Say “Ahh.”

 

The first instrument from which people learn is their voice. 

 

Mimicking the sounds of parents, babies learn words and sounds that will develop a vocabulary to be used throughout life.  Believe it or not, each of us comes naturally equipped with an instrument, the voice.  Generally, the voice can be divided into four categories.  From highest to lowest in pitch we have soprano, alto, tenor and bass.  Women normally sing soprano and alto parts; men normally sing tenor and bass parts.  In a choral setting, these parts are often combined in harmony to create a beautiful, rich sound. 

 

The vocal tessitura is the pitches or notes that a voice can sing comfortably.  A healthy vocal tessitura is generally about two octaves for choral music or about 24 different pitches.  A simple definition of pitch would be how high or low a note sounds.  Experimenting with your voice by copying a sound of a siren for example will help you determine what pitches you can sing comfortably.

 

Cleveland County Schools’ students have an opportunity to learn more about choral music by attending a special event called Cleveland County Elementary Honors Chorus.   This event auditions the top singers in each elementary school to sing in a large chorus on Saturday, March 31 at Kings Mountain High School.