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Harnessing range and tessitura: a conductor's guide to the identification and management of vocal demand in mixed-voice choral repertoire

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Harnessing range and tessitura: a conductor's guide to the identification and management of vocal demand in mixed-voice choral repertoire

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Content Copyright 2023 Laura Leigh Spillane
HARNESSING RANGE AND TESSITURA:
A CONDUCTOR’S GUIDE TO THE IDENTIFICATION AND MANAGEMENT OF VOCAL
DEMAND IN MIXED-VOICE CHORAL REPERTOIRE
by
Laura Leigh Spillane
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC THORNTON SCHOOL OF MUSIC
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS
December 2023

ii
Dedication
With immense gratitude, I dedicate this dissertation to my husband, Jordan, and our
families, whose unwavering encouragement and unconditional love has been vital throughout my
career and has made the pursuit of my professional goals possible.

iii
Acknowledgments
This document is submitted with appreciation to my doctoral committee members, Dr.
Tram Sparks, Dr. Emily Sung, and Dr. Cristian Grases. Thank you for all you have done to guide
and encourage me.
Thank you to the esteemed and generous professors at the University of Southern
California Thornton School of Music, particularly to Dr. Nick Strimple for his repertoire
consultation advice and mentorship and to Professor Lynn Helding for sharing her vocology
expertise and igniting my spark of interest in this research topic.
I am indebted to the varied and vibrant council of music educators, colleagues, and
conductors who have inspired and encouraged me throughout my life and formed me into the
person I am today. To all of my mentors: thank you.

iv
Table of Contents
Dedication ......................................................................................................................................ii
Acknowledgments.........................................................................................................................iii
List of Tables................................................................................................................................. vi
List of Figures .............................................................................................................................viii
List of Musical Examples..........................................................................................................viiix
Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... ix
Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 1
Chapter 1: Definitions and Discussion........................................................................................... 9
Designation of Pitches ........................................................................................................ 9
Range and Tessitura............................................................................................................ 9
Voice Types and Choral Designations.............................................................................. 12
Vocal Folds ................................................................................................................... 13
Vocal Fatigue and Associated Pathologies....................................................................... 15
Vocal Stamina, Demand, and Collision............................................................................ 17
Vocal Rest ................................................................................................................... 18
The Importance of Tessitura Variability........................................................................... 20
Chapter 2: Choral Repertoire Study ............................................................................................. 24
The Case for Identifying Vocal Demand in Choral Music ............................................... 24
Scope of Study .................................................................................................................. 37
Methodology ................................................................................................................... 39
Results ................................................................................................................... 42
Tessitura Midpoints .......................................................................................................... 67
Analysis of Study Results................................................................................................. 70
Conclusions ................................................................................................................... 72
Chapter 3: Recommendations for the Choral Director................................................................. 74
The Importance of a Vocal Exercise Regimen ................................................................. 77
Approaching Non-vibrato Singing.................................................................................... 83
Individualized Singer Protocol ......................................................................................... 86
Managing Extracurricular Vocal Demand........................................................................ 87
The Promotion of Agency................................................................................................. 88
Embracing Vocal Naps..................................................................................................... 92
Considerations for Future Study ....................................................................................... 95
Bibliography................................................................................................................................. 98

v
Appendices................................................................................................................................. 104
Appendix A: Hertz Chart................................................................................................ 104
Appendix B: Choral Works Identified in “Essential Choral Repertoire for the
Undergraduate Music Major” ................................................................. 109
Appendix C: Choral Range and Tessitura Parameters According to the American
Academy of Teachers of Singing............................................................ 110
Appendix D: Choral Repertoire Study Results............................................................... 112
Appendix E: Tessitura in The Diagnosis and Correction of Vocal Faults..................... 115

vi
List of Tables
Table 2.1 - Representative Pieces Studied ................................................................................... 39
Table 2.2 - Range and Tessitura: Missa ‘Pange lingua’ by Josquin des Prez ............................. 45
Table 2.3 - Range and Tessitura: Messiah (HWV 56) Part I (Choruses) by George Frideric
Handel ................................................................................................................... 47
Table 2.4 - Range and Tessitura: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125: IV. “Finale" by
Ludwig van Beethoven ........................................................................................ 51
Table 2.5 - Range and Tessitura: Ein deutsches Requiem by Johannes Brahms ......................... 53
Table 2.6 - Range and Tessitura: Gloria by Francis Poulenc ...................................................... 57
Table 2.7 - Range and Tessitura: “Sicut cervus” by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina ................ 60
Table 2.8 - Range and Tessitura: Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden (BWV 230) by Johann
Sebastian Bach ..................................................................................................... 62
Table 2.9 - Range and Tessitura: “Ave verum corpus” (K. 618) by Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart .................................................................................................................. 64
Table 2.10 - Range and Tessitura: Trois chansons de Charles d’Orléans by Claude Debussy .. 65
Table 2.11 - Range and Tessitura: “O magnum mysterium” by Morten Lauridsen .................... 67
Table 2.12 - Range and Tessitura Revisited: “O magnum mysterium” by Morten Lauridsen .... 68
Table 2.13 - Observed Instances of Higher Range and Tessitura for Major and Minor Works .. 71
Table 2.14 - Observed Instances of Higher Tessitura for the Major Work ................................. 71
Table 2.15 - Observed Instances of Higher Tessitura for the Minor Works ................................ 72

vii
List of Figures
Figure 1.1 - Designation of Pitches ................................................................................................ 9
Figure 1.2 - Range and Tessitura for SATB, with Divisi ............................................................ 11
Figure 1.3 - Range and Tessitura for SATB, without Divisi ....................................................... 12
Figure 2.1 - Tessitura Midpoints for Trois chansons de Charles d’Orléans by Claude
Debussy ................................................................................................................ 69
Figure 2.2 - Tessitura Midpoints for “O magnum mysterium” by Morten Lauridsen ................. 69

viii
List of Musical Examples
Musical Example 1.1 - "Kyrie" from Missa ‘Pange lingua’ by Josquin de Prez, mm. 5-9 ......... 29
Musical Example 1.2 - "Even when he is silent" by Kim André Arnesen, mm. 4-6 ................... 29
Musical Example 2.1 - “Even when he is silent” by Kim André Arnesen, mm. 30-38 ............... 29
Musical Example 2.2 - “Caro mio ben” by Giuseppe Giordani, mm. 21-25 ............................... 35
Musical Example 2.3 - “Ave verum corpus” by William Byrd, mm. 1-8 .................................. 35
Musical Example 2.4 - VI. “Prestissimo” from IV. “Finale,” Symphony No. 9 in D Minor,
Ludwig van Beethoven, mm. 30-40 ..................................................................... 50
Musical Example 2.5 - “Laudamus te” from Gloria by Francis Poulenc, mm. 22-25 ................ 56
Musical Example 2.6 - “Sicut cervus” by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, mm. 13-18 ............ 60
Musical Example 2.7 - “Ave verum corpus” (K. 618) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,
mm. 1-10 .............................................................................................................. 64

ix
Abstract
One of the most important differences between solo vocal singing and choral singing
contexts is the vocal demand inherent in each. While choral directors glean and apply helpful
vocal instruction from science-informed vocal pedagogy primarily concerned with the solo
vocalist, blanket application of solo-specific vocal pedagogy is inappropriate in a choral setting.
Such an approach not only disregards the uniqueness of each vocal instrument’s needs and innate
strengths but also fails to account for the vocal demand difference between solo and choral
singing. The purpose of this study is to model the techniques required for choral directors to
examine the actual range and tessitura requirements of each choral voice part (soprano, alto,
tenor, and bass) in the choral repertoire they select for their ensembles, and then harness the
results to generate best practices that equip vocalists with the necessary skills to manage this
vocal demand.
It is crucial for the choral director to understand the vocal demand placed on singers by
the repertoire they choose for their choirs to rehearse and perform. A primary factor affecting
vocal demand is pitch level: the range and tessitura of the written vocal line, and whether it
aligns with the innate range and tessitura of each singer, is of paramount importance in the effort
to promote vocal stamina and delay the onset of vocal fatigue. A mismatch between a singer’s
innate range and tessitura and the actual, experienced range and tessitura required of them in the
choral setting will play a direct role in singer fatigue, particularly if the voice is asked to sing
higher than is comfortable: for example, the tessitura of the soprano line for an assigned choral
piece may be much higher or lower than an individual soprano singer’s inherent tessitura, and
therefore ill-suited for that singer.

x
This study includes an investigation into the tessitura and range requirements of choral
singing by examining a selection of mixed-voice, primarily four-part, choral works, which are
standard performance pieces at the collegiate level. The selection is comprised of five
representative major (longer, mainly choral-orchestral) works and five representative minor
(shorter, either unaccompanied or accompanied) works. Range and tessitura were recorded for
each voice part. The overall results showed that, compared with ranges considered to be optimal
for preserving the voice in choral settings, 83% of all pieces studied required a higher-thanoptimal tessitura, and 53% of all pieces studied required higher-than-optimal ranges from
singers. The study results were then applied to inform best-practice approaches for rehearsing
and performing such repertoire, with the twin goals of building vocal stamina and delaying the
onset of vocal fatigue.

1
Introduction
Science-based voice pedagogy research has filtered into the choral world primarily
through the conferences, outreach, and publications of leading organizations focused on
pedagogy of the solo singing voice, namely the National Association of Teachers of Singing
(NATS) 1 and the American Academy of Teachers of Singing (AATS).2 Choral directors
studying vocal pedagogy traditionally focus on pedagogy of the solo voice, which they then
apply in their choral rehearsals.
3 Undoubtedly, this sharing of basic knowledge about the
scientific workings of acoustics and the inner workings of the biological vocal mechanism has
positively affected the knowledge base and teaching practices of many choral directors and has
been passed along to their students. However, there are many differences between solo singing
and choral singing, and choristers should be primed to meet the challenges presented to them in
the process of contributing to a chorus.
Solo singers learn both to use and care for their voices in specific ways through targeted
practice regimens, individual lessons with an instructor, and even through personal behavioral
modifications (e.g., understanding how diet, lifestyle, and speaking habits affect their
instrument), with the goal of vocal flourishing. However, when vocalists operate under a
1 NATS is an organization “[d]riven by its mission statement and values … committed to offering scienceinformed pedagogy resources for voice teachers.” “Science-Informed Voice Pedagogy Resources,” National
Association of Teachers of Singing, 2023, accessed 1 Aug. 2023,
https://www.nats.org/cgi/page.cgi/ScienceInformed_Voice_Pedagogy_Resources.html.
2 “The American Academy of Teachers of Singing is a select group of internationally recognized voice teachers
and singing voice experts founded in 1922 with the express purpose of contributing to the singing profession in
an advisory capacity.” “Who are we?” American Academy of Teachers of Singing, 2023, accessed 17 Sep.
2023, https://www.americanacademyofteachersofsinging.org/.
3 James F. Daugherty, “On The Voice: Rethinking How Voices Work In a Choral Ensemble,” The Choral
Journal 42, no. 5 (2001): 69, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23554028.

