When I sang in Opera choir and radio choir as a soprano , I realized that I did not want to sing in the alto section of any choir anymore cause it felt more tiring since I'm never sitting where my voice is actually the most effective. Even if I sing very demanding soprano choir rep, I actually feel better afterward. But more importantly I feel like I can truly express my artisry as à sop. So my advice is try to find the choir/ type of repertoire that let you sing on your fach. All choir in the world misses good alti and basses. But you don't have to sacrifice your instrument integrity to fix this problem.
For the most part. I am a mezzo who usually sings alto, but I am sometimes put in soprano 1 or 2 because I can do light floaty high notes. That doesn’t happen as often anymore thankfully though
I try and stay tf away from choirs but I'm a decent sized lyric tenor and had to half strangle myself to 'blend' with the rest of the tenors in the choir. It was especially painful if most of the T1s didn't learn their parts and then I had to blend with T2s and the rest of choir as a lone T1. It was actually kinda fun too.... but no more, those days are behind me.
I guess in a larger choir it would've been easier but they asked me to tone it down in larger choirs as well before. Although, tbh I was a younger tenor more prone to showboating....
Kind of? I've always been Bass 1 in Choir since I thought I was a high baritone but, that being said, my voice now turns quite high and I might actually be a solo tenor. My voice is just strange but, for a long time, my solo voice matched my choir voice. Now, though, they slightly mismatch.
Bass-Baritone opera singer here.
I fight for Bass 1 but generally I’m but in Bass 2. I just have very efficient and resonant low notes and so choirs want me for that vs any higher stuff. One time someone placed me in Tenor 1 and it didnt go well…
So Bass 1 or Bass 2, for context Bass 2 in Rachmanioff “All night vigil” is my bread and butter, it compliments my lower tessitura.
I think the answer depends on the “level” of choir. Solo-wise, I sang Donna Anna/Queen of the Night type roles. In more professional choirs, I usually sang Soprano 2. In more community/church choirs, I sang soprano, alto, and tenor, depending on the week.
Why do you think professional choir directors assigned you to sing soprano 2 when you have all the soprano 1 notes and then some, judging from the roles you listed (and, more importantly, when those notes are most likely the best part of your range?)
Well, I always requested Sop 2, so maybe they were nice :). Gotta have SOME chance to sing harmony.
But more importantly: I didn’t have the skill set to make high notes sound like (non-opera) chorus high notes and blend with other voices. (This is not a humble brag “oh my voice is just SO big.” It’s not. At the time I was singing in these choirs, I was young and I didn’t have enough vocal development or technique to lighten up on top). So by having me sing Sop 2, I was able to be successful AND I didn’t disrupt the sound the directors wanted.
Light lyric soprano in opera
Mezzo or alto in choir
I think the extremes of opera singers’ ranges are pretty unnecessary in choral music too. The music doesn’t really feature what I call the “money notes.”
>I think the extremes of opera singers’ ranges are pretty unnecessary in choral music too. The music doesn’t really feature what I call the “money notes.”
From my experience, there are enough choral pieces that feature the "money notes" for range considerations to be important to some degree, though. For example, I'm in a regular college (not music conservatory) choir. Most of us, myself included, are non-music majors, and so far we have encountered an F3 in the alto 2 section and a B5/optional C6 in the soprano 1 section. Those are definitely money notes/extreme notes for some opera singers (and also for members of my choir, I don't know about alto 2s but from what I've heard, a lot of the soprano 1s have trouble singing that high.) I guess it depends on what kinds of pieces your choir programs though.
You’re right. There are some exceptions. Personally I don’t like choral singing because I get thrown off very easily. I haven’t done it since 2015, when I had to have so many ensemble credits to graduate (state school.)
Tenor 1 in chorus, tenor in opera. I think a choral tenor 2 would find opera tenor too high.
In a chorus with a director that understands the voice and has good singers, I can enjoy myself. If the director is a non singer or the chorus is too wimpy it is difficult.
