Our Music and Singing

	Defining Mixed Chorus Singing
	Vocal Skills
	Our Repertoire

Defining Mixed Chorus Singing

Mixed chorus singing consists of songs sung in four voice parts known as soprano and alto (ladies); tenor and bass (men). The melody of the song is usually sung by the soprano section, with other parts harmonising with the melody. In many songs the melody switches between voice parts, depending upon the range of notes in the musical section. Some musical pieces may be sung by fewer than four discrete parts, with some (or all) voice parts singing in unison.

Although most mixed chorus pieces are written for Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass (SATB), each voice part may also be sub-divided into two sections, as described below.

Soprano

The First Soprano or soprano is the highest female voice. The soprano often carries the melody of the chorus piece.

The Second Soprano or mezzo-soprano is the middle-range voice type for females and is the most common female voice, lying between the soprano voice and contralto voice, over-lapping both of them.

Without regular training and use soprano voices will often deepen into the alto range with age.

Alto

The First Alto or alto is the female equivalent of the male baritone voice. The alto part in chorus music may range as much as two octaves.

The Second Alto or contralto is the lowest female voice. A natural contralto is extremely rare.

Tenor

The First Tenor or countertenor sings the highest male voice part, often equivalent to the female alto or lower soprano range. This may be accomplished by singing in falsetto, or with a natural voice. Falsetto voices are often best accomplished by a natural bass singer.

The Second Tenor or tenor is the second highest voice, above the bass and baritone, but below the countertenor. Without regular training and use tenor male voices will often deepen into baritone with age. Most male operatic leads sing tenor.

Bass

The First Bass or baritone voice is the most common type of male singing voice, lying between bass and tenor. A bass-baritone is a voice that shares certain qualities of both the baritone and the bass, usually being capable of singing the normal baritone range, and also being able to descend well into the bass range.

The Second Bass or bass voice part has the deepest vocal range of the human voice. It is common for bass singers (and who have a full bass choral range) to have a speaking voice sounding higher than would be expected. For this reason, many bass singers can, with training, also sing falsetto.

Vocal Skills

The vocal skills of individual singers varies greatly, with the best singers being able to:

• sing in tune and with a vocal timbre complementary to the other singers;
• sing at controlled levels of volume, matching the dynamics and expression marked in the score or prescribed by the director. Each singer should be able to hear his neighbour, and not sing so loudly as to be detectable as an individual voice within the section;
• to pronounce the lyrics accurately in the style specified by the director;
• to monitor one's own singing and detect errors;
• to stay in tune with the chorus, even in the event the chorus modulates slightly away from pitch.

The best chorus singers memorise their music so that they may concentrate on the music director's instructions. Having to scan music whilst singing means that the director can't have the attention required, and an inferior performance results. Consequently the best performances arise when groups never have music held up obscuring the director during a performance.

Our Repertoire

Our music repertoire varies from classical songs to newer contemporary pieces, providing an entertaining repertoire of vocal music to offer our audiences. Some of our favourites include:

And much more. If you have a particular song(s) you would like us to perform for you, Contact Us and we'll arrange it for you!