Answer: Timbre refers to the “quality” and “color” of a person’s voice.  We end up describing timbre in non-scientific language, appealing to other realms and senses.  Thus we say that one person’s voice is light, lyric, creamy, or dark, heavy, dramatic.  Lot’s of other adjectives are used also “velvety” “brassy” “nasally” “hooty” etc., but some of these may actually be describing vocal faults. When applied to finding a voice classification or voice type, one has to be VERY CAREFUL.  Timbre is only ONE criterion in determining voice classification and is one that can be misleading to inexperienced voice teachers.  Some classic pitfalls are to assume that a lyric voice is a “high voice” and a dramatic or heavy voice is a “low voice.”  This is simply WRONG, because there are lyric basses and lyric baritones just as there are lyric contraltos and mezzos … not just tenors and sopranos.  Likewise, assuming that a heavy dramatic voice is low is equally wrong.  There are dramatic tenors and dramatic sopranos.  I think only an experienced voice teacher can use timbre … and that after other criteria are factored to make an accurate judgment on voice classification.

The other criteria for discovering a person’s voice classification are RANGE, TESSITURA, and TRANSITION POINTS.

Obviously range is going to mark the compass of a person’s singing voice.  To choose a classification in which literature demands singing notes outside a person’s range is a clear evidence of wrong classification.  If you call yourself a tenor, then you must be able to sing tenor literature.  If you call yourself a tenor but cannot sing tenor literature, perhaps the only one deceived is yourself.

But range by itself is also insufficient for arriving accurately at one’s voice classification.  “Tessitura” is usually applied to music itself, for example a song.  Tessitura indicates the relative AREA of the range where MOST of the notes lie in any given song.  Applied to the voice, this means that every singer is going to have an AREA in his/her range in which s/he can sing with greatest comfort, flexibility, expressiveness and STAMINA.  E.g., A man may have a range that makes singing high A’s (above middle C) possible, but be uncomfortable sustaining that beyond a moment or two.  The ability to linger and enjoy those high notes endlessly simply isn’t there … but he’s most comfortable singing between D (above middle C) and the D below.  His tessitura would suggest that while some higher baritone literature may be in order once in a while–allowing for a high A on then off again–his tessitura (the area of his vocal comfort) is more like a baritone’s.  The area of the range (tessitura) where a singer predominantly finds most resonance and stamina should be a key ingredient in determining voice classification.

Transition points refers to those notes in the vocal range where there seems to be a natural change of quality.  This happens clearly in some singers and not at all in others.  Without going into detail on the various voice types, generalizations are made as to where the “changes” occur in each voice classification.  While this criterion can be useful (to a limited degree) by an experienced voice teacher, it is advisable to tell you that it is also far from foolproof.  Singers can learn to make a transition on any of several pitches.  The transition points also tend to vary depending on what vowel is sung.  Another problem can be that some student singers who will not accept their real classification adopt a “lift” note of their own desired classification to prove their point.  I would say that this criterion is probably used best by an experienced voice teacher on untrained voices.

So, there you have it.  Arriving at a person’s voice type entails a knowing and using the criteria of RANGE, TIMBRE, TESSITURA and possibly TRANSITION POINTS.