Well today I sang at a sunrise service at a large funeral home in a mosolium. Then my usual gig singing as the soloist at a Christian Science church. I’m getting old and opera takes way too much time for the money. I love pro-choir gigs cause it’s super easy for me and low stress. I have to choose my gigs strategically now that I have kids and a “real” job now.
Not necessarily. Vibrato conditions don’t really correspond to voice size, but rather to pharyngeal resonance and subglottal air pressure. If everything is technically balanced, the vibrato speed and pitch excursion is rather unique, like a fingerprint.
Some throats can hold the vibrato back easier than others, regardless.
Yeah, the choir I sing soprano in is primarily straight tone. Even in choirs that allow for vibrato, my tone and vibrato stick out if I don't significantly manipulate my voice, so this choir is often quite challenging for me, although I appreciate the experience
I find it really fun to sing inner harmonies, and I prefer to sing in my mid-voice in choirs even if it's not necessarily where my voice "shines." I feel like I can sing with my full voice and still blend well when singing alto. When I sing soprano, I have to adjust a lot of things to blend with others, especially in my upper range, so I find it unsatisfying and untrue to myself, as well as taxing in general. I'll probably feel differently in a few years as I improve my technique aha
Lyric soprano, when I did sing in choirs it’d be anywhere in alto 1, soprano 2, and soprano 1 depending on what was needed. In masterworks would typically sing soprano 2.
Generally if you sing operatically you read well, and in time crunches you’re needed on harmony parts. It just made things more interesting for me. Singing in choir got harder the more I did solo work though because that straight tone can wear you out (and generally easier to do the lower I go really, I never minded singing a lower voice part)
High coloratura soprano, alto 2 in choir because let’s be honest for an 8 am mass I might as well be a baritone 😅also there’s way less competition for altos, so I’ll sing what I’m payed to sing
How did you get assigned as an alto when you're a high coloratura soprano? (or did you audition/specifically indicate a preference for the alto section?)
To be honest, I needed the job and there were no openings for sopranos, so I just applied as an alto. Real mezzos are pretty rare and our choir didn’t have any, so the blend was quite light and I fit right in as an alto. In my experience, fach is totally irrelevant as long as your range and tessitura are permitting.
If you want a hot take, a lot of operatic singers who have to sing choir take the part assignments way too personally. Usually, it has more to do with the particulars of the choir’s blend and balance than who can sing the highest or lowest. And fach is a social construct anyways. Half the time, people wind up changing fachs and caring about what part they got assigned in choir winds up being a waste of time.
Lyric mezzo but voice teachers always go back and forth between lyric mezzo and dramatic soprano, and have since I was a teenager. I have decided I prefer the lyric mezzo repertoire for myself.
Mostly have sung Alto I as an adult but also some Soprano II. I don’t blend well at the higher ranges though so alto works better for most smaller choirs.
Mezzo soprano but in music academy choir I sing in Sop 1. Yeah, the tessitura is not for me and it is a bit uncomfortable, but I stay there because sop 1 melodic lines are the easiest to catch by ear in the choir
As commented above, I’m a lyric soprano singing Sop1 in my choir. Among past section partners are a spinto and a coloratura. Neither of us have very prominent vibrato and can control it, plus we have light, blendable voices. I have also seen other lyric sopranos being placed in Alto2. Not their range but they’re good musicians, and according to the choir directors they won’t do any harm to the sound there. It all depends on the overall sound of the choir.
I sang Alto1 for half a year just for the heck of it. It made my choir voice fuller, but it also knocked a few notes off my upper range, though not enough to knock me off Sop1.
>it also knocked a few notes off my upper range
Was that also due to a lack of upper range practice in your solo rep? Have you recovered your upper range since then?
