big to fit in one post, meaning that for consistency's sake, I'll have to just link the threads from The Range Planet.
So here they are:
Last edited by Electric Mami on Wed Nov 29, 2023 2:53 pm; edited 48 times in total (Reason for editing : Total number of notes updated)