2
conductor’s direction in a group setting, instructions, vocal exercises, and accommodations
tailored to the individual are often absent or under-prioritized.
Vocal fatigue can lead to injury if the fatigued voice is overutilized, and the extent to
which singers can avert vocal fatigue differs for each person. If a singer is feeling vocally tired in
her individual practice session, she is able to take breaks as needed. Such autonomy may not be
afforded to singers in a choral setting. Instead, choral singers who feel the effects of vocal fatigue
may feel obligated to continue phonating, potentially due to factors such as a desire to contribute
to the team, to please a conductor asking for an improved result from the choir, or even for the
sake of maintaining pride among one’s peers. Additionally, choral directors may not be attentive
to the fact that singers are fatigued or becoming fatigued in the normal process of a choral
rehearsal.
At the collegiate level, a singer’s private voice instructor has the ability (and
responsibility) to monitor that singer’s vocal progression closely through regular lessons in a
vocal studio and to offer singer-specific recommendations, practice regimens, and instructions.
Choral directors are often not capable of this level of monitoring with their singers and must rely
on symptoms of fatigue gathered from assessing the group. The collegiate choral director is
partially responsible for the care of many, if not all, of the vocalists studying at that university,
yet due to the very nature of a chorus, they are not able to engage in individualized vocal
monitoring and instruction.
Further, it is evident why choral directors may be hesitant to offer specific vocal
technique instruction to singers. If a choral director gives a specific instruction that might help
one singer, it could confuse or misdirect another. For example, a choral director might notice that
three of five sopranos in a section are over-darkening the vowel on a relatively high pitch. She
might suggest that the sopranos should brighten the vowel, which she knows would increase

3
Formant 2, allowing for greater resonance in the higher pitches. But when all of the sopranos
heed her instruction, if one of the singers in the section was already producing a bright tone, that
well-intentioned choral singer might over-brighten, resulting in an inefficient or disrupted
phonation technique. The vocal instructions offered from the choral conductor’s podium may,
therefore, be interpreted by her singers as unhelpful, vague, or confusing. The issue may be
further complicated when choral directors do not feel at liberty to offer vocal suggestions to
singers who may have received different instruction from their private voice teachers.
It is true that all types of singing, and their components respiration, phonation,
resonation, and articulation, are similar at their core. However, choral singing involves a
combination of unique individuals involved in a group activity with different acoustical
properties, goals, and vocal requirements than solo singing. As voice researcher and pedagogue
James Daugherty states, “no two vocal instruments are constructed precisely the same way (e.g.,
size and shape of the vocal cavities and resonating chambers, and length and tension of the vocal
cords).”4 Solo vocal instruction should not be blanket-applied to a choral setting, as such an
approach would fail to address important differences between the solo and choral contexts.
Singers in the solo voice studio are able to practice, rehearse, and perform at times and
for durations which are suitable for them, using repertoire suited to their individual needs and
appropriate for their voice type. The variety of ability and vocal stamina levels present in a
rehearsal room guarantee that some singers will vocally tire or become bored more quickly than
others; each person and each voice have a unique set of needs. Importantly, the different voice
types will also experience different vocal demand, partially because of the tessiture5 encountered
4 Daugherty, “On The Voice,” 69.
5 Tessiture is the plural form of tessitura.

4
in the repertoire sung. The habits and personal experiences unique to each singer also contribute
to the degrees of vocal stamina in the choral rehearsal room: the singer who has not slept well in
a week due to illness or stress will have different vocal needs and strengths than the singer who
is healthy and has been sleeping normally, for example. While the choral director cannot be held
responsible for each singer’s behavior and personal lifestyle habits outside of the rehearsal room
or performance hall, she can rehearse in a manner which is considerate of vocal demand and
educate singers in order to equip them with the knowledge of how to best care for their specific
vocal needs. She can positively impact choral singing experiences, and thus vocal longevity, by
understanding best-practice routines and techniques to incorporate into the corporate warm-up,
rehearsal, and cool-down processes.
Impetus of Study
Choral directors and vocal instructors share a common goal of promoting, preserving, and
encouraging singer longevity and the ability to sing healthfully, both in the short-term and
throughout a singer’s lifetime. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for voice instructors and choir
students to express frustration when participation in the choral art seems to fatigue singers’
instruments. When a choral conductor instructs an ensemble with vague (lacking the nuance to
apply to individual voices) or inaccurate vocal technique advice, it can be damaging or at least
confusing for singers, just as it would if the scenario was applied by a voice teacher in the private
teaching studio. Miguel Felipe and Maya Hoover, writing from their perspectives as a voice
teacher and a choral director, respectively, address this issue in their 2017 article, stating:

5
Choral singing is a group activity: technical language is used to encourage the
sound of dozens of people and not to inform the habits of one. The conductor
works toward a unified sound, and many students, lacking proper information,
manipulate their technique as a means to comply. As a result, voice teachers have
drawn the conclusion that choral singing is unhealthy, may damage technique,
and presents unrealistic expectations for developing singers.6

Choral directors can evaluate the above scenario, considering the aforementioned examples, and
appreciate that this frustration commonly held by solo voice instructors is not always an
unfounded one. Rather than receiving individual instruction from a voice teacher, as would a
solo singer in a one-on-one lesson, choral singers, especially at the amateur level, might receive
a significant portion of their vocal training and information about vocal production from their
choral director, whose primary focus must be on fostering and developing a variety of voices
rather than focusing on the faults and innate skills of individual singers. How can the choral
director, who spends hours each week encouraging different vocal qualities, delivering vocal
training, and guiding singers through rehearsal processes in a group setting manage to strengthen
a multitude of voices and minimize vocal fatigue, simultaneously monitoring each individual’s
vocal demand?
The pedagogically focused choral director will seek to understand the vocal demand
inherent in the choral setting, then operate using practices which work best for each unique voice
under their baton, allowing for individual singer advocacy and promoting vocal development
throughout the rehearsal and performance process. In the choral ensemble setting, the choral
director has both the opportunity and responsibility to empower individual vocalists to allow
6 Miguel Felipe and Maya Hoover, “On the Voice: Striking the Balance: Creating and Nurturing Positive
Relationships between Voice Teacher and Choral Conductor.” The Choral Journal 57, no. 9 (2017): 46-47.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/26355456.

6
their voices to flourish through accurate technical vocal production instruction, and to facilitate
healthy vocal practices in a supportive environment which honors singer advocacy.
In order to prime the voice to successfully navigate the inherent challenges encountered
in the choral setting, which are different from those of the voice studio, a fitness-building choral
rehearsal approach and warm-up routine may be specifically designed. Since the vocal
mechanism mainly consists of muscles, these can be developed by applying principles of
building strength: a singer of any age can strengthen these muscles with the goal of vocal
fitness.7 If misused, neglected, or improperly cared for, the singing voice is more susceptible to
becoming fatigued, even to the point of pathology, which can have damaging physical and
psychological ramifications. Leading choristers to embrace a targeted practicing regimen
focused on the underlying goal of building vocal stamina will help singers to shield against such
issues and help build a sense of agency with regard to caring for their instrument. Further, a
choral director who specifically designs the choral rehearsal with the goal of inculcating vocal
stamina in the tessiture required of the choral literature being sung will bolster singers’ vocal
fitness, optimizing efficiency and building longevity while staving off vocal fatigue and injury.
In the choral rehearsal, singers are presented with a set of circumstances which they may
encounter less often in the solo vocal context, including: singing in a non-ideal tessitura,
operating in close proximity to other singers, being asked to sing with minimal or no vibrato,
singing at dynamic extremes, and singing for extended periods of time, often without breaks.
Voice scientist Ingo Titze notes that choristers indicate feeling vocally fatigued “when rehearsals
7 Duane Cottrell, “Building Vocal Strength With Sustained Tone Warm-Ups,” The Choral Journal 56, no. 3
(2015): 73, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24580635.

7
are exceedingly long or performances are spaced too closely (e.g., on tours).”8 When presented
with these challenges, some singers may feel disengaged, discouraged, or vocally exhausted;
they may want to react to these perceptions and realities by removing their voice from the
process entirely, citing the need to rest their voice due to fatigue. Singers absent from or not
vocally contributing to the rehearsal process for days or more can frustrate the choral director
and upend their rehearsal plan. Further, the perception of fatigue, as distinct from actual vocal
fatigue, may occur when singers are disengaged, or feel tired not due to overactivity, but to
boredom.9 Hypoengagement (a lack of energetic singing) can cause fatigue just as easily as
hyperengagement (overly muscular singing), albeit in different ways.
Leveraging advances in voice science as well as voice teaching approaches that have
withstood the test of time, choral directors can creatively retool the choral rehearsal in order to
facilitate vocal fitness in choristers. Before they can accomplish this, they should understand
how vocally demanding their repertoire will be on each singer. Singer education, paired with
intentional practice of the routines, exercises, and vocal tract postures that facilitate a robust
vocal fitness in the choral rehearsal, can aid in staving off choral singers’ experiences and
perceptions of fatigue. Science-informed principles should guide rehearsal planning, warm-ups,
cool-downs, and rehearsal techniques, empowering the choral director to habilitate a choir of
voices in the most ideal manner possible, specifically equipping them to sing the repertoire
assigned. The result is the development of a consort of self-assessing vocalists who are neither
8 Ingo R. Titze, “Getting the Most from the Vocal Instrument in a Choral Setting,” The Choral Journal 49, no. 5
(2008): 37, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23556989.
9 Ibid.

8
overly taxed nor under-exercised and who are able to succeed in meeting the rehearsal and
performance requirements set forth.
Outline of Study
Terminology utilized in this document will be defined and discussed in Chapter 2, which
will culminate in a discussion about the importance of identifying vocal demand. In Chapter 3,
the survey methodology and results are shared after an examination of range and tessitura
required in a subset of standard compositions from across genres and eras in choral literature.
Results will be analyzed and conclusions drawn before Chapter 3 offers recommendations for the
choral director’s successful application of this information. Building upon the prior examination,
recommendations will be made in order to apply stamina-building methods to the choral
rehearsal, within the context of a mixed-voice, undergraduate ensemble of singers. Identifying
vocal demand, while paying particular attention to range and tessitura, will inform choral
rehearsal and performance protocols. In this way, conductors may structure the choral rehearsal
to protect singers from fatigue and promote vocal stamina.

9
Chapter 1: Definitions and Discussion
Designation of Pitches
Scientific pitch notation will be adhered to throughout this study and discussion. In
scientific pitch notation, pitches are designated by octave register using a letter and number
system. C4 represents “middle C” on the keyboard, the C one octave above C4 is C5, the C one
octave below C4 is C3, and so on. This is represented in
Figure 1.1 below.
Figure 1.1 – Designation of Pitches1
Flat pitches are recorded with “b” and sharps with “#”, so an Eb4 refers to an E-flat in the fourth
octave, on the lowest line of the treble clef.
Range and Tessitura
Range refers to the interval which encompasses the extent of the voice, from the lowest to
the highest note.2 A range can be identified as the interval of notes required of a singer in a
composition and can also refer to the extent of the inherent vocal mechanism unique to each
1 L.S. Lloyd and Richard Rastall, "Pitch nomenclature," Grove Music Online, 2001, accessed 10 Jun. 2023,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.
2 Julian Rushton, "Range," Grove Music Online, 2001, accessed 31 Jul. 2023,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.

10
individual. Ranges are also approximated for voice types, such as the choral designations
soprano, alto, tenor, and bass, which are the typical voice parts in a mixed-voice chorus,
consisting of both treble and BBT (bass, baritone, and tenor) parts.
3 AFAB and AMAB, assigned
female at birth and assigned male at birth, respectively, are the current terminology for use when
discussing issues of voice that have traditionally been referred to with gendered language (e.g.,
men and women, boys and girls, etc.).
Tessitura describes the part of the range which is most frequently called upon or most
often used in a piece of music.4 A singer can also have an innate tessitura, which is the group of
pitches which is the best, most comfortable portion of the singer’s instrument. The innate
tessitura often dictates the classification of a voice (i.e., soprano, mezzo-soprano, and baritone).
The tessitura of a piece of music can be classified as demanding or comfortable depending on
whether it sits in the extremes of a singer’s range, or if it more closely aligns with a singer’s
innate tessitura.5 Two musical examples can have the same range and different tessiture.6
Similarly, two singers with the same range might have different innate tessitura, and therefore
might be classified as different voice types in a choral or solo setting. Therefore, tessitura is a
better determining factor for voice classification than range.
3 While range can also be used to refer to one’s parameters of capability, that definition will not be applied here.
As Ruston notes, “‘Range’ is used particularly of the human voice, and in this context may be defined in several
different ways: according to common practice (‘the range of the soprano part in choral writing is usually from c′
to a″’); in terms of a particular composition or repertory (‘the range of the Schubert lied seldom exceeds a
10th’); or according to ability (‘her voice had an unusually large range, extending from a to d‴’).” Ibid.
4 Owen Jander, "Tessitura," Grove Music Online, 2001, accessed 4 Aug. 2023,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.
5 “The role of Siegfried in Wagner's Ring, for example, ranges from c♯ to c″, but its tessitura would be
described as high (and very demanding) because the tenor is required to sing phrases in the range c′ to a′, with
great frequency (and often at high volume).” Ibid.
6 See Appendix E: Tessitura in The Diagnosis and Correction of Vocal Faults for examples of two different
tessiture demonstrated within the same range.