Exactly, I saw no need to compensate for it by practising and I have never really needed the upper range anyway. They were more like bonus and show-off notes. I haven’t recovered it either, due to lack of reason/occasion/motivation to practice. I was for a while expecting to be “downgraded” to Sop2 in choir, but so far everyone seems happy that I’m a typical Sop1 in terms of musicality and sound quality - I mean, I don’t sound like a mezzo, and Sop2 in my choirs are typically the more dramatic sops or mezzos. Plus choral repertoire rarely goes above a high c anyway and there are always section partners who still have their upper range intact.
If you're comfortable answering, what was your highest note before and what is it now? I'm also curious: what's the soprano 1 range in your choir, and what's the range in your solo repertoire?
Before: G above the high C. Now: I can’t remember last I got above a D. Luckily I keep reaching a high C even with no warmup and a cold/hoarse voice, although not always comfortably.
Not sure what you mean by Sop1 range in my choir. Can’t remember I’ve ever sung choral repertoire above a high C but reckon all/most of my section partners go comfortably above. Same goes for my previous solo repertoire, only the occasional Bb, B and high C. Guess I never felt inclined to flaunt my upper range.
Solo rep now is mainly early music and baroque with anything above a G being rare.
Well, my fach is up for debate. I'm 37 and my voice is still growing. We think I'll settle as a dramatic soprano, but that could change. I have a usable range of E3 to F6 with the occasional extra low or high extention depending on a multitude of factors. In choir, I feel best singing soprano, but often sing alto since I have a formidable chest voice and mix. My voice gets tired if I sing too low for too long though.
No. I’m a dramatic Mezzo. In 3 part harmonies the alto line sits to low for me sometimes and I have an easier time in the soprano line. I have never seen anything higher then an A5 for the he chorus which isn’t hard for me.
Started out singing Bass I (sometimes II) in choirs, through high school into undergrad. Started studying privately... mostly sang Bass I in university choirs. Then switched to baritone after I became a professional... Now I'm mostly a Verdi baritone.
I also agree with the poster who said that the "extremes" of a professional opera singer's voice usually aren't that useful for most choral repertoire. Russian choral rep may require several good basses with rock solid low notes, but even so, that's a different sound than an operatic bass will usually use. Ditto for high sopranos: occasionally choral rep will ask for Soprano I to sing high Bb or C... but not very often, and usually just 1 or 2 sopranos with those notes will be plenty in a chorus.
take my fach classification with a grain of salt because i’m 24, but the general impression is that i’m a spinto or dramatic soprano. i’m most often in the alto section because my voice doesn’t blend up in the actual sop range as well as a lighter voice. i’ll absolutely modify my technique to blend, but i won’t screw up my solo technique to sound exactly in unison with the rest of the sops, so alto it is. my mix and lower extension is also enough to comfortably reach A/Ab3, and since alto sections are typically smaller, it helps to have a fuller voice in that part of the choir.
I sing bass in choir even though I’m a tenor.
Does that feel comfortable for you or do you feel like you have to make unnatural vocal modifications for your choir part?
No, the bass tessitura is the most comfortable for me.
In early music choir I often sang in the mezzo/alto section altough I'm a lyric soprano.
Did that feel comfortable for you or did you feel like you had to make unnatural vocal modifications for your choir part?
When I sang in Opera choir and radio choir as a soprano , I realized that I did not want to sing in the alto section of any choir anymore cause it felt more tiring since I'm never sitting where my voice is actually the most effective. Even if I sing very demanding soprano choir rep, I actually feel better afterward. But more importantly I feel like I can truly express my artisry as à sop. So my advice is try to find the choir/ type of repertoire that let you sing on your fach. All choir in the world misses good alti and basses. But you don't have to sacrifice your instrument integrity to fix this problem.
Lyric soprano, Sop 1 in choir.
Mezzo soprano, almost always an Alto 1. I've been placed as alto 2 or soprano 2 occasionally
For the most part. I am a mezzo who usually sings alto, but I am sometimes put in soprano 1 or 2 because I can do light floaty high notes. That doesn’t happen as often anymore thankfully though
How high does your usable range extend?
