Sometimes you have the luxury of knowing who will be singing your song.

I’ve spent sixteen years writing for my own voice and so I’ve got to know my voice well. I know I’m pretty much a baritone able to sing with my full voice up to about a third or fourth above middle C. ‘ve a falsetto that can get me higher, and a lower range down to about a tenth below middl C. I also know the style, tones and timbres available through my voice.

What do you need to know about a voice before you can compose for it?

1. The available timbres - Does your singer have a breathy, intimate tone? Is she a full voiced rock singer, an ad-libbing, melismatic gospel singer? Knowing the answer can help to choose genre and also give you  sense of the dynamic options available.

2. The range – both how high or low and also where the breaks are – you wouldn’t want to give a tenor rock singer a loud climactic note he can only reach in his falsetto – he wouldn’t be able to do the note justice.

Knowing a voice well will help you tailor a song to it. Of course, there are dangers to this: Jesus Christ Superstar was written for Ian Gillan’s voice, and singers who have subsequently sung it haven’t always had the right tone:-

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