11
There are recommended optimal singing tessiture for each voice type in a choral setting,
as defined by the American Academy of Teachers of Singing (AATS). These so-determined
“safest and best” ranges and tessiture of soprano, alto, tenor, and bass singers, the major
categories in a mixed-voice ensemble, are as follows. S1 refers to a soprano singing the higher
pitches in a two-part soprano line, S2 refers to the soprano singing the lower pitches in that line,
and so forth.
Figure 1.2 – Range and Tessitura for SATB, with Divisi7
7 Shirlee Emmons and Constance Chase, Prescriptions for Choral Excellence: Tone, Text, Dynamic Leadership
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), 314.

12
For four-part choral singing (without divisi), recommended ranges and tessiture are as follows:
Figure 1.3 - Range and Tessitura for SATB, without Divisi
These range and tessitura interval bands denote the pitch levels considered optimal for choral
singers by the AATS and are primarily referred to in the study which follows.
Voice Types and Choral Designations
Choral directors adhere to the practice of sorting their singers into choral designations,
specific subsets of the choir (soprano, alto, tenor, and bass sections), in order to best sing the
textures indicated in most mixed-ensemble literature. Conductors commonly depend on voice
placement practices, sometimes termed choral hearings or auditions, in order to place students in
sections which will allow them to harness their most natural singing range. Whenever possible,
conductors assign choristers choral designations which best align with their innate voice type,

13
indicated by parameters such as range, tessitura, timbre, and comfort level. Sometimes, due to
uneven numbers of personnel in each section, conductors may ask certain singers to staff a choral
designation which is not most closely aligned with their own, in order for the choir to have the
most balanced voicing. The assumption made by these practices is that the sung choral repertoire
will closely align with the resulting choral designation of the voice placement.
Vocal Folds
The vocal folds are a pair of structures located in the larynx that are made of muscle and
covered by delicate tissue. Each vocal fold has a layered structure, consisting of (from outermost
to innermost:) the epithelium (mucosal membrane), lamina propria (connective tissue), and
vocalis muscle (thyroarytenoid muscle). Only the outermost layer, the epithelium, vibrates to
produce sound. The vocal folds sit atop the trachea, opening to allow for breathing and joining
together, nearly closing, to create a pressure valve referred to as the glottis while phonating.
8
Volume (loudness) is increased as the air blown through the vocal folds increases in
pressure, at which point the vocal folds must increase tension in order to maintain interthoracic
pressure. This is so that they are not blown apart, which would allow the increase in air pressure
to disrupt the flow of phonation.9 Singers with weak or injured vocal folds are not able to
appropriately exert this type of valving tension effectively.10
Adjusting tension in the vocal folds is also how pitch is changed, as described below:
8 Weill Cornell Medicine, Sean Parker Institute for the Voice, “Normal Voice Function,” accessed 12 Aug.
2023, https://voice.weill.cornell.edu/voice-evaluation/normal-voice-function.
9 Ibid.
10 Ibid.

14
The frequency of the mucosal wave determines the pitch of the voice. In addition
to opening and closing, the vocal folds are able to lengthen and shorten, and this
forms an important means of increasing vocal fold tension. Just as tuning a guitar
string will adjust its pitch, so will changing tension on the vocal folds. In the case
of vocal folds, however, tension must be altered symmetrically. A person
performs this activity rapidly and precisely, and many times over the course of a
short conversation.11
When singing, the vocal fold mucosa vibrate at specific rates, which correspond to
specific pitches. The chart in Appendix A: Hertz Chart shows each pitch, its wavelength, and its
frequency. Notably, the progression from lower to higher pitches is non-linear; for example, the
difference between C3 (130.81 Hz) and C4 (261.63 Hz) is 130.82 Hz, while the distance between
C4 (261.63 Hz) and C5 (523.25 Hz) is 261.62 Hz. Consider another example: the difference in
Hertz (and therefore wave form of the vocal fold mucosa) from A5 (880.00 Hz) up a single
whole step to B5 (987.77 Hz) is 107.77 Hz, nearly as large as the octave difference between C3
and C4. The effect of this phenomenon is that singing higher pitches is more taxing on the vocal
folds than singing lower pitches, as mucosal wave frequency increases at an increasing rate. This
illustrates why high notes seem so far apart at the top of a singer’s range: acoustically, they are
farther apart than lower pitches.
Optimal functioning of the vocal folds is contingent upon proper viscoelasticity of the
epithelium, as well as uniformity of the stratified epithelium, which can be scarred by injury or
surgery.12 The most important factor in determining the viscoelasticity level of the epithelium is
hydration. Aside from injuries related to overuse and dehydration, other factors, such as poor diet
11 Ibid.
12 Mioko Fukahori et al., “Regeneration of Vocal Fold Mucosa Using Tissue-Engineered Structures with Oral
Mucosal Cells,” PLoS ONE 11, No. 1 (2016), https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0146151.

15
and even the effects of some medication, can negatively affect the epithelium and lamina propria,
which are especially integral to the process of phonation.
Shear stress is a type of force that acts coplanar with, or parallel to, a cross-section of
material.13 Shear stress is naturally exerted on the mucosal membrane during phonation as the
column of air passing through the vocal folds creates an imposed stress. A poorly hydrated
epithelium under shear stress is susceptible to cell damage, which requires time to heal through
cell regeneration.
Vocal Fatigue and Associated Pathologies
Vocal fatigue is “a diminished vocal ability (or the perception of such by the performer)
when effort remains the same.”14 Research suggests that vocal fatigue generally falls into one of
two main categories: muscle fatigue and material fatigue.
15
Muscle fatigue, as defined by otolaryngologists Chang and Karnell, is the tiring of both
the intrinsic and extrinsic laryngeal muscles: the fine muscles inside the larynx including the
vocalis muscle and the muscles outside of the larynx which support the laryngeal structure.16
Material fatigue occurs when there is vocal fold tissue damage resulting from an overexposure to
vocal fold vibration.17
13 Encyclopedia Britannica, "shear stress," ed. William L. Hosch, accessed 27 Jul. 2023,
https://www.britannica.com/science/shear-stress.
14 Titze, “Getting the most,” 37.
15 Research suggests a third category of vocal fatigue: mental fatigue. Mental fatigue, as the name suggests, is
not a physical condition, but rather may be misreported as such by singers who are simply bored with the choral
process. Titze, “Getting the most,” 37.
16 Ann Chang and Michael P. Karnell, “Perceived phonatory effort and phonation threshold pressure across a
prolonged voice loading task: a study of vocal fatigue,” Journal of Voice 18, no. 4 (2004): 454–466,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvoice.2004.01.004.
17 Titze, “Getting the most,” 37.

16
Extensive or prolonged muscle fatigue can lead to effortful voicing, reduced range and
control, pain, shear stress on the mucosa, and injury, as well as phonation disorders such as
muscle tension dysphonia (MTD),
18 which can result from compensatory laryngeal muscle
involvement as a result of chronic fatigue or misuse of the vocal system. Because MTD is the
result of maladaptive, habitual muscular behaviors, it requires targeted, intensive voice therapy
to resolve. Notably for choral directors, excessive loudness and overuse have been identified as
contributors to MTD, which occurs more often in treble voices than in BBT voices.19 MTD can
result in loss of range and change of voice category (and choral designation), which can be
psychologically difficult for a singer.
Material fatigue pathologies include polyps, nodules, cysts, and various other disorders
which can involve the epithelium, lamina propria, and the vocalis muscle itself. Such pathologies
limit the extent to which the vocal folds can approximate, or join together, evenly. Improper
vocal fold closure is often indicated by hoarseness. As the Sean Parker Institute of Voice states,
“[t]ethered or stiff mucosa resulting from a change in the lamina propria, as in vocal fold scar,
will not vibrate well or at all, regardless of the vocal fold closure. Sometimes, a large mass like a
cyst or polyp blocks both the vocal folds from closing and the mucosa from vibrating.”20
18 “Muscle tension dysphonia is a maladaptive and inefficient pattern of voice production resulting from a
combination of poor breath support and unnecessary muscle tension. There is hypercontraction of the intrinsic
and extrinsic laryngeal muscles as well as the facial, jaw, neck, and shoulder muscles…The cause of primary
MTD is often multifactorial and includes stress-induced muscular tension, vocal overuse, and poor vocal
technique in the absence of an underlying vocal fold lesion. Secondary MTD refers to tension resulting from
compensatory mechanisms due to an underlying insult to vocal production.” Weill Cornell Medicine, Sean
Parker Institute for the Voice, “Muscle Tension Dysphonia,” accessed 12 May 2023,
https://voice.weill.cornell.edu/voice-disorders/muscle-tensiondysphonia.
19 Jeanne C. Goffi-Fynn and Linda M. Carroll, “Collaboration and conquest: MTD as viewed by voice teacher
(singing voice specialist) and speech-language pathologist,” Journal of Voice 27, no. 3 (2013),
doi:10.1016/j.jvoice.2012.12.009.
20 Weill Cornell Medicine, “Normal Voice Function.”

17
Voice disorders and vocal fold pathologies should be diagnosed and addressed by a
physician rather than the choral conductor; however, as choral conductors can play an important
role in the prevention of such disorders and pathologies, they should be mindful of the potential
damage that may result from fatigue.
Vocal Stamina, Demand, and Collision
Applying principles of exercise and muscle training to the voice, voice researchers Mary
Sandage and Matthew Hoch have established the concept of vocal fitness as “optimal vocal
function as a result of optimally functioning intrinsic laryngeal muscles.”21 A key measure of
vocal fitness is vocal stamina. Building vocal stamina by increasing muscular capacity in the
intrinsic laryngeal muscles and respiratory system to increase endurance and delay the onset of
fatigue through routine practice allows a singer’s vocal mechanism as a whole to operate
efficiently and adeptly, thus maintaining the minimum effort required to achieve optimal vocal
production. A more robust vocal stamina also allows a singer to withstand greater vocal demand.
Vocal demand (also referred to as vocal dose or vocal load in vocology literature),
22
refers to the amount (duration) and kind (quality and volume) of voicing required of a singer
21 “In vocal training, excellent vocal technique will lead to optimal vocal function.” Mary J. Sandage and
Matthew Hoch, “Exercise Physiology: Perspective for Vocal Training,” Journal of Singing 74, no. 4 (2018),
419.
22 Eric J. Hunter et al., “Toward a Consensus Description of Vocal Effort, Vocal Load, Vocal Loading, and
Vocal Fatigue.” Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 63, no. 2 (2001): 509–532,
https://doi.org/10.1044/2019_JSLHR-19-00057.