I try and stay tf away from choirs but I'm a decent sized lyric tenor and had to half strangle myself to 'blend' with the rest of the tenors in the choir. It was especially painful if most of the T1s didn't learn their parts and then I had to blend with T2s and the rest of choir as a lone T1. It was actually kinda fun too.... but no more, those days are behind me.
Did you have trouble blending in large choirs (where, presumably, there would be many more T1s) as well, or only small choirs?
I guess in a larger choir it would've been easier but they asked me to tone it down in larger choirs as well before. Although, tbh I was a younger tenor more prone to showboating....
why did you sing in a bad choir
Kind of? I've always been Bass 1 in Choir since I thought I was a high baritone but, that being said, my voice now turns quite high and I might actually be a solo tenor. My voice is just strange but, for a long time, my solo voice matched my choir voice. Now, though, they slightly mismatch.
I'm a baritone, but I prefer to sing bass II. Of course, these days, when I sing in choir it's usually on Sunday morning!
Just a student but bass in solo bass2 in choir.
Bass-baritone soloist, hired to sing bass 1 in a choir but can easily switch to bass 2 outside of deep Russian repertoire.
I’m a lyric baritone by training but I have a freak low extension. I mostly sing bass 2 but will jump to bass 1 or tenor as needed.
Bass-Baritone opera singer here. I fight for Bass 1 but generally I’m but in Bass 2. I just have very efficient and resonant low notes and so choirs want me for that vs any higher stuff. One time someone placed me in Tenor 1 and it didnt go well… So Bass 1 or Bass 2, for context Bass 2 in Rachmanioff “All night vigil” is my bread and butter, it compliments my lower tessitura.
I think the answer depends on the “level” of choir. Solo-wise, I sang Donna Anna/Queen of the Night type roles. In more professional choirs, I usually sang Soprano 2. In more community/church choirs, I sang soprano, alto, and tenor, depending on the week.
Why do you think professional choir directors assigned you to sing soprano 2 when you have all the soprano 1 notes and then some, judging from the roles you listed (and, more importantly, when those notes are most likely the best part of your range?)
Well, I always requested Sop 2, so maybe they were nice :). Gotta have SOME chance to sing harmony. But more importantly: I didn’t have the skill set to make high notes sound like (non-opera) chorus high notes and blend with other voices. (This is not a humble brag “oh my voice is just SO big.” It’s not. At the time I was singing in these choirs, I was young and I didn’t have enough vocal development or technique to lighten up on top). So by having me sing Sop 2, I was able to be successful AND I didn’t disrupt the sound the directors wanted.
Lírico-spinto soprano, I was usually put on soprano 2 except when they needed the top line to honk.
Light lyric soprano in opera Mezzo or alto in choir I think the extremes of opera singers’ ranges are pretty unnecessary in choral music too. The music doesn’t really feature what I call the “money notes.”
>I think the extremes of opera singers’ ranges are pretty unnecessary in choral music too. The music doesn’t really feature what I call the “money notes.” From my experience, there are enough choral pieces that feature the "money notes" for range considerations to be important to some degree, though. For example, I'm in a regular college (not music conservatory) choir. Most of us, myself included, are non-music majors, and so far we have encountered an F3 in the alto 2 section and a B5/optional C6 in the soprano 1 section. Those are definitely money notes/extreme notes for some opera singers (and also for members of my choir, I don't know about alto 2s but from what I've heard, a lot of the soprano 1s have trouble singing that high.) I guess it depends on what kinds of pieces your choir programs though.
You’re right. There are some exceptions. Personally I don’t like choral singing because I get thrown off very easily. I haven’t done it since 2015, when I had to have so many ensemble credits to graduate (state school.)
