Danny Miller

MUSE 365

Chapter 9: Choosing the Music

Kenneth H. Phillips
2016

9. What is the difference between vocal range and tessitura?

These two terms are often mixed up and misunderstood by many people. The vocal

range of a piece for instance is the total range of pitches that a particular voice part

has to sing. The tessitura of a piece defines what notes a particular voice part hangs

around for a majority of the piece. If we think about the tenor part for any particular

piece, the range of pitches will most likely be around f-f. However, some pieces can

have a tessitura that hangs around the upper part of the range from about d-f and

others can have a tessitura that hangs around the lower part of the range from f-c.

Tessituras can sometimes really define how difficult it is to sing a piece. Coming

from a tenor standpoint, tessituras that revolve around d-f for the whole song can be

very vocally exhausting and difficult to sing. It is not that the tenors cant hit those

notes because it is within the typical range, but when a piece is written in the upper

part of the staff the whole time, it becomes increasingly more difficult. Likewise it

would be very difficult for altos to sing in the lowest part of their range for an

extended period of time, because it takes much more control and breath to

consistently hit those notes. If it is done too much, it can become vocally damaging,

so it is important that choral directors do not pick too much repertoire that includes

difficult tessituras.