18
through both singing and speaking.23 The simplest measure of vocal demand is duration, or
voicing time, which “accumulates the total time the vocal folds vibrate during speech.”24
When the vocal folds vibrate to sustain a tone, they collide; vocal fold collisions are
contacts made by the vocal folds in the process of vibrating together to produce sound. As voice
scientist Ingo Titze notes, “Repeated vocal fold collision and large vibrational amplitudes tend to
traumatize vocal fold tissues.”25 Titze suggests that singers should employ strategies aimed at
“minimizing these vibrational and collision stresses while stretching muscles and ligaments for
better control of pitch and loudness.”26 Minimizing the stress placed on the vocal folds will result
in minimal strain for maximum optimal voicing, contributing to the vocal efficiency and
longevity idealized by choral singers and directors alike.
Vocal Rest
Vocal rest is a cessation of any vocal sound for a period of time. In the medical field, it is
prescribed as a healing modality after vocal fold injury or surgery.27 Given the aforementioned
risks involved when vocal demand is disproportionate to vocal stamina, “[t]here has been a
23 “An operating definition of vocal load is yet to be determined. Load may be a matter of vocal amplitude or
loudness used. Vocal load may also be determined by total aggregate vocal dose accumulated throughout a
given workday or performance. Vocal demand may also be influenced by the cardiorespiratory load imposed
during voicing, as with some music theater performers who engage in high intensity dance while singing.” Ibid.,
421.
24 Ingo R. Titze, Jan G. Svec, and Peter S. Popolo, “Vocal dose measures: quantifying accumulated vibration
exposure in vocal fold tissues,” Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 46, 4 (2003): 920,
doi:10.1044/1092-4388(2003/072).
25 Ibid.
26 Titze, “Getting the most,” 36.
27 Lauren Timmons Sund, a CCCSLP at the University of Southern California Voice Center, stated: “In the
medical literature and in clinical practice we still use voice rest as a healing modality, but it is used judiciously
and typically acutely (e.g. if we see acute phonotraumatic changes, a limited course of voice rest is
recommended and sometimes paired with oral steroids. We also use voice rest postoperatively for microflap
excisions of phonotraumatic lesions)....Prolonged periods of voice rest without a particular reason are typically
advised against.” Lauren Timmons Sund, email message to author, 21 September 2022.

19
tendency for singing teachers in recent decades to be overly cautious with perceived vocal
fatigue.”28 However, except in cases when a singer is afflicted with significant tissue damage,
complete vocal rest is a rather drastic reaction to vocal fatigue. As Sandage and Hoch note:
Voice rest may be the best course of action for the voice immediately following
surgery or in the case of laryngeal injury that requires a minimum of vocal fold
contact to promote healing. In a high level performer, however, adapted voice use
may be a wiser course of action than extended voice rest to preserve most or all of
the muscle and motor learning adaptations that the performer has achieved.29
Thus, a relatively healthy singer who takes the approach of absolute vocal rest risks a
deterioration of her vocal progress, resulting in a backslide of vocal stamina that must be rebuilt.
Since the vocal mechanism is mainly constructed by muscles which can be trained and
strengthened over time with directed use, exercise science clearly shows that vocal rest is not the
best course of action for building the voice. Vocal rest is called for when a singer is recovering
from a severe pathology, intervention, or vocal injury, yet modified or adapted voice use is
usually the better course of action with an overtly tired voice, so that the singer’s muscle and
motor learning adaptations are not lost by a long chasm of neglect.30 Famed voice pedagogue
Richard Miller addressed this plainly in his seminal textbook: “…it is quite true that inactivity
encourages sluggish muscle coordination, and that daily use of the whole vocal instrument is
necessary to general vocal health for the singer.”31
28 Sandage and Hoch, “Exercise physiology,” 423.
29 Ibid., 419.
30 Ibid.
31 Richard Miller, The Structure of Singing: System and Art in Vocal Technique, (London: Schirmer Books,
1986), 229.

20
The Importance of Tessitura Variability
If the tessitura of a certain voice part in a piece of music is not sufficiently variable, and
if vocal demand requires relatively long duration of singing time without sufficient breaks,
fatigue will be inevitable.32 Singing at higher pitch levels involves higher rates of vocal fold
collision. Therefore, since excessive vocal fold collision exposure is a pathway to material
fatigue, regardless of voice type, singing at a lower tessitura is normally less vocally fatiguing
than singing at a high tessitura.33 The American Academy of Teachers of Singing stated the
following regarding choral music:
We believe that a general tendency exists among composers and arrangers to
write voice parts in a dangerously high TESSITURA, and that continued singing
in this high TESSITURA is apt to strain and even permanently injure young and
adolescent voices and prevent normal development of the vocal apparatus.34
Choral music generally has less tessitura variability than solo literature and tends to be written at
a higher pitch level, predisposing singers to fatigue. The risk of excessive vocal fold collision
exposure resulting in material fatigue is greater in this scenario, which, as noted above, can lead
to scarring on the mucosal membrane and voice disorders. This is a particularly relevant concern
in choral music, much of which is constructed harmonically and uses chord-building as the main
compositional underpinning. Such a compositional style requires choral sections to act as chordtone members and therefore is less focused on the melodic line encountered in each voice part;
particularly when harmonic motion is relatively slow, composers will tend to write choral
32 Titze, “Getting the most,” 36.
33 “If you can sing well in two different tessituras, it is the better part of wisdom to choose the one which is less
fatiguing vocally. Normally this will be the lower one.” James McKinney, The Diagnosis and Correction of
Vocal Faults, Long Grove, Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc. 1994, 115.
34 Emmons and Chase, Prescriptions, 313.

21
tessiture with little variance throughout the piece in order to communicate the composite chord
structure. Contrapuntal music, such as that of Renaissance polyphony, offers more melodic
variety to its constituent voice parts due to its linear construction. Consider the relative tessitura
variety offered by the vocal polyphony in the following example by Josquin des Prez (c.
1450/55-1521).
Musical Example 1.1 - "Kyrie" from Missa ‘Pange lingua’ by Josquin de Prez, mm. 5-9
The tessitura variance in the phrases, particularly in the soprano and alto lines, are depicted well
in this excerpt, showing that singers will not be required to sing at the same pitch level without
variety. By contrast, consider this example from a twentieth-century choral work by Kim André
Arnesen (b. 1980).

22
Musical Example 1.2 - "Even when he is silent" by Kim André Arnesen, mm. 4-6
In “Even when he is silent,” an a cappella choral piece, Arnesen utilizes the choir to
construct chords and build tension and release through the slow movement of chords,
suspensions, and variation in volume, all primarily through homophony. Due to the slow
harmonic rhythm, many of the choral voices are required to sing repeated pitches, sometimes for
many beats and measures at a time. For instance, in measures four through six, all voice parts
(except for bass) inhabit the same tessiture, if not the same pitch, for many beats in a row, a
technique which is required for much of the piece.
An objectively extreme vocal demand poses a problem that robustness of vocal stamina
itself cannot solve.35 Consider the following example proposed by Ingo Titze:
35 Titze, “Getting the most,” 37.

23
If the vocal folds were to vibrate continuously for 20 minutes (without
interruption), the industrial limit for hand vibration exposure in tool use would
already be exceeded. Holding a power tool, such as an electric drill or concrete
breaker, continuously for more than 20 minutes (adjusting for differences in
frequency and amplitude), would challenge the safety limit.36
Considering the potential danger of material fatigue, the voicing breaks and pauses that occur in
the normal course of the choral rehearsal play a critical role in the prevention of vocal fatigue,
and, when harnessed effectively, can aid in building vocal stamina.37 Even short breaks in vocal
fold collision limit the risks related to vibration exposure. As noted by speech-language
pathologist Lauren Timmons Sund, “short durations of ‘vocal naps’ (i.e. voice rest) can be used
in ‘vocal budgeting’ in order to establish a healthy vocal dose.”38 These vocal naps are naturally
built into even the most fast-paced choral rehearsals; for example, when the choral director is
exclusively rehearsing a duet line between altos and tenors, the sopranos and basses will have an
opportunity for a vocal nap. Similarly, short voicing breaks take place in rehearsal settings when
directors share instructions or interpretive thoughts, when singers are engaged in listening
activities, when singers engage in audiation exercises, and so forth. Whether five minutes or only
sixty seconds of non-voicing, this sort of vocal napping reduces the duration of continuous vocal
fold collision and minimizes the related risks.
36 Ibid, 37-38.
37 Titze, “Getting the most,” 38.
38 Lauren Timmons Sund, Email message to author, 21 September 2022.

24
Chapter 2: Choral Repertoire Study
The Case for Identifying Vocal Demand in Choral Music
Choral directors and their singers have a common goal of longevity. No choir director
wants her singers to be vocally exhausted or injured, and singers want to feel confident that their
singing techniques are optimal and their instruments are performing reliably. In addition, singers
benefit from feeling like meaningful contributors whose input makes a significant difference to
the corporate output. The choral rehearsal itself has the potential to be an incubator for voice
building, a sort of ‘voice gym’ where singers can practice, exercise, and strengthen their voices,
rather than a breeding ground for reinforcing bad technical habits and facilitating vocal
exhaustion. Constructing such a rehearsal environment must start from a place of awareness and
understanding on the part of the conductor.
Choral music often occupies tessiture which may not be optimal for all singers. Choral
directors can first identify the range and tessitura requirements embedded in the repertoire they
select for their choirs to sing in rehearsal and performance. With this information, they may
compare written scores with the choral range and tessitura guidelines put forth by the AATS to
identify any disparity that may exist.
1 At this point, a path can be forged toward designing the
choral rehearsal process not only to mitigate demand-related vocal fatigue, but also to promote
singer vocal stamina.
1 See Appendix C: Choral Range and Tessitura Parameters According to the American Academy of Teachers of
Singing.

25
Repertoire Composition as it Relates to Vocal Demand
The comfort of singers is likely not the foremost concern of composers. As Ludwig van
Beethoven (1770-1827) said to his violinist friend Schuppanzingh after he complained of the
difficulty of a passage Beethoven had written, “[do you] believe that I think of a wretched fiddle
when the spirit speaks to me?”2 Surely, composers should not always constrain their inspiration
to conform to the narrow margins of what an amateur’s capabilities might be. The AATS states,
“The TESSITURA limitations do not prohibit the composer and arranger from writing for the
full RANGE of the voice.”3 Nevertheless, it is important for conductors to be cognizant of when
a movement or a choral work sits outside of the parameters, given the potential risks of vocal
fatigue and the potential opportunities for vocal strength training.
The purpose of this study is not to criticize choral composers for writing outside of the
“safest and best”4 tessiture for each voice type; rather, it is to model the techniques required for
choral directors to determine the actual range and tessitura requirements of their selected
repertoire in order to use that information to craft best-practice approaches for rehearsing and
performing such repertoire. In this study, representative standards of the undergraduate-level,
mixed-voice choral repertoire will be examined and their tessitura and range demands discussed,
with conclusions drawn for rehearsal practices which will work towards the goal of promoting
vocal health.
2 4, “On Composing,” in Ludwig van Beethoven, Beethoven: The Man and the Artist, As Revealed in His Own
Words, edited by Friedrich Kerst and Henry Edward Krehbiel, (Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg, 2009,
accessed 4 Aug. 2023), https://www.gutenberg.org/files/3528/3528-h/3528-h.htm.
3 Emphasis in original. Emmons and Chase, Prescriptions, 313.
4 Ibid.