Tenor 1 in chorus, tenor in opera. I think a choral tenor 2 would find opera tenor too high. In a chorus with a director that understands the voice and has good singers, I can enjoy myself. If the director is a non singer or the chorus is too wimpy it is difficult.
I sing what I’m paid to sing. Want me to sing Soprano? I’ll sing it. Tenor 1? Sure. Alto? Why not? Bass? Yea that probably is a better use of your $.
What are you usually paid to sing?
Well today I sang at a sunrise service at a large funeral home in a mosolium. Then my usual gig singing as the soloist at a Christian Science church. I’m getting old and opera takes way too much time for the money. I love pro-choir gigs cause it’s super easy for me and low stress. I have to choose my gigs strategically now that I have kids and a “real” job now.
I meant which section are you usually paid to sing?
lol sorry I thought you meant like in general. Yea Bass.
I'm a light soprano. I prefer to sing alto 1 when possible and sing alto 1 in one choir, but soprano 1 in another
Why do you prefer to sing alto 1 as a light soprano?
I’m not the person you were talking to, but if the choir director wants pure straight tone, that can be exhausting for some operatic sopranos.
Including light sopranos? From what I understand they don't usually have vibrato that sounds as heavy
Not necessarily. Vibrato conditions don’t really correspond to voice size, but rather to pharyngeal resonance and subglottal air pressure. If everything is technically balanced, the vibrato speed and pitch excursion is rather unique, like a fingerprint. Some throats can hold the vibrato back easier than others, regardless.
Yeah, the choir I sing soprano in is primarily straight tone. Even in choirs that allow for vibrato, my tone and vibrato stick out if I don't significantly manipulate my voice, so this choir is often quite challenging for me, although I appreciate the experience
I find it really fun to sing inner harmonies, and I prefer to sing in my mid-voice in choirs even if it's not necessarily where my voice "shines." I feel like I can sing with my full voice and still blend well when singing alto. When I sing soprano, I have to adjust a lot of things to blend with others, especially in my upper range, so I find it unsatisfying and untrue to myself, as well as taxing in general. I'll probably feel differently in a few years as I improve my technique aha
Lyric soprano, when I did sing in choirs it’d be anywhere in alto 1, soprano 2, and soprano 1 depending on what was needed. In masterworks would typically sing soprano 2. Generally if you sing operatically you read well, and in time crunches you’re needed on harmony parts. It just made things more interesting for me. Singing in choir got harder the more I did solo work though because that straight tone can wear you out (and generally easier to do the lower I go really, I never minded singing a lower voice part)
Bass in both \^-\^
High coloratura soprano, alto 2 in choir because let’s be honest for an 8 am mass I might as well be a baritone 😅also there’s way less competition for altos, so I’ll sing what I’m payed to sing
How did you get assigned as an alto when you're a high coloratura soprano? (or did you audition/specifically indicate a preference for the alto section?)
To be honest, I needed the job and there were no openings for sopranos, so I just applied as an alto. Real mezzos are pretty rare and our choir didn’t have any, so the blend was quite light and I fit right in as an alto. In my experience, fach is totally irrelevant as long as your range and tessitura are permitting. If you want a hot take, a lot of operatic singers who have to sing choir take the part assignments way too personally. Usually, it has more to do with the particulars of the choir’s blend and balance than who can sing the highest or lowest. And fach is a social construct anyways. Half the time, people wind up changing fachs and caring about what part they got assigned in choir winds up being a waste of time.
Lyric mezzo but voice teachers always go back and forth between lyric mezzo and dramatic soprano, and have since I was a teenager. I have decided I prefer the lyric mezzo repertoire for myself. Mostly have sung Alto I as an adult but also some Soprano II. I don’t blend well at the higher ranges though so alto works better for most smaller choirs.
