Yma Sumac Vocal Range and Voice Type
Yma Sumac's cited vocal range is B2 to C#7 (4.2 octaves). Yma Sumac is commonly classified as a soprano. See the notes and compare your range free.
Evidence and review
Individual evidence review is pending. The displayed range is a reported reference span, not an independently verified physiological limit.
These are the approximate figures fans and music journalists commonly cite — the widest notes a singer has recorded, not the comfortable range they sing in every night, and not lab measurements. Treat them as a fun reference, not a target.
How Yma Sumac uses that range
The trick is changing mechanism mid-phrase with no warning: a growled, rattling low chest sound, then a bright piercing tone up in whistle register, and nothing gradual in between. Vowels stay wide and open down low and clamp tight up high. Rhythm is percussive, locked to the accompaniment. Attack the whistle notes with force and they will not come, since that register needs very little air and a fully released jaw.
What is Yma Sumac’s vocal range?
Yma Sumac's vocal range is commonly cited as B2 to C#7 (Db7) — about 4.2 octaves, or 50 semitones, and is usually classified as soprano. Full voice is cited up to around A5; everything above that comes from head voice or whistle register.
Switched between growled low chest and piercing whistle-register tones inside single phrases.
- Signature song
- Gopher Mambo
Reading the numbers
- B2 is a deep floor for a soprano — lower than all but 5 of the 97 sopranos here.
- The top note beats 95% of the 97 sopranos in this library, and sits in whistle register.
- Only 8 singers here reach above C#7.
- 16 semitones — 32% of the whole span — sit above the cited full-voice ceiling, so much of this range is head voice, falsetto or whistle rather than chest.
- That floor is a full 13 semitones beneath where a soprano's range conventionally starts (C4).
Commonly cited figures, not lab measurements — extreme notes are one-off recorded moments, not the singer’s everyday range.
More about Yma Sumac’s voice
How high can Yma Sumac sing?
Yma Sumac is commonly cited singing up to around A5 in full voice, and as high as C#7 (Db7) overall — the stretch above A5 comes from head voice and whistle register.
What is Yma Sumac’s highest note?
Yma Sumac’s highest note is commonly cited as C#7 (Db7), heard in Chuncho (The Forest Creatures). That note sits in whistle register.
What is Yma Sumac’s lowest note?
Yma Sumac’s lowest note is commonly cited as B2.
How many octaves can Yma Sumac sing?
Yma Sumac’s commonly cited range spans about 4.2 octaves (50 semitones), from B2 up to C#7. That span is wider than 97% of the 636 voices in this library.
Take the free 2-minute range test — your mic finds your lowest and highest notes, then this page shows exactly how your voice lines up with Yma Sumac’s.
Also bottoming out on B2
34 other voices here are cited to the same floor.