26
The fatigue-affected parties in mixed-voice choirs are often those phonating at relatively
higher pitches (i.e., sopranos and tenors). Science provides an explanation for this phenomenon:
an alto singing an A4 (440 Hz) is experiencing 440 vocal fold collisions per second, while a
soprano singing an octave higher, an A5 (880 Hz), experiences 880 collisions a second. In this
scenario, the vocal fold tissue collision exposure is occurring at twice the rate for the soprano
than it is for the alto, while they are singing just one octave apart. Similarly, if a tenor is singing
an A3, at 220 Hz, and therefore experiencing 220 collisions per second, and a bass is singing an
A2, at 110 Hz and 110 collisions per second, the tenor is likewise experiencing twice the amount
of collision exposure. Therefore, the difference between the tenor collision exposure relative to
bass and the soprano collision exposure relative to alto are both described by a 100% increase in
Hertz and collision rate of the mucosal membranes of the vocal folds.5
It is important to note that for both higher and lower voices, it is vocally taxing to sing
outside one’s optimal innate tessitura. As James C. McKinney states, “Vocal longevity bears a
direct relationship to vocal comfort. If you can sing well in two different tessituras, it is the
better part of wisdom to choose the one which is less fatiguing vocally.”6 While sopranos are
often required to sing higher than altos, if they always sang below the required tessitura, this
would also not be ideal for their voice, because it is still a misalignment of innate and required
tessitura.
5 Note that the rationale for comparing treble voices (sopranos and altos) and BBT voices (tenors and basses)
relates to their respective similarities in vocal tract anatomy. That is, as soprano and alto singers typically have
similar anatomical features, they likewise tend to have comparable range capabilities, so it is appropriate to
compare the collision experiences of sopranos and altos. The same is true for tenors relative to basses: BBT
voices tend to have similar anatomical features and range capabilities, so it is appropriate to compare tenors and
basses.
6 Emphasis in original. McKinney, The Diagnosis and Correction of Vocal Faults, 115.

27
Of course, the example of bass, tenor, alto, and soprano in a composition singing A2, A3,
A4, and A5, respectively, is overly simplistic; composers do not generally separate the four voice
parts by exact octaves. Nevertheless, soprano vocal lines are higher than alto vocal lines in the
choral setting, and tenor lines higher than bass lines. When vocal lines exceed normal tessitura
ranges, vocal demand is meaningfully increased. The concern of this study is the frequency with
which each of the choral voice types is asked to sing outside of (higher or lower than) optimal
boundaries in a choral setting in order to gauge the impact of range- and tessitura-related vocal
demand in choral compositions.
Duration Exposure in Choral Compositions
In the choral setting, singers are often asked to sing at a particular tessitura for the great
majority of a section, work, rehearsal, or concert. This is the result of a number of factors: of
course, this can be due to the pitch levels written by a composer, or because of a director
rehearsing the same section repeatedly, asking singers to continually phonate at the same pitch
levels, without sufficient variety of rehearsal techniques which might allow for tessitura variety
or short vocal breaks. Vocal dose is greatly affected by duration of voicing, with or without the
presence of tessitura variety. As Emmons and Chase note:
Choir singers are probably using their voices for 95 percent of a rehearsal or
performance, whereas solo singers are not usually asked to use their voices more
than 50 percent of the performance time in most orchestral concerts, oratorios, or
operas. A hallowed rule of health for singers is not to use the voice for more than
two hours a day…Many choir rehearsals last longer than that. Many choral
concerts last longer than that. Many rehearsals that shortly precede a three-hour
choral performance last longer than that. Thus choir singers’ voices are stressed
by the very length of their rehearsals and performances.7
7 Ibid, p. 184.

28
Choral singing might predispose a vocalist to vocal fatigue due to duration, not only
because of lengthy rehearsal and performance time, but also as it relates to spending lots of time
voicing at the same pitch level with little variability within a piece of music itself. This issue of
duration and invariability of pitch level is particularly prevalent in modern choral music which
relies more on chordal, harmonic scaffolding rather than the melodic independence of lines, and
might require singers to sing around a certain pitch or two for a greater amount of time relative to
solo repertoire or more contrapuntally-driven choral music, especially those singers in the lower
sections, as the tendency is for composers to write the melody line in the top voice for support by
the lower three. Consider the tenor and bass lines in the modern choral work “Even when he is
silent” by Kim André Arnesen, a section of which is presented in Musical Example 2.1:

29
The basses, according to the four-part optimal tessitura chart,8 are singing above of their
optimal tessitura, which is defined as Bb2-F3, from the first bar, measure 30. The G3 is only one
whole step above the boundary of Bb2-F3, so it should not be an issue, but it becomes taxing
8 See Appendix C.
Musical Example 2.1 - “Even when he is silent” by Kim André Arnesen, mm. 30-38

30
when basses are required to stay there. The bass line, from measure thirty to thirty-five, requires
the singing of a G3 repeatedly, with no breaks and no pitch variation. Similarly, the tenor 1 and 2
lines are sitting at the very top of their optimal tessitura bands (A3-E4 and F3-C4, respectively)
from measures thirty to thirty-five, with no variety. Such relative stasis in the pitches sung with
no significant opportunities for vocal breaks (in the form of rests) is a risk factor for being very
taxing on the voice. Additionally, when the pitches finally do change, they move to even higher
pitches in the singers’ ranges. The D4s encountered by the basses in mm. 37-38 are
recommended to be the highest limit of their range. Similarly, the G4s sung by the tenors in mm.
37-38 are recommended as the highest limit of their range. Singing at such a relatively high pitch
level to one’s innate comfortable pitch level, or tessitura, near-consistently with no opportunities
for breaks will predispose the voice to fatigue without specific vocal training and empathetic
rehearsal procedures carried out by the director.
Additionally, the dynamic demands of this section are of great importance: generally, it is
considered an advanced skill, and is harder, to sing softly at higher pitches. The AATS states
“that the easiest VOLUME for singers in the upper half of the range is best vocalized MEZZOFORTE, and that successful PIANO and PIANISSIMO singing are more difficult and require
training and guidance.”9 Asking amateur students to produce soft, high pitches in slow pieces
consistently, perhaps for numerous times in a long rehearsal period without an effort to prime the
vocal muscles to withstand such vocal demand and without thoughtful rehearsal practices would
be similar to asking a person to run a marathon without training. Even if willing and enthusiastic,
9 Emmons and Chase, Prescriptions, 314.

31
they will most likely not be able to succeed without pulling out of the race at times to take a short
rest, or compromising their technique in order to succeed, rendering them vulnerable to injury.
Solo Repertoire Demand v. Choral Repertoire Demand
Extended voicing at extremes of range, or outside of one’s tessitura, generally
predisposes one to vocal fatigue, something that more often can be seen in choral repertoire than
solo repertoire. The material sung by the BBT group in Musical Example 2.1 would not be
artistically compelling as a solo vocal melody with its static nature; the BBTs are serving as
harmonic support to the melodic treble voices, and providing dramatic propulsion to the climax
of the piece. By contrast, solo repertoire is often more variant because the soloist is singing
melodically rather than with a harmonic or supportive role. In the course of a solo singer’s
repertoire, the pitches required (their vocal demand) are usually suited for their tessitura, and
likely come close to spanning the singer’s range rather than situating them around one or two
pitches for a long period of time. This is the case because the singer, or the voice teacher, chose
the piece with the performer’s voice and capabilities in mind. While it is true that in a solo art
song or aria, the melody may jump up to or dip down within extremes of the vocal range, which
is expected to be larger than that of the average choral vocalist, these excursions generally do not
constitute “extended voicing at extremes of range” because their duration is relatively limited.10
By contrast, choral repertoire is chosen not by each individual singer, by the choir director, and
this choice may be made without each individual voice’s tessiture in mind, thus the tessitura of
each section’s line might not be suitable for each singer. As Ingo Titze states:
In brief, choral singing does not allow the singer the freedom to adjust the
10 McKinney, The Diagnosis and Correction of Vocal Faults, 114.

32
tessitura of the song to the tessitura of the voice. Soloists sometimes (but not
always) have the advantage of changing the key signature to ‘put the song into
their voice.’ As a result, fatigue may set in sooner in choral singing than in solo
singing, even though the overall sound level produced may be less.11
Thus, the variability of the pitch content as well as the probability of the written tessitura of a
piece aligning with a singer’s tessitura in the solo scenario may result in a less taxing vocal
experience relative to choral singing. If choral singers are aware of the advanced challenges
(which lead to incredibly gratifying and worthwhile rewards) in the choral art, they can be
encouraged to overcome them, and build their vocal stamina to anticipate the quality of fitness
needed to flourish when singing choral music.
Choral Designation Classification
Because range and tessitura are so important, and choral designations are expected to sing
in particular ranges and tessiture, the classification of voices becomes an obviously vital concern.
Choral voice part classification is a huge component with regard to vocal demand and fatigue.
Choristers may be sorted into sections inaccurately. Singers may be biased toward a particular
section for which they are not actually best-suited, or may be asked to sing a different part in
order to provide balance to an unevenly-staffed choir. Research shows that, in particular, many
choral sopranos and tenors will be required to sing in tessiture that may not be ideal for their
voice type.12 Voice scientist Ingo Titze states that:
11 Titze, “Getting the most,” 39.
12 Sharon A. Hansen et al., “Choral Directors are from Mars and Voice Teachers are from Venus: The Top Ten
Complaints From Both Sides of the Aisle,” The Choral Journal 52, no. 9 (2012): 54.

33
Most male adult singers are baritones and most female adult singers are mezzo
sopranos. Voice classification according to physiologic principles follows a
normal bell curve, a unimodal distribution that would assign about two-thirds of
all voices to the intermediate categories. Sopranos, altos, tenors and basses are
outliers, yet they are the only classes under the standard SATB arrangements.
This means that about two-thirds of all choir singers will sing parts that are not
ideally suited for them. There will be bari-tenors and bari-basses, and there will
be mezzo-soprano sopranos and mezzo-soprano altos.13
Choral singers’ innate tessiture may be at odds with their vocal part assignment. Common
scenarios in choral settings include singers being asked to sing in a different section based on
external factors beyond balancing an uneven choral cohort of singers, such as in service of
mitigating interpersonal conflicts, or based on sight-reading ability. In part because of this issue,
choral singing may be more fatiguing for these types of singers relative to other types of singing
in which they engage.
Therefore, a key component to consider in choral repertoire selection is the range and
tessitura demand the music makes of the choral singer, which contributes to vocal demand in a
manner unique to the choral rehearsal (as contrasted by the solo vocal studio). The American
Academy of Teachers of Singing proclaimed that “a great many teachers of singing hesitate to
allow their pupils to participate in choral singing because experience has proven that, due to the
unusually high tessituras dominating the arrangements of many choral works, harm is done to the
voice.”14 This sort of conflict between choral director and voice teacher has unfortunately
13 Titze, “Getting the most,” p. 38. ; Many voice professionals might believe that most AFAB humans are
sopranos. Therefore, it is important to consider that, in this context, Titze is referencing lyric mezzo sopranos,
not dramatic mezzo sopranos. His comments are contextualized by the understanding that a lyric mezzo’s
tessitura sits only two to three whole steps down from a soprano’s, and that choral soprano, alto, tenor, and bass
classifications are different than those used in the classical, solo voice setting.
14 Emmons and Chase, Prescriptions, 313.

34
historically existed in the respective fields. As Felipe and Hoover explain, particularly with
regard to the issue of repertoire selection:
Voice teachers select repertoire that is intended to address the specific technical or
artistic needs of an individual singer…choir conductors do not have that luxury.
Conductors must select music that meets the needs of a larger group, form a
reasonable program each semester, and provide a balance of opportunities (style,
language, accompaniment, etc.) for the members. In response, the voice teacher
often concludes that the students’ individual needs in favor of ensemble and
programming ambitions. The conductor assumes that the voice teacher does not
appreciate the role of a choral program or the value of the centuries-old tradition
of choral singing.15
This sort of misunderstanding of intention is extremely detrimental and unfortunate.
There is great value in both art forms, and in having students tackle both bodies of repertoire.
Solo voice literature often has, by contrast to choral literature, a more comfortable (or
appropriate) tessitura for its singer. Due to the nature of individual selection for or by the soloist,
the tessitura written into the piece is more likely to align with the singer’s own. Solo literature
might also offer more pitch variability and a wider tessitura; choral music, especially of the
twenty-first century which is focused on homophony and chordal harmonies, has, by
comparison, less pitch variety and a smaller range of pitches sung for each specific voice part, as
the forthcoming study will illustrate. Consider, for example, the following phrase, from the
reprise of the A section of the popular Italian solo vocal piece, “Caro mio ben,” attributed to
Giuseppe Giordani (1751-1798).
15 Felipe and Hoover, “On the Voice: Striking the Balance,” 47.