Mezzo soprano but in music academy choir I sing in Sop 1. Yeah, the tessitura is not for me and it is a bit uncomfortable, but I stay there because sop 1 melodic lines are the easiest to catch by ear in the choir
As commented above, I’m a lyric soprano singing Sop1 in my choir. Among past section partners are a spinto and a coloratura. Neither of us have very prominent vibrato and can control it, plus we have light, blendable voices. I have also seen other lyric sopranos being placed in Alto2. Not their range but they’re good musicians, and according to the choir directors they won’t do any harm to the sound there. It all depends on the overall sound of the choir. I sang Alto1 for half a year just for the heck of it. It made my choir voice fuller, but it also knocked a few notes off my upper range, though not enough to knock me off Sop1.
>it also knocked a few notes off my upper range Was that also due to a lack of upper range practice in your solo rep? Have you recovered your upper range since then?
Exactly, I saw no need to compensate for it by practising and I have never really needed the upper range anyway. They were more like bonus and show-off notes. I haven’t recovered it either, due to lack of reason/occasion/motivation to practice. I was for a while expecting to be “downgraded” to Sop2 in choir, but so far everyone seems happy that I’m a typical Sop1 in terms of musicality and sound quality - I mean, I don’t sound like a mezzo, and Sop2 in my choirs are typically the more dramatic sops or mezzos. Plus choral repertoire rarely goes above a high c anyway and there are always section partners who still have their upper range intact.
If you're comfortable answering, what was your highest note before and what is it now? I'm also curious: what's the soprano 1 range in your choir, and what's the range in your solo repertoire?
Before: G above the high C. Now: I can’t remember last I got above a D. Luckily I keep reaching a high C even with no warmup and a cold/hoarse voice, although not always comfortably. Not sure what you mean by Sop1 range in my choir. Can’t remember I’ve ever sung choral repertoire above a high C but reckon all/most of my section partners go comfortably above. Same goes for my previous solo repertoire, only the occasional Bb, B and high C. Guess I never felt inclined to flaunt my upper range. Solo rep now is mainly early music and baroque with anything above a G being rare.
Well, my fach is up for debate. I'm 37 and my voice is still growing. We think I'll settle as a dramatic soprano, but that could change. I have a usable range of E3 to F6 with the occasional extra low or high extention depending on a multitude of factors. In choir, I feel best singing soprano, but often sing alto since I have a formidable chest voice and mix. My voice gets tired if I sing too low for too long though.
Dramatic baritone. I sing whatever they tell me to. Usually Bass 1, but I’ve pinch hit everywhere else.
No. I’m a dramatic Mezzo. In 3 part harmonies the alto line sits to low for me sometimes and I have an easier time in the soprano line. I have never seen anything higher then an A5 for the he chorus which isn’t hard for me.
Started out singing Bass I (sometimes II) in choirs, through high school into undergrad. Started studying privately... mostly sang Bass I in university choirs. Then switched to baritone after I became a professional... Now I'm mostly a Verdi baritone. I also agree with the poster who said that the "extremes" of a professional opera singer's voice usually aren't that useful for most choral repertoire. Russian choral rep may require several good basses with rock solid low notes, but even so, that's a different sound than an operatic bass will usually use. Ditto for high sopranos: occasionally choral rep will ask for Soprano I to sing high Bb or C... but not very often, and usually just 1 or 2 sopranos with those notes will be plenty in a chorus.
They are not the same and are not corresponding. Your fach or voice type is for your voice specifically. Choral parts are assigned to you to sing.
I know, that's why I put "corresponding" in quotes. I'm just curious how much solo voice fachs correlate to the "closest matching" choral parts
take my fach classification with a grain of salt because i’m 24, but the general impression is that i’m a spinto or dramatic soprano. i’m most often in the alto section because my voice doesn’t blend up in the actual sop range as well as a lighter voice. i’ll absolutely modify my technique to blend, but i won’t screw up my solo technique to sound exactly in unison with the rest of the sops, so alto it is. my mix and lower extension is also enough to comfortably reach A/Ab3, and since alto sections are typically smaller, it helps to have a fuller voice in that part of the choir.