A "pitch perfect" singing voice

A five octave range means she can sing over the range of five octaves, which is a huge range. Think of five octaves on a piano if that helps and she can hit all the notes from the lowest to the highest and all in between,

I cannot endorse that too strongly - singing is so good for you in every way. There are community choirs all round the country now - non-auditioned and accepting all-comers. There are 3 or 4 people in my choir who struggle a bit - but they contribute their wonderful enthusiasm and have lots of fun. And they are gradually learning to read the music by osmosis - they are so thrilled when they realise they have read a bit!

So agree with Luckygirl, I do not have a good voice but am a member of our community choir and just love it. I've learned to become a better singer and though I can't harmonise naturally, if I've learned our part well enough I can hold my notes. My DH joined with me - he can sing, and we've had some great experiences singing at fundraising events and concerts and we've met some lovely people. There are nights I just don't want to go to rehearsals, feel too tired or busy but always come home 2 hours later smiling and feeling much better. You should see if there's a community choir near you, most don't audition and everyone is welcome

I agree that absolutely perfect singing can be boring, in contemporary music, at least. It's the rough edges that give it the character.

However, one singer who really drives me mad because she starts about a major third below the note she wants to sing and then works up to it (known as the vacuum cleaner here in Germany) is Vera Lynn. And to think she was presented as our role model; it was usually her version of nursery rhymes we had to listen to on Listen with Mother.

I love Matt Munro, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin....in fact most of the swing singers. Connie Francis and Doris Day too.

Then of course there is Michael Buble. However enjoyment of singing is subjective because DSS with all the confidence of an 8 year old says that Michael Buble is rubbish .

Matt Monroe and The Walker Bros. are voices that I don't like. But love Andrea Boccelli and Alfie Boe among others, don't know why. Just a sound thing.

" Less than perfect voice can sound splendid" WOW mine must sound absolutely amazing then, I must suggest they solo me at the next band practice.

Pitch perfect can be boring. As lucky says, a less than perfect voice can sound splendid.

In my singing group at the moment is a man whose daughter paid for the classes "because she knows I love singing, but I can't sing". Now, he has improved so much over the past couple of months that he is doing the opening line of one of the numbers, solo for the grand finale performance night (to a captive audience of family and friends).

I was reading the other day that Mariah Carey is pitch perfect, and that she has a five octave vocal range (I don't get that, but apparently it's a big advantage for a singer). She's had a brilliant career, but DH and I agreed that the only hit of hers we could recall without googling was All I Want For Christmas Is You.

sue the show is called "An Evening with Matt Monro". It's in black and white, not that that matters because I was listening more than watching. His "banter" between numbers is so non-PC it made me wince - and smile!

There were some long-forgotten (by me anyway) numbers in the show, like "Walk Away".

I'm quite fascinated by the explanation of having a "pitch perfect" voice - in other words, the body is the instrument. Amazing.

I saw the Seekers in concert a couple of years ago! Judith Durham looked very frail but her voice was as beautiful as ever.

I loved Matt Monro, too. I must look out for that programme.

I'm just in from a gig this evening, with Teddy Thompson, and I saw Rufus Wainright on Sunday, his voice was so incredibly rich and warm. Gorgeous.

As for me, I cannot sing a note, much to my Welsh mother's disgust! Her father sang at opera-level, a deep bass voice.

Karen Carpenter yes, and I love the voice of Judith Durham, damn I cannot remember the name of the group now, Australian they were. I soooo hate when that happens [hmmm]

Got it!!! The Seekers

As I read OP I immediately thought of Karen Carpenter.

So why is it that I can recognise a pitch perfect voice such as Karen Carpenters but I'm unable to transfer the notes that I hear to my vocal chords
It would seem that even Harrigran's fridge has a 'Pitch.

To sing in tune (never mind pitch perfect) is a gift.

Joan Baez. I love her voice and for the type of stuff she sang it really worked well. She sounded incredibly clear.

Karen Carpenter for me too.
Another one - (again others will probably disagree) is Bob Dylan. He has a horrible singing voice but seems to always hit the right note, never out of tune, and perfect timing.
I always thought though, as Luckygirl says, it's the ability to hit a perfect "A" or "D" or whatever, when asked. Which I can't do, just get close.

Thanks lucky. I agree re the pleasure of singing. I love it when our little singing group (there are just 12 of us) hit a "sweet spot".

kitty it must be that we recognise "perfect pitch" somehow.

So Karen Carpenter (of course!) Who else?

Ah yes - Karen Carpenter - what a voice!

Perfect pitch is indeed the ability to sing a given note without having an instrument to point you in the right direction. For instance if you tell someone with perfect pitch to sing an A - then they will do so, just plucking it out of the air! Of course they have to have heard what an A sounds like sometime in their past in order to reproduce it.

Also if they hear a recording of music, then if you ask them to sing it they will sing it in exactly the original key even if it is years later.

I have a bit of perfect pitch, in that if I am singing from music, I can tell if the conductor has taken it into a different key, as I know that what I am seeing is not what I am being asked to sing!

One other great virtue of people with perfect pitch is that if they are singing (especially unaccompanied) they never go flat or sharp as most people do. They finish up in the same key they started in!

Some people are blessed with lovely voices, but might not necessarily have perfect pitch - i.e. they need someone to play the starting note for them.

But.....whether you have perfect pitch or not and whether your voice is beautiful or not, you can still enjoy singing - perfection is not the key to enjoyment. I have devoted huge chunks of my life (and still do) to encouraging people to sing in community choirs and workshops. Sometimes enthusiasm can sound splendid even if it is not note perfect! And singing is a wonderfully social activity; and releases lots of "happy hormones" - what's not to like!?

I wish I could sing one note in tune!

Karen Carpenter's voice always seem to make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up its so good - but then what would I know! Sometimes it's the duff note that gets to me though.

I think it must be a gift from God because DD has perfect pitch and I am tone deaf. As a young child she used to tell me that the fridge hummed in a particular key.

I've always thought that having perfect pitch means you can sing a particular note in a scale correctly without any help from a musical instrument.

Singing a song, 'pitch perfect' means you haven't sung a single note out of tune.

Hopefully, Luckygirl will be along soon to give us the correct answer to your question.