35
Musical Example 2.2 – “Caro mio ben” by Giuseppe Giordani, mm. 21-25
This melody in this phrase is representative of the pitch variety exhibited throughout the
piece. The range is an octave, and the vocal melody inhabits, fairly evenly, all of the diatonic
members of that octave from Eb4 to Eb5. The tessitura of the piece, where the piece seems to lie,
is therefore fairly variable throughout the range; one could not argue that the piece centers
around G4 or around C5 since the phrase inhabits the entire octave with such variety. So, the
phrase, and the piece, can be understood to span the octave relatively evenly rather than have a
tessitura which favors a particular fifth. By contrast, consider the ranges and tessiture in the
following example, taken from the opening measures of “Ave verum corpus” by English
Renaissance composer William Byrd (1540-1623).
Musical Example 2.3 – “Ave verum corpus” by William Byrd, mm. 1-8
By contrast to the natural constraints of the solo vocalist, the entire choir, considered to

36
be operating as one vocal instrument, has inherently greater range capabilities. The written range
of the phrase for the entire choir is from G2 to D5. The width of ranges of the individual voice
parts in comparison to one another vary, and can be examined more specifically. Consider the
bass and alto lines: the bass range here is from G2 to B3, spanning a tenth, yet the alto range is
from C4 to F4, spanning only a fourth. The bass line has a tessitura between D3 and A3, with a
few jumps below and above. The alto tessitura is the same as its range, C4 to F4. Singing in the
same tessitura for a prolonged period can be taxing for a singer, to a greater extent than singing a
piece with more pitch variety.
When considering the variance of complexity between the two aforementioned voice
parts, the conductor can expect the bass section to require more repetitions, or passes, through
the phrase than the altos, as the bass line has more rhythmic and melodic interest than the alto
line, and may be more difficult for the singers to grasp. The alto part, with many repeated or
stepwise pitches, all falling in the same narrow range and tessitura, might be expected to be
easily acquired by the altos. However, if singers are all asked to rehearse the phrase for several
repetitions so that the basses can confidently practice their more complex line, the tessitura of the
alto line might contribute to mental and muscular fatigue simply based on limited variety and
excessive repetition of singing in such a tessitura. Considering the tessitura demands of each
vocal part being sung can revolutionize the manner in which choral directors rehearse pieces, and
potentially increase vocal stamina, therefore contributing to singer longevity and satisfaction,
while staving off vocal and mental fatigue. This is an example of how applying the results of a
careful examination of range and tessitura can influence choral experiences and positively affect
singer stamina.

37
Scope of Study
Analyzing the actual tessitura and range requirements for each voice part in a choir is
critical for understanding how singers vocal demand is affected. This is an idea offered by James
C. McKinney in his The Diagnosis and Correction of Vocal Faults; here, he talks about the
usable range for a soloist:
Classification by range has one practical application which is often overlooked or
ignored. If a person is to call himself a tenor, this implies that he has the range
needed to sing most of the literature written for that voice. Why call yourself a
tenor if your upper range is so limited that most tenor literature is closed to you?
This is parading under false colors, to say the least. One way to arrive at the range
of the tenor voice is to examine a wealth of vocal literature written for that voice
to see what sort of range is required to sing not all but most of it. The same
approach is valid for all the voice categories.16
The task of examining range and tessitura in solo vocal literature is already mammoth.
The challenge is exponentially larger with choral literature. The choral art is a centuries-old
tradition and includes vastly more literature than the solo arena, with more choral music being
written daily, ever-increasing the scope of choral repertoire available. Since the invention of
compositional software, composing has become a more accessible pursuit, and compositional
output has greatly increased. In the choral art, one must examine multiple voice parts to assess
range and tessitura, causing a further multiplicity.
How would one go about bounding this gargantuan problem, creating an aggregate range
and tessitura for the massive field of choral music repertoire for all voice types? The issues
become readily apparent: would such an average of range and tessitura data even be helpful?
Would the wildly different tessitura and range of, for example, centuries of unison Gregorian
16 McKinney, The Diagnosis and Correction of Vocal Faults, 114.

38
chant and the choral acrobatics required in Ludwig van Beethoven’s (1770-1827) Missa solemnis
cancel each other out, resulting in a range and tessitura median dishonoring the requirements of
both? Would Hungarian folk music and Mozartian opera choruses combine meaningfully? If the
focus might be shifted in accordance with the music that is most often being performed today,
there is a trend in the choral field of choosing to perform more music by contemporary
composers: therefore, should only modern music be evaluated? This approach would exclude the
previous centuries of foundational choral repertoire. A more reasonable and potentially more
helpful approach is to select choral pieces considered standard fare, spanning eras. Thus, the
author has chosen to identify a set of stalwart goalposts in the repertoire. These pieces represent
music of various genre, from motets to large, choral-orchestral works, and ranging in
compositional era from the Renaissance to Modern, to then extract the range and tessitura
requirements for each voice part from each of these pieces.
There are pieces in the choral literature which are notoriously fatiguing, including the
aforementioned Missa solemnis by Ludwig van Beethoven and Messe pour double choeur a
cappella by Frank Martin. Previous studies have identified excessive range and tessitura in a few
specific, especially fatiguing pieces in the repertoire. One such study of note is Jennaya Jorie
Robison’s 2013 dissertation examining Messe pour double choeur by Frank Martin, in which
Robison offers re-voicing suggestions, termed “choral pivoting,” in order for conductors to
mitigate the extreme tessitura and duration demands of the piece.17 However, no study (to the
author’s knowledge) has attempted to approach a survey of choral pieces in the vein of the one
17 Jennaya Jorie Robison, "Choral Pivoting Solutions for Tessitura-Related Vocal Fatigue in Frank Martin's
Messe pour double choeur a cappella,” The University of Arizona, 2013, ProQuest: 3561151.

39
presented here. This study seeks to evaluate so-called standard repertoire, with the goal of
examining the tessitura demands of repertoire being sung in collegiate mixed-voice ensembles.
Ten frequently performed choral works were selected on the grounds that they are likely
for an undergraduate choral singer to encounter within four years of singing in a collegiate choral
environment. The study includes two categories of scale which are both encountered at the
collegiate level: major and minor works, where major refers to larger-scale pieces, which are
choral-orchestral or multi-movement works, and minor refers to smaller-scale, shorter pieces,
which may be cappella or accompanied. With five major works and five minor works
representing the five historical style periods in Western art music (Renaissance, Baroque,
Classical, Romantic, and twentieth century), the pieces examined are likely to be encountered in
undergraduate institutions over the course of four academic years. A 2004 American Choral
Directors Association article presented the findings of a repertoire survey given to collegiate
choral directors, which are presented in Appendix B: Choral Works Identified in “Essential
Choral Repertoire for the Undergraduate Music Major” Since covering a variety of styles and
music eras is an important tenet of programming in the choral field, slight alterations were made
in order to introduce variety to the works examined in this study.
Methodology
For each piece listed in Table 2.1 - Representative Pieces Studied, the range for each
voice part was identified and recorded, with the lowest pitch followed by the highest pitch (for
example, C4-A5). Then, after an evaluation of the piece or section, tessitura for each voice part

40
was determined and recorded in the same order: lowest pitch, then highest.
18 When there was
divisi within a choral section, the range of the higher part was listed first, followed by a slash,
and then the range of the lower part. (For instance, soprano 1 and soprano 2 ranges were
represented in the result table in that order: D4-Ab5 / C4-F5.) The tessitura was determined
according to the pitches which the vocal line most often used. For purposes of this study, the
tessitura was uniformly considered to inhabit the interval of a fifth.19 Multi-movement and longer
works were broken down and analyzed by movement or section in order for the results to be as
illustrative as possible.
18 In keeping with the tessitura ranges with the interval of a fifth as defined by the American Academy of
Teachers of Singing, which, both for mixed-voice choir and mixed-voice choir with divisi, are available in Appendix
C.
19 In the case of pieces or movements which had a range smaller than a fifth, the tessitura was made smaller
than the fifth.

41
Table 2.1 - Representative Pieces Studied
No. Era Scale of
Work Composer Title
1 Renaissance Major Josquin dez Prez Missa ‘Pange lingua’
2 Baroque Major George Frideric Handel Messiah, Part I
3 Classical Major Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D Minor
4 Romantic Major Johannes Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem
5 Twentiethcentury Major Francis Poulenc Gloria
6 Renaissance Minor Giovanni Pierluigi da
Palestrina “Sicut cervus”
7 Baroque Minor Johann Sebastian Bach Lobet den Herrn, alle
Heiden
8 Classical Minor Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart “Ave verum corpus”
9 Romantic Minor Claude Debussy Trois chansons de Charles
d’Orléans
10 Twentiethcentury Minor Morten Lauridsen “O magnum mysterium”
Classifying tessitura for an entire piece of music can be complex if the piece incorporates
a wide variety of pitches with a fair amount of tessitura variability. For instance, the bass line in
a movement of a piece might have a relatively low tessitura for its A section, followed by a high
tessitura for the B section, and a medium tessitura for the C section. In such a scenario, form aids
in defining tessitura for the entire movement: the tessitura would be recorded with the pitch band
which represented a medium tessitura in an effort to reflect the averages of the tessiture of the
three sections of the piece. This procedure was followed, and the identification of tessitura at
times depended upon the artistic discretion of the author, who identified the pitch band which
most accurately represented the heart of the vocal line in each instance.

42
After results were gathered for all ten works, each interval was compared to the
American Academy of Teachers of Singing (AATS) recommended ranges for choral singers.20
When choral voicing included four-part divisi, represented by soprano, alto, tenor, and bass lines,
the four-part tessitura chart was used. When choral voicing was divided, the corresponding voice
parts were compared with the tessitura chart with divisi. When choral divisi within a single voice
part was so brief or otherwise inconsequential to the range and tessitura of a piece, it was
regarded de minimis, and the piece was evaluated as a four-part piece without divisi. The results
of the comparison are reflected in color-coding of the tables in Appendix D: cells highlighted in green
reflect a pitch band which is congruent with the AATS recommendation, yellow reflects a pitch
band which exceeds the AATS recommendation on the higher boundary, and blue reflects a pitch
band which exceeds the AATS recommendation on the lower boundary. In circumstances where
both high and low boundaries were crossed, the individual text color of the lowest pitch is blue,
and the cell is highlighted in yellow.
Results
Major Work No. 1: Missa ‘Pange lingua’ by Josquin des Prez
Franco-Flemish Renaissance composer Josquin des Prez (c. 1450/55-1521) is heralded as
one of the most important mid-Renaissance composers, and his music shows compositional
stylistic influences which span the late Medieval and High Renaissance eras.21 One of his later
masses, the Missa ‘Pange lingua’ is a paraphrase mass based on the “Pange lingua” chant written
20 See Appendix C: Choral Range and Tessitura Parameters According to the American Academy of Teachers
of Singing.
21 Patrick Macey et al., "Josquin (Lebloitte dit) des Prez," Grove Music Online, 2001, accessed 2 Aug. 2023,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.

