A Glimpse at the Extraordinary Vocal Range & Profile Of Celine Dion

I love Celine Dion. I think she has an amazing voice and a lot of the new generation of singers will have Celine Dion to thank for influencing their musical direction. In this article I want to go over a couple of interesting facts on the extraordinary vocal range and profile of Celine Dion.

First of all, her vocal range, according to avid critics of music is Bb2 - C6 - E6; and her longest note is an astounding 15 Seconds. Her vocal type on the other hand is lyric soprano 3 octaves 3 Notes.

Her vocal positives are deeply enshrined in resonant belts, which she is able to hold for long periods of time, without the slightest wavering in pitch. The sharpness of her vocal in this particular register allows for her voice to pierce through the heaviest instrumentation. In actual fact, Celine projects her voice in all registers, and maintains vocal agility throughout each octave.

Looking closely at her lower notes, you’ll find that they are generally well supported down to D3, with the mid-range sometimes carrying a rasp, but all in all it is soft and makes lyrical lines with ease, and her mid-range transitions into the belting register with remarkable ease. Celine Dion’s head voice carries an operatic ring to it, which is rather refreshing for a genre transcendent pop diva.

I personally wouldn’t publish vocal negatives of Celine Dion. I think she is one to emulate, however, some critics of music have had a thing or two to say about her negatives and they are as follows.

The nasally quality to Celine's voice—they say, is an acquired taste, though this quality isn't one of bad technique however, as singers in Quebec place their voices in the nasal cavity. Well then, I suppose that’s understandable.

Another comment goes, “though Celine manages a neutral larynx in the lower part of her range, belts around Eb5 and higher are hit by raising the larynx, which gives the voice a throaty and coarse quality”. They also go on to say that her mixing is also uneven from about A5-C6, making the belts thin and heady. That being said, they go on to acknowledge that it is remarkable at all that she can mix at all that high, and conclude that her notes below D3 become very breathy, while intonation and register transitions as a whole are inconsistent.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this analysis on Celine Dion’s voice. I’d like to leave you with some recommended tracks to listen to: All By Myself, I Surrender (Live in Las Vegas), My Heart Will Go On. 

JOETT