- Although she had a
three octave range,

she sang in the contralto mode.

- Contralto, being the
lowest possible female voice.

She could sing that
to break your heart

into a million pieces, but
she also had a great top.

She had a great high C.

And her voice could
live above the staff,

meaning in soprano territory.

- [Marian] I don't feel
that the singing a high C

was any trouble at all,
to me it was a lark.

(piano music)

(Marian vocalizes)

One did not confine herself
to being either soprano

or contralto or anything else.

But one was billed
as a contralto.

- In the operatic world,

the sopranos always
are the leading ladies.

I've sung some of
Marian Anderson's pieces

and they were out
of my tessitura,

meaning they were
out of my range.

And my voice is classified
as a higher voice than hers.

It's one of the reasons that
I believe that Marian Anderson

was not classified as a soprano,

is because that would mean

that she would be the love
interest of a white counterpart,

which was not accepted
at all at the time.

(piano music)