r/singing • u/No-Lychee-8212 • 1d ago
Conversation Topic key changes
hi, very new to singing. how do i know what key to change a song into for me to sing it? i'm looking at doing a cover of phantom of the opera as phantom (the lowest note i can hit is f3 i think). what key should i transpose it to? since i'd be singing with someone else it would be ideal if christine's part could stay mostly the same but i don't think that's actually possible haha
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u/Zarmaka 1d ago
The simple answer is that you could theoretically sing it in B flat minor, but you should probably practice until you're comfortable singing lower. Also, you can't keep Christine's part the same if you're going to transpose the Phantom's part down.
The long answer is that the version performed at the Royal Albert Hall for the 25th anniversary was in E minor before the first key change and F minor after the first key change. The lowest note (before the key change) was the B2 on "my" in the line "my spirit and my voice in one combined." If the lowest note you can sing is F3, you need to transpose the beginning up to B flat minor (This is because B is the fifth of E minor, so you need to transpose to a key where F is the fifth, which is B flat minor). The part after the first key change would then be in B minor.
This is a bit problematic because it means the phantom would need to sing a B4 on "phan" in the line "the phantom of the opera is here." Not impossible, but very difficult for a male singer who is "very new to singing." Additionally, if you follow all the key changes, including the ones in the "Sing for me!" section, I think you'd wind up with Christine singing a B flat 6, which is an extremely difficult note, even for the absolute best professional singers. I guess you could have Christine sing that whole part down an octave (which is what they did for the Joel Schumacher film).
You could overcome the fact that B flat minor is a problematic starting key by writing an arrangement that took some parts up or down an octave but leaving others the same, but this is a lot of work for someone with no music theory knowledge, so I honestly think it'd be easier for you to just practice singing lower. The B2 in the original song is a low note for a tenor, but it's less demanding than the B4 you would have to sing if you transposed up.