I’ll join in. I’m a high Soprano II with Soprano I tendencies.
Coincidental aside: just this evening I spoke with a guy who is a director of a interdenominational community Christian choir around here. He heard me singing softly to BabyTeaElle as I grocery shopped, and stopped me to recruit me into his group. I’ll be visiting him next week; they perform a series of shows for charity during the advent season and I’d love to be a part of that. I’m also hoping that it’ll be a way to make some new connections up here in our new town. Whoo, socializing and choral music!
Alto/mezzo here, and I miss it terribly. Seems there is a shortage of decent choirs around here for the non-religiously inclined. Years ago I sang in the Northwestern University Chorus, which as far as I could ddetermine then was the only decent amateur, non-church choir that admitted non-students/alumni. But I’ve been working late too unpredictably for that lately. I do miss it terribly, though. There’s nothing quite like standing in the middle of 120 people belting out the Dies Irae from the Verdi Requiem.
You got one right here. Several years ago in high school I sang all the Tenor I parts because I was one of the few who could. I don’t know if I can still go that high, but I’m quite sure I could still do Tenor II.
Can’t read music though, which is a huge disadvantage… I have taken part in a number of musicals and choral productions, but I have to get a pianist friend to teach me my part.
It’s the choir at Grace and St. Peter’s Episcopalian church in Downtown Baltimore. It’s a 14-voice choir at the moment. We perform for Mass each Sunday as well as Evensong and other services during the church year. This is my first year with them. The congregation is very appreciative of the choir, and many of us are in paid positions.
In the past I have sung with many choirs, the only one that anyone may have heard of is the Anne Campbell Singers based in Lethbridge, Alberta.
Non-singer piping in here. I wish I could join the SDMB choir, but sadly, I can’t seem to make my voice do what I want it to do. The muscles just don’t work right. I’m always a bit flat.
So let me know if you need a slightly off-key alto to fill out your group. No self pity here, nosirree.
A resounding Amen to that (in eight part harmony with full orchestra accompaniment)!
I’ve sung in choruses, operas and operettas for a good many years, and there’s no sound on earth more glorious than a large chorus and full orchestra belting out, oh, say the fugal section of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, or Carmina Burana, or, of course, Verdi’s opera cleverly masquerading as a Requiem. A few years ago the chorus I belong to performed a Russian program with our Symphony. We performed the 1812 Overture with the hymnal lyrics restored (no cannons, alas – indoor venue), and my personal favorite, The Polovtsian Dances.
I wavered for some years between baritone and tenor, filling in wherever I was needed most. Then one fateful day I heard a recording of my tenor voice and vowed to remain a baritone forevermore.
Most of my singing these days is with our local Gilbert and Sullivan company, where I am the resident patter baritone. This past summer I sang the role of the Lord Chancelor in Iolanthe.
Soprano here! First, please. I can get way the heck up there. I’ve had a couple of years of private lessons as well as being in chorus at school. I’m not singing right now but am seriously considering getting off my butt and finding a teacher here.
My voice teacher in college told me I was a mezzo. I’ve always sung alto in choir, though–second alto, in an SSAA choir all through high school, alto in any other choir I’ve joined. I can do soprano if it’s needed, though, and have with the group I’ve sung with the past few years-- I’ve been singing Sacred Harp. skeptic_ev, maybe there’s a SH group in your area, it doesn’t call for any kind of great talent, just enthusiasm.
A little Sacred Harp alto goes a long way, so I’ll hold back.
I have no idea. I’m one of those people with a good singing voice who won’t do it in public. Makes my wife crazy. I can sing along with Johnny Cash Roy Orbison or Linda Ronstadt, and in their voice ranges. Does that make me a “baralto”? A “bassetto”? Near as I can figger, it’s somewhere around three octaves or so.
I’m–surprise–an alto. I sing with a 180-voice chorus, which is fun, and with a ragged little bunch that sings renaissance motets on the streets of New York, which is a blast.
Bass/baritone checking in (Low D to High G). I currently sing with a small renaissance choir called Vox Lucens. We used to be called Melisuavia’s Lips for reasons not to become clear again anytime soon…
I used to sing alto, way back when I actually used to sing in a choir. Unfortunately, our choir always used to be short of men, so I can actually sing the tenor parts as well.
Well, i can’t. OK, that’s because if trained I’d be a coloratura. I suppose I can sing sop II when called for, or just maybe alto I if there’s nothing below middle C. (I can get down to the A, I guess, but my pitch is wonky down there and there’s no volume to speak of.)
We have quite a few female tenors in our choir, as with most of the university choirs in Australia (there is an organisation of them, we have festivals & meet each other). I was very surprised when a friend of mine tried to join a choir in Germany and got refused by several places because she was a female tenor. According to her they all claimed that there was no such thing, and then the ones that auditioned her agreed that yes, her voice was indeed in the tenor range and too low for alto. But tradition rules, and there shall be no female tenors.
i wonder what they’d think of the female basses I’ve occasionally heard - one of the women in Sweet Honey in the Rock is a genuine bass/baritone in her range. Amazing sound.
PS: skeptic_ev, the more you practice the better you get. If you have a problem pitching precisely, maybe just a few lessons would help. Heaps of people need to train their ears to develop good pitch. I’m lucky on that count, I seem to just have good pitch, but unfortunately my rhythm seriously sucks.
Mezzosoprano to Soprano 2 here, depending on which of my former choir teachers you ask. O’course, lately the only time I get away with singing and not getting weird looks is when I’m in the shower or housecleaning for Mom with my headphones on
The alto who is next to me sings Soprano and Alto, and frequently the two of us will chime in with the Tenors during rehearsal. I remember the days when I had that massive range and could sing descant-tenor. It may come back with practise, but I’m not longing for it or anything.
I sing Alto, mostly in a gospel choir. I can hit the Soprano notes, but I don’t always guarantee they are the right notes :). I can learn music both by ear and sheet music.
You realize we need a couple of pianists and an organist and someone to do the drums and a good base guitar at minimum for our choir to sing to. Well, there are a few pieces of music that we can sing acappella.
