skills/instrument-ranges-and-idioms/references/voices.md

# Voices (sounding pitch)

| Instrument | Comfortable | Full range | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| soprano-voice | D4 to G5 | C4 to A5 | top notes on open vowels, long values |
| alto-voice | A3 to C5 | G3 to D5 | warm middle, avoid sitting below A3 |
| tenor-voice | D3 to F4 | C3 to G4 | ringing above C4; G4 is a peak |
| bass-voice | G2 to A3 | E2 to C4 | roots and fifths, slow moving |
| voice (generic) | A3 to E5 | G3 to G5 | treat as a mezzo or high tenor; keep the total range inside a tenth |

## Writing for a singer

- Stepwise motion and leaps up to a sixth; a leap larger than a fifth is
  followed by a step back in the opposite direction. An octave leap is a
  climax, once per example.
- Total range of a singable melody is a tenth to a twelfth.
- Phrases of 1 to 2 bars with a rest for breath; the phrase ends on a longer
  note.
- Repeated notes are natural (text is repeated syllables); a melody that
  changes pitch on every note is instrumental, not vocal.
- The highest note comes once, in the second half, on a strong beat.
- Melismas (many notes on one syllable) move stepwise in eighths, not
  sixteenths, unless the style is gospel or R&B.

## Choir (SATB)

- Soprano and alto within an octave; alto and tenor within an octave; tenor
  and bass up to a twelfth. No voice crossing.
- Bass sings roots on strong beats and fifths or thirds on weak beats; inner
  voices move by step or hold common tones; soprano has the melody.
- Every voice needs the same number of bars; rests where a voice drops out.
- Doubling the root in bass and soprano at cadences is normal.