December 26, 200916 yr What would your limit be for ranges? (i.e. D3-D4) when composing? I've seen composers go down to say, E or D3 for contraltos and C, even B2 for basses.
December 26, 200916 yr What would your limit be for ranges? (i.e. D3-D4) when composing? I've seen composers go down to say, E or D3 for contraltos and C, even B2 for basses. Care to elaborate?
December 26, 200916 yr The ranges you'll want to use when composing differ widely, depending on your instrumentation. For vocal ranges, there's a pretty handy guide. The notes in (parentheses) are the usual outer limits. These should be used sparingly, and should rarely if ever be used when writing for developing voices. The notes in [brackets] are a good total range for the average singer of that type. The plain notes are the most comfortable tessitura for that voice, where most of the notes should sit. IN GENERAL: Sopranos: (A3) - [C4] - F4 - F5 - [C6] - (F6) Mezzo-Sopranos: (E3) - [G3] - D4 - D5 - [bb5] - (D6) (for contraltos, use this table, transposed down 4 semitones) Tenors: (G2) - [A2] - Eb3 - Eb4 - [C5] - (F5) Baritones: (F2) - [G2] - C3 - C4 - [G4] - (Bb4) Basses: (C2) - [E2] - A2 - A3 - [E4] - (Ab4)
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