43
by Thomas Aquinas for the Vespers of Corpus Christi. In this work, he sets the “Pange lingua”
melody to the text of the Mass ordinary, and he spreads the “Pange lingua” melody throughout
all of the voice parts, elaborating and ornamenting the melody throughout the mass.22 The Missa
is thought to be his last composed work and was likely composed in 1514, then published in print
in 1539 in a collection titled Missae tredicim.23 While this is one of Josquin’s last masses, it
contains stellar examples of Josquin’s multiple compositional styles as they progressed
throughout his life; the work incorporates the rhythmic intensity which typified his earlier
masses alongside the sense of transcendent piety which characterized his later masses. While
mainly contrapuntal, the work notably contains a few specifically chosen moments of
homophony, particularly in the “et incarnatus est” section of the Credo. There, the texture shift
illuminates the important moment of the incarnation (one of Josquin’s compositional focuses) in
a striking way.
Historical insight into performance practice regarding key is of particular importance
when studying this mass in the context of range and tessitura. A singer himself, Josquin wrote his
sacred music for chapel choirs ranging from four singers (one person on a voice part) to thirty (at
the Sistine Chapel in 1521).
24 The church choirs of this period were comprised of men and boys,
and boys would almost exclusively staff the soprano part (and would, only on occasion, be
joined in their section by a single adult male soprano).
25 The mixed-voice ensembles engaging
with this repertoire today are typically no longer exclusionary of women and AFAB voices, so
22 Ibid.
23 Ibid.
24 Barbara L. Hall, “The ‘Missa Pange lingua’ of Josquin Des Prez: An Approach to Renaissance Performance
Practice,” The Choral Journal 26, no. 7 (1986): 5, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23546946.
25 Ibid.

44
performances of mixed repertoire includes primarily AFAB voices staffing the treble parts. This
poses a unique issue when considering in which key to perform Josquin’s music. There is debate
among scholars regarding which pitch area and key was actually used in Josquin’s time. As
scholar and conductor Barbara Hall mentions, “because of the original disposition for men and
boys, most Renaissance sacred works are too low for performance by a mixed choir at original
pitch.”26 Therefore, Hall recommends transposition up a third. Hall notes that transposing a key
up by the interval of a second or a third “was not infrequent during the Renaissance…Only in
cases of the association of a particular tessitura with a symbolic meaning, such as the unusually
low range of some Requiem Mass settings, would a reasonable and practical transposition not
serve the music.”27 The performance edition used for this analysis is in C minor, up a third from
the original, in keeping with Hall’s recommendation and common performance practice.
There are typical tessiture inhabited by the vocal lines in each movement of the Missa
‘Pange lingua,’ and they are recorded in
Table 2., where “R” means range, and “T” means tessitura.
26 Ibid.
27 Ibid., 6.

45
Table 2.2 - Range and Tessitura: Missa ‘Pange lingua’ by Josquin des Prez
SECTION SOP R SOP T ALTO R ALTO T TEN R TEN T BASS R BASS T
I. Kyrie F4-G5 G4-D5 G3-Bb4 C4-G4 F3-Ab4 Bb3-F4 Bb2-C4 D3-A3
II. Gloria F4-G5 Bb4-F5 G3-Bb4 Eb4-Bb4 Eb3-Ab4 Bb3-F4 Bb2-C4 Eb3-Bb3
III. Credo Eb4-G5 Ab4-Eb5 Eb3-Bb4 C4-G4 F3-G4 Bb3-F4 Bb2-D4 C3-G3
IV. Sanctus F4-F5 G4-D5 Bb3-Bb4 C4-G4 Eb3-Ab4 Bb3-F4 Bb2-Eb4 F3-C4
V. Benedictus n/a n/a n/a n/a F3-G4 Bb3-F4 Bb2-Eb4 D3-A3
VI. Agnus
Dei Eb4-F5 Ab4-Eb5 Eb3-Bb4 Ab3-Eb4 Eb3-Ab4 C4-G4 Bb2-Eb4 E3-B3
Salient features observed from the study include the following: the fifth movement,
“Benedictus,” contains no writing for the treble voices. The range of the soprano lies around a
ninth, while the alto and tenor tend to encompass an octave and a half. The bass range tends
toward two octaves, making for a different experience across the voice parts regarding range.
The tenor tessitura is exactly the same for the first five movements, from Bb3-F4, and only
changes by moving a whole step for the last movement, indicating a long duration. The tessiture
for the tenor and bass lines are higher than the optimal tessiture for four-part choral ensembles in
every movement, while the alto tessiture are within range for movements I, II, and IV, and lower
than for III and VI. The soprano tessiture are within range for III and VI, lower than the optimal
range for I and IV, and higher for movement II. Therefore, since the ranges of the soprano and
alto lines are optimal for preserving vocal function, and the majority of tessiture for each
movement are either in-range or below-range for the treble voices, the treble voices are more
likely to have less fatigue when singing this piece. By contrast, the high tessiture (all
movements) and often high ranges (movements IV, V, and VI for the basses are higher than

46
optimal; movements I, II, IV, and VI are higher than optimal) indicate a higher risk of fatigue for
tenors and basses.
Major Work No. 2: Messiah (HWV 56) by George Frideric Handel, Part I (Choruses)
The Messiah earns its place on this list due to its place as one of the most popular
classical pieces of any era. Its composer, George Frideric Handel (1685-1759), is regarded as one
of the greatest Baroque composers. While he composed in all musical genres, he is well-known
for his orchestral works, oratorios, and operas. Messiah is an English-language oratorio which
was premiered in Dublin, Ireland in 1741.28 The libretto, prepared by Charles Jennens, was
created from Scripture (specifically, the King James Bible and the Coverdale Psalter) for the
purpose of depicting Jesus Christ as the true Messiah.29 A large-scale oratorio for orchestra,
chorus, and soloists, the work is divided into three thematic sections, aligning with Handel’s
typical three-part opera structure. Part I describes the Old Testament prophecies and the Nativity,
Part II deals with Jesus’s Passion, death, resurrection, and ascension, culminating in the
Hallelujah Chorus, and Part III celebrates the promise of redemption in the form of eternal life
through the Messiah.
30 Due to the intimidating scope of the piece, which, when presented in its
entirety is around two hours and thirty minutes in length, it is accepted practice for many
ensembles to perform Part I alone, with the beloved Hallelujah Chorus from Part II added to the
end of the performance. Due to the subject matter of Part I, it is sometimes referred to as the
28 Anthony Hicks, "Handel [Händel, Hendel], George Frideric," Grove Music Online, 2001, accessed 2 Aug.
2023, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.
29 Ibid.
30 Ibid.

47
“Christmas” portion of Messiah and is commonly performed (or offered as a singalong in some
communities) around Christmastime, in December.
Part I consists of eighteen movements31 which alternate between solo recitative,
accompagnato, aria, and chorus, and instrumental forms. The seven choruses (including the
“Hallelujah” Chorus, No. 39) were evaluated as part of this study, as follows:
Table 2.2 - Range and Tessitura: Messiah Part I (Choruses) by George Frideric Handel
SECTION SOP R SOP T ALTO R ALTO T TEN R TEN T BASS R BASS T
4. And the glory of
the Lord shall be
revealed
E4-A5 A4-E5 A3-B4 C#4-G#4 E3-G#4 A3-E4 G#2-E4 F#3-C#4
7. And He shall
purify the sons of
Levi
G4-A5 Bb4-F5 G3-C5 Eb4-Bb4 F3-G4 A3-Eb4 G2-E4 Eb3-Bb3
8. O thou that
tellest good tidings
Arise, shine
E4-G5 A4-E5 B3-B4 D4-A4 F#3-G4 A3-E4 G#2-E4 D3-A3
11. For unto us a
Child is born E4-A5 G4-D5 A3-C5 D4-A4 E3-G4 C4-G4 G2-E4 G3-D4
15. Glory to God in
the Highest D4-G5 B4-F#5 B3-B4 D4-A4 D3-A4 B3-F#4 G2-D4 G3-D4
18. His yoke is
easy, His burthen
is light.
F4-Bb5 C5-G5 A3-Bb4 C4-G4 Eb3-A4 C4-G4 Bb2-Eb4 F3-C4
39. Hallelujah D4-A5 C5-G5 G3-D5 E4-B4 D3-A4 C4-G4 G2-D4 G3-D4
In general, the ranges and tessiture are higher than the AATS recommended levels, with
the notable exception of alto ranges, which are all within the recommendations except for chorus
No. 39, “Hallelujah.” The tenor and bass tessiture for each of the seven choruses are higher than
the recommendations. Interestingly, the tenor line, in three cases (choruses No. 11. 18, and 3),
31 Note that the Bärenreiter edition of Messiah was used for the numbering of movements.

48
inhabits the recommended tessitura band for the alto (C4-G4), a compelling indicator of just how
high the tessitura is. Similarly, the bass line tessitura in three cases, choruses No. 11, 15, and 39,
is the recommended tessitura band for the tenor (G3-D4). This has resounding implications for
fatiguing singers. Movements No. 18 and No. 39 are particularly high for the sopranos, at C5-
G6, meaning that sopranos are sitting at the high extreme of their range when performing these
movements. Of the seven choruses, all tessiture are higher than optimal, with the exception of
two: chorus No. 11 for the soprano section and chorus No. 18 for the alto section.
Major Work No. 3: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125: IV. “Finale” by Ludwig van
Beethoven
German composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) is thought to be “the most
admired composer in the history of western music.”32 He took the Viennese classical tradition
handed to him by composers like Mozart and Haydn and expanded it into a unique style,
ushering in the Romantic era. His Symphony No. 9 in D Minor was composed in 1822-4 and
published in 1826 and is considered one of Beethoven’s greatest masterpieces.
33 According to
choral scholar Dennis Shrock, it is “unquestionably the best-known choral/orchestral work ever
written. It is recurrently on concert programs across the world, and audiences invariably receive
it with rapturous enthusiasm.”34 The large-scale work is a conglomeration of many innovations
in the symphonic form, including soprano, alto, tenor, and bass soloists and a choral-orchestral
fourth movement. The finale is a vocal setting of Friedrich Schiller’s “An die Freude” (‘Ode to
32 Joseph Kerman et al., "Beethoven, Ludwig van," Grove Music Online, 2001, accessed 10 Jul. 2023,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.
33 Maynard Solomon, “Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony: The Sense of an Ending,” Critical Inquiry 17, no. 2
(1991): 299, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1343838.
34 Shrock, Choral Repertoire (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2009), 445.

49
Joy’), whose theme is one of the most recognizable melodies of all time. As Beethoven scholar
Maynard Solomon notes, the work is an example of “Beethoven’s intention, either by truncation
or by substitution, to separate a colossal finale with powerful metaphysical implications from a
major cyclic composition and to seek an alternative and more conventional way of bringing it to
a conclusion.”35 Thus, the choral finale serves as the grand ending to a massive piece in the
Western canon of choral and orchestral literature.
An iconic piece containing several unprecedented compositional components, the
premiere of the work in Vienna was received by an eager audience with thunderous applause.
The complexity and rapture of the piece took a toll on the musicians, however. Tessitura
concerns were voiced almost immediately; there are accounts of musicians struggling to sing the
high vocal writing and play the complex instrumental parts. In fact, according to the account of
violinist Joseph Böhm, “some of the high notes in the voice parts were omitted, because the
singers could not sing them and could not convince Beethoven to rewrite the passages.”36 A
glance through the choral score is enough to recognize the potential for vocal fatigue related to
singing at extremes of range which would be taxing, as in the seventeen-measure stretch in the
fourth section of the fourth movement, “Allegro energico, sempre ben marcato,” in which the
soprano line has seventeen straight measures where they are to sing an A5 without pause. An
example of another particularly demanding (high-tessitura) passage is below, by which the
AATS tessitura recommendation for four-voice choirs must be compared to appreciate just how
incongruent the vocal lines are with the recommended tessiture.37
35 Solomon, “Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony,” 294-295.
36 Martin Pearlman, “Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125,” Boston Baroque,
accessed 11 Aug. 2023, https://baroque.boston/beethoven-symphony-no-9.
37 See Appendix C.

