New Member Intro

Hello everyone - I am a nearly 67 year old "southern gentleman" living in one of the southern states. I am retired from the U.S. Navy as a Chief Hospital Corpsman (E-7). I served 23 of my 24 years with the U. S. Marine Corps, seeing that they do not have doctors or Corpsmen (medics). I had 2 specialties (1) 8404: Field Medical Service Technician (this qualified me to serve with the Marines) and (2) 8472: Medical Photographer. In later years I became an emergency Medical Technician instructor and taught in many locations everything from basic first aid to teaching other Corpsmen to be Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT) themselves.

I have a BS degree in music that I never used. I was drafted and joined the Navy shortly after my college graduation. I tried to become a musician (MU) in the Navy but was turned down and also turned down for a commission as a Naval Officer due to the fact that at the time Vietnam was in progress. Instead, I became a Hospital Corpsman (HM).

My musical interests varied somewhat over the years but more often than not I was interested in choral, vocal music both sacred & secular up to and including the classic period. When I was a teenager I happened upon a recording of Russell Oberlin. Oberlin was and is the "yardstick" I use to evaluate counter-tenors. I must say though that Oberlin's "style" is unlike anything I've ever heard. With the advent of the internet and a dial up connection I was able to download and listen to more and more music of the period that I enjoyed the most. Earlier this month I finally got broadband cable and that led me to be able to see and hear music on places like youtube. This opened up a new realm of possibilities with new, unheard music and to revisit works that I'd heard up to and including 5 decades ago.

In 2004 I suffered a moderately severe CVA (stroke) which was mainly due to smoking, high cholesterol, uncontrolled and unknown high blood pressure. Today I am fairly "intact" - I walk a bit funny with a cane and have at times some peripheral double vision and for this reason I don't drive.

At some period of time (before my stroke) I became interested in cantorial music and later due to my religious convictions converted to Judaism.

Since I have much time on my hands I can listen to alot of music and I've really been exploring the "new" countertenors which have sprung up since my introduction to Russell Oberlin. Youtube has been an invaluable tool in this respect.

At one time I did sing. I was a bass but have not sung in at least 45 years due to personal reasons. I could not and would not consider singing again since I have emphysema and COPD. This is another thing smoking will get ya !!!! I also played the piano, some organ (I was no E. Power Biggs), and dabbled with the harpsichord.

I have several favorite singers and possibly the best of them all (no offense) would be Dietrich Fisher-Dieskau. Many of the singers I like are of the "old guard" and are no longer alive. I liked singers such as Melchoir, Peerce, Southerland, Hines, Merrill, Price, Ferrier, Tucker.

I am glad that I found this web page, as it will help me to learn & appreciate more the different types of the count-tenor voice.

Best wishes to all listeners & performers of counter-tenor music.

Thank you for telling us so much about yourself, which gives us a better idea of how much fine music means to you. I hope this site, along with YouTube, gives you much joy. I assume that you have seen my YouTube site with the same user name sfkcbf.
The only difference is that is contains user comments and replies, some of which might be of interest to you. This site, of course, has much more discussion, along with singer & composer portraits, and additional information.

Incidentally, if you are using the term "countertenor" in its original sense (a 2nd voice counter to the main tenor voice), Russell Oberlin was one; however, if you are using it in today's sense meaning "falestto," he was not. Russell was a natural alto, which is almost as rare as natural male sopranos.

If you have checked my bio here (the only place I have posted some info), you my have noted that I have a fine grand piano and also love to play, although I never have had the hands to play professionally. I have learned to play the vocal and orchestral parts of two arias once sung by Farinelli, and I hope to learn more as I go along.

We look forward to your offerings on the site. If you have any questions or comments, we will be happy to read them and to reply
Best wishes, Stephen.

Thanks ever so much Stephen for your very kind and informative reply to my post. I am glad that you commented on the voice of Russel Oberlin - I knew even decades ago that his voice was "different" but at the time there were no real words available to pinpoint his vocal type. Yes, you hit the term right on the head so to speak, he is a true male alto and thus his voice defies being put in a "peg". This is why I had so much confusion over the years when finally I heard other countertenors sing - nothing was falling into place like I thought it should have. But as different as his voice was - it had a color and tone that is quite memorable.

I have seen sfkcbf before and it was probally on youtube. I shall get over there shortly and check our your youtube site with thoroughness.

Thanks again for your kind reply and I look forward to learning more about the countertenor voice and about the neverending beauty of classical music.

I'm very pleased to have you here and have no doubt that I am going to thoroughly enjoy discussing the high male voice with you.

Russell Oberlin's voice is definitely unique. He is not a contra alto like the natural castrato Paolo Abel ( you may or may not have seen him sing in the movie Dangerous Liasions ). That we know for sure by the timbre of his voice. Oberlin's voice is light but contraltos' voices are always rather dark with a definite baritone-like chest register. Oberlin, to me, actually sounds more like a light mezzo-soprano at times, but that feeling varies depending on what piece he sings ( I especially felt this in the renaissance song Come again by John Dowland ). I usually use the term haute-contre for Oberlin although I must say that I think his voice is much lighter than other haute-contre voices I've heard. I suppose that the term male alto is fine as long as it is not confused with contralto, but frankly I am not really sure what to call him. He advertised himself as a true countertenor but as Stephen said the term countertenor is not much used for "natural voices" nowadays.

Perhaps you could listen to the Chilean haute-contre Rodrigo del Pozo and tell me what you think yourself.