Vocal Range

C#3 ~ Bb5 (2 Octaves, 4 notes & 1 semitone)

(Possible can go higher)

Supported Range

G3/G#3 ~ F5/F#5

G3/G#3 ~ G5 (With head voice)

Voice Type

Soprano

Strengths/Achievements

• Even resonance from A4-F#5
• Great sense of musicality/dynamics
• Great musicianship
• Great Placement in the mix register
• Amazing sense of pitch
• Very resonant sound in the mix register
• Fairly balanced mix
• Relaxed falsetto up to G5
• No weak registers

Points for Improvement

• Lowered larynx below Bb3 at times
• Weak sound below G#3
• Inconsistent Resonance/Support above F#5
• Runs can occasionally be off
• Has not showcased a true head voice
• Minor pitch issues

Registers

• Lower register: In comparison to her mix and head register her lower register has been proven to be her weakest and most underdeveloped register. SeungYeon’s lower register is borderline weak only being able to carried down true support to Bb3/B3 even then the notes can lack a true resounding tone. Below Bb3 SeungYeon pushes her larynx down to create a fuller more “soul” tone instead of truly supporting at times but is able to support her voice down to G#3/G3.

• Mixed register: This register is definitely her most developed and trained register. It is very easy to tell this is where she is most comfortable as her voice shines and blossoms in this area. Her mix is so well trained that even resonance is carried from A4-F5/F#5, which is her support range in her mix.

• Upper register:  In this register she has shown skill to be able to switch from a airier falsetto to a more connected and solid sounding head voice. Though the vocal fold connection in the head voice is present the resonance is not, or just very small resonance. She has shown she is able to keep a relaxed up to G5 in both head voice and falsetto, but above that the voice obtains a slight tension.

Agility

Son SeungYeon is more of a vocalist that chooses to embellish her songs with impressive high belts, phrasing, and dynamics rather than filling her performances with many complicated runs, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t try runs every now and then. When she does attempt runs she tends to go for more complex and fast paced runs rather than slower less complex runs. An example of this would be her performance of “하속생” in which she claims to be taking a more “Black Gospel” approach to the song. The main run is a pretty complex run that she pulled off pretty well. But her runs don’t always go as intended like in her performance of “Mapo Station” the attempted has a very slide like feel and there isn’t much distinction between notes, nonetheless the run is still falls under the “complex” category and there is always room for error. Overall SeungYeon has shown she is capable of doing complex runs with proper technique.

Overall Analysis

Son SeungYeon has been impressing the country of South Korea with her ever voice ever since her television debut on the “The Voice of Korea” in 2012.  Despite her young age of 21 she has showcased a very strong and developed technique especially in her mix along with her own style of singing.

SeungYeon is a soprano that definitely prefers to do high soaring belts more than anything else when she sings. This is evident in almost every performance as she almost always sings above E5 in all of them. But this is completely appropriate for her as she is able to keep a resonant and supported sound up to the F5/F#5 and is able to maintain good placement up to A5. Her mix is her most developed register and she uses it to her fullest. SeungYeon is capable of keeping even resonance from A4 to F5/F#5 which is true skill. This means her voice doesn’t lose power or sound uneven in her whole supported range in the mix. Because SeungYeon is a light soprano her voice has more of natural take off at the Eb/E5 area which very apparent as her notes in the Eb-F#5 area have very nice ring and ping to it. Notes above F#5 have slight shouty quality because instead of letter her support mechanism take over she pushes them out. A example of this would be the G#5 in “못 찾겠다 꾀꼬리” she does multiple G#5s at the end. The G#5s though properly place have a slight shouty quality because she’s pushing. There is also a lack of volume because she isn’t completely supporting the notes. The G#5s are also short in length so that may have also contributed to the small sound. SeungYeon is also very skilled at phrasing high notes for long lengths of time. This is because, majority of the time, she is using pure diaphragm support therefore her throat and vocal cords are doing very minimal work. Because of this she has exceptional vocal stamina.

SeungYeon’s lower register has not received as much attention as her mixed register, which is understandable because as a her being a Soprano the lower register is not where she would project and resonate the best in. Her lower register extends down to C#3 which isn’t exactly standard for a Soprano it falls more on the extensive side because many Sopranos tend to give up around the Eb3-F3 range. Of course her C#3 is pretty much air, but it still counts. She supports her voice fairly well down to G#3/G3. She’s fairly consistent with her support in the lower register as well so those notes tend to always be done properly. Below Bb3 she may push down her larynx to create a fuller sounding tone instead of truly supporting and better use the support mechanism to create the full sound she’s looking for. Even though she is singing with a lowered larynx she begins to lose sound below G#3.

Although SeungYeon’s head register is not nearly as developed as her mixed voice, it is not as weak as her lower register either. In this register she switches from using an airy stylistic falsetto and a little to no resonance head voice. She has shown the ability to ability to carry up a head voice up to G5 above that she has only shown more of an falsetto voice. The reason why her head voice shows little resonance is because she’s not strongly connecting the support from the diaphragm and  the placement isn’t as good as it could be.

Musicianship

Son SeungYeon has an extremely eclectic musical styles always showing off a wide range of music style and musicality. SeungYeon is able to pull off slow-tempo ballads like “The Light of Hope”, fast-tempo songs that require intense belting like “못 찾겠다 꾀꼬리, and even more gospel-esque styles in “하숙생”. Pretty much any kind of style she tries she pulls off. In almost all her performances her most outstanding quality is her high belts. In almost every performance she sings above Eb5, but she does this in a tasteful way as all of the high belts make sense in what she’s doing and is used a more emphasis. She also understands the power of phrasing as she plays around with that often in her performance using airier tones to create a softer effect, connecting phrasing in a long legato lines, switching between lower,mix, and head voice and much more. She also understands the importance of dynamics as she lets songs build off of that. One thing for sure SeungYeon definitely knows how to put on a performance.

Label (Type of Vocalist)

MH Vocalists: Mid-Range Head Voice Vocalists

HB Vocalists: High Range Belters

ML Vocalists: Mid-Low Range Vocalists

WR vocalists: Well Rounded Vocalists

Vocal Range Video(s)

Video by: Edgar Cárdenas

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Analyzed by Pandayeu