50
Musical Example 2.4 - VI. “Prestissimo” from IV. “Finale,” Symphony No. 9 in D Minor,
Ludwig van Beethoven, mm. 30-40

51
The soprano and bass lines are consistently higher than the optimal tessitura in this tenmeasure section. The A5 sung by the soprano section is a semitone above the higher boundary
recommended by the AATS, and its incessant repetition signals a high vocal demand. The tenors
and basses are in a similar (high) part of their voice relative to the sopranos. The alto line is
moderate in comparison; while its relative stasis could still be taxing for singers, it is not a
significant deviation from the recommended tessitura. When considering a section such as this, it
is easy to imagine how singers can walk away from a rehearsal with different experiences when
reporting vocal fatigue. If this particular page was rehearsed a few times, the tenors, basses, and
particularly sopranos would likely feel vocal stress, but the altos might feel vocally fine.
Beyond this excerpt, the result of the examination of the entire choral writing in the finale
is below:
Table 2.3 - Range and Tessitura: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125: IV. “Finale" by Ludwig
van Beethoven
SECTION SOP R SOP T ALTO R ALTO T TEN R TEN T BASS R BASS T
I. Presto A4-B5 D5-A5 A3-E5 F#4-C#5 D3-G4 B3-F#4 A2-D4 F#3-C#4
II. Alla Marcia;
allegro assai
vivace
A4-A5 D5-A5 E4-C5 F#4-C#5 F3-G4 Bb3-F4 Ab2-Eb4 F#3-C#4
III. Andante
Maestoso E4-G5 C5-G5 G3-E5 G4-D5 C3-G4 C4-G4 G2-F4 A3-E4
IV. Allegro
energico, sempre
ben marcato
D4-A5 D5-A5 G3-E5 G4-D5 D3-A4 C4-G4 A2-E4 F#3-C#4
V. Allegro ma non
tanto D4-A5 D5-A5 D4-E5 A4-E5 D3-A4 A3-E4 A2-E4 F#3-C#4
VI. Prestissimo A4-B5 D5-A5 A3-E5 E4-B4 E3-A#4 D4-A4 A2-F4 G3-D4
The lengthy fourth movement was broken into six formal sections in order to engage with
the musical material more thoroughly. In the analysis of range, nearly every section of the

52
movement exceeds the optimal range in each voice part, with just six exceptions of the twentyfour total being within optimal range. The tessitura for each voice part in each section is higher
than optimal. In three of the sections (III, IV, and V), the alto tessitura is at or above the
recommended soprano tessitura. In three of the sections (III, IV, and VI), the tenor tessitura is at
or above the recommended alto tessitura. With regard to the bass tessiture, four of the six
movements are one semitone under the recommended tenor tessiture, and two are at or above the
tenor tessitura. This is illustrative of just how high the tessiture written are and an indicator that
the prescribed tessitura will likely be at odds with a choral singer’s own optimal tessitura.
Regarding the risk involved with singing in an invariable tessitura, it is important to note that the
soprano tessiture for five of the six sections is exactly the same (D5-A5). This tessitura is,
strikingly, a fourth higher than the optimal tessitura for a soprano I and a tritone above the
optimal tessitura for a soprano in a four-part choir.38
Major Work No. 4: Ein deutsches Requiem by Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) is considered a master of synthesis of earlier forms. His
Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem) bears inclusion in this study as it “is undoubtedly
the best-known sacred work of the Romantic era.”39 Composition began in 1857 and was
completed the year of its premiere, in 1868. The work is credited with establishing Brahms’
reputation as a composer of great significance due to its warm critical acclaim in Europe and
Russia.40 The work is scored for soprano and bass soloists, mixed choir, and orchestra. The
38 See Appendix C: Choral Range and Tessitura Parameters According to the American Academy of Teachers
of Singing.
39 Shrock, Choral Repertoire, 476.
40 George S. Bozarth and Walter Frisch, “Brahms, Johannes,” Grove Music Online, 2001, accessed 1 Aug.
2023, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.

53
German text of the Requiem comes from the Old and New Testaments of the Lutheran Bible,
rejecting the conventions of the traditional Roman Catholic Requiem Mass, which uses Latin.
The work is comprised of seven movements, symmetrically situated around the masterful
and beloved movement 4, which is often excerpted and performed by choirs in concerts and
church services.41 Range and tessitura are as follows:
Table 2.4 - Range and Tessitura: Ein deutsches Requiem by Johannes Brahms
SECTION SOP R SOP T ALTO R ALTO T TEN R TEN T BASS R BASS T
I. Selig sind,
die da Leid
tragen
C4-A5 Bb4-F5 Ab3-Db5 D4-A4 F3-A4 A3-E4 F2-Db4 C3-G3
II. Denn alles
Fleisch, es ist
wie Gras
Bb3-Bb5 Bb4-F5 F3-D5 Eb4-Bb4 Eb3-Ab4 Bb3-F4 F2-Db4 C3-G3
III. Herr, lehre
doch mich A3-Bb5 B4-F#5 G3-E5 D4-A4 C3-Bb4 B3-F#4 G2-E4 E3-B3
IV. Wie
lieblich sind
deine
Wohnungen
D4-Ab5 Bb4-F5 Bb3-Eb5 Eb4-Bb4 Db3-Ab4 Bb3-F4 Gb2-Eb4 Eb3-Bb3
V. Ihr habt
nun
Traurigkeit
C#4-G5 E4-B4 G3-C5 C4-G4 E3-A4 A3-E4 G2-D4 C3-G3
VI. Denn wir
haben hie
keine
bleibende
Statt
B3-A5 C5-G5 G3-Eb5 F4-C5 D3-A4 C4-G4 G2-Db4 /
D2-Db4 D3-A3
VII. Selig sind
die Toten C4-A5 Bb4-F5 G3-Db5 D4-A4 D3-A4 A3-E4 F2-Eb4 C3-G3
Notably, the ranges in this piece tend to be larger. Of the ten works studied, this piece
contains the lowest range for the sopranos, with the lowest pitch of A3 written in the third
41 Movement IV was one of the shorter works recommended for undergraduate music majors in Trott,
“Repertoire and Standards,” 46-48. See Appendix B.

54
movement. The soprano tessiture are quite high for each movement except number five, which
sits below the recommended tessitura. The soprano tessitura for movement six exceeds the
recommended tessitura for a soprano I by a major third. The alto range assessments conclude that
three movements are within range (I, V, and VII) and four are higher than the optimal range (II,
III, IV, and VI). Additionally, movement two is lower and higher than recommended for the alto,
with a range of F3-D5. Range and tessitura for the tenor line is always higher than the
recommendation. The tessitura for the bass part is consistently higher than the recommended
average for basses, and even higher than the tessitura indicated solely for baritones in
movements three and four. Of note, additionally, is that the structure of the work requires a
relatively persistent duration of choral singing. In contrast with Handel’s Messiah, in which
choruses alternate with solo and instrumental movements, the chorus sings throughout every
movement of the Brahms Requiem without larger vocal break opportunities within the work
itself.
Major Work No. 5: Gloria by Francis Poulenc
French composer Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) wrote several sacred and secular works,
and his oeuvre includes piano works, chamber music, choral music, operas, ballets, and
orchestral concert music. His Gloria was written in 1959, with the premiere in 1961. The work is
scored for soprano soloist, mixed chorus, and orchestra. It is one of Poulenc’s most popular and
celebrated works, and it was Poulenc’s favorite choral composition.42 Gloria is a setting of the
“Gloria” text from the Ordinary of the Mass. It is an example of Poulenc’s pointillistic writing
42 Shrock, Choral Repertoire, 378.

55
style,
43 in which small groups of pitches are tossed between players and singers to build a
composite landscape. This style of writing is particularly notable with regard to vocal demand.
Throughout, this style is reflected in his use of short motifs, which are traded between choral
sections. This is illustrated in Musical Example 2.5, in which four- and five-note phrase
fragments are passed back and forth from the sopranos and tenors to the altos and basses.
43 “Pointillism. A compositional technique, named after Georges Seurat's method of painting with tiny dots of
colour, in which each note has a distinct quality of timbre, loudness, etc…It also appears in the works of other
composers (e.g. Xenakis) who aim to produce ‘clouds’ of musical points, and here the analogy with Seurat's
method is closer.” "Pointillism," in The Oxford Companion to Music, edited by Latham, Alison: Oxford
University Press, http://www.oxfordreference.com.

56
Musical Example 2.5 - “Laudamus te” from Gloria by Francis Poulenc, mm. 22-25

57
This sort of pointillistic writing style has helpful implications regarding preserving vocal
stamina because short vocal breaks are built into the vocal line. The six-movement work has a
lightness and humor about it, which can be heard in the short rhythmic and melodic ostinati,
striking texture and harmonic shifts, and soaring soprano solo line.44 The range and tessitura for
each movement can be found in Table 2.5. In the table, where there is divisi within a voice part,
the first interval represents the higher voice part (i.e. Soprano I) and the second interval, which
comes after the slash, is the lower voice part (i.e. Soprano II). Where divisi does not affect
tessitura, one tessitura may be listed in a movement which contains divisi that affect range.
Table 2.5 - Range and Tessitura: Gloria by Francis Poulenc
SECTION SOP R SOP T ALTO R ALTO T TEN R TEN T BASS R BASS T
I. Gloria in
excelsis Deo
F#4-G5 B4-F#5 C4-D#5 /
B3-D5
D4-A4 /
D4-A4
E#3-G#4 C4-G4 F2-D4 /
F2-D4
B2-F#3 /
D2-A3
II. Laudamus te C4-Ab5 /
C4-G5
C5-G5 C4-E5 /
C4-G5
F4-C5 /
F4-C5
C3-G4 F3-C4 B2-E4 Eb3-Bb3
III. Domine Deus D4-Gb5 A4-E5 Ab3-D5 D4-A4 E3-Gb4 G3-D4 G2-E4 D3-A3
IV. Domine Fili
unigenite
F#4-F#5 A4-E5 A3-Eb5 C4-G4 E3-G4 B3-F#4 A2-C4 C3-G3
V. Dominus Deus,
Agnus Dei
F4-F#5 A4-E5 A3-C5 Db4-Ab4 F3-F#4 A3-E4 A2-Db4 Bb2-F3
VI. Qui sedes ad
dexteram Patris
C4-A5 G4-D5 Bb3-E5 D4-A4 C3-A4 A3-E4 G2-E4 D3-A3
Range for the soprano part is within the AATS recommendation for all movements
except the sixth, which is a semitone higher. The soprano tessiture are all higher than
recommended, except the last movement, which is a semitone below the recommended tessitura.
44 Myriam Chimènes and Roger Nichols, "Poulenc, Francis," Grove Music Online, 2001, accessed 11 Jul. 2023,
https://doi-org.utk.idm.oclc.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.22202.

58
Range for the tenor line is optimal for movements two through five, but higher for movements
one and six. The alto writing is higher than optimal for range except for movement five, which is
within range; the tessitura is generally higher than recommended as well, except for movement
four, which is in accordance with the optimal range. Bass range is in accordance with the
recommendation for half of the movements (one, four, and five), and higher than for the other
half (movements two, three, and six). Tessiture for the bass are all higher than the
recommendation, except movement five which is aligned with the AATS bass tessitura
recommendation.
Minor Work No. 1: “Sicut cervus” by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Shifting to the report about range and tessiture observations in minor (shorter, smallerscale) works brings the focus back to the Renaissance era. Italian Renaissance composer
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1526) is a representative composer of his time, and is
known as one of “the best-known and most critically-acclaimed” composers of his time.
45
Considered the ultimate master of the Franco-Flemish polyphonic techniques which preceded his
work, his compositional success “earned him an enduring reputation as the ideal Catholic
composer, as well as giving his style (or, more precisely, later generations’ selective view of it)
an iconic stature as a model of perfect achievement.”46 His output includes masses, motets,
magnificats, litanies, lamentations, and madrigals, and the motets are considered the most
idealized state of his vocal polyphonic style.
47 Palestrina, though he never wrote oratorios,
45 Shrock, Choral Repertoire, 62.
46 Lewis Lockwood, Noel O’Regan, and Jessie Ann Owens, "Palestrina [Prenestino, etc.], Giovanni Pierluigi
da," Grove Music Online, 2001, accessed 2 Aug. 2023, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.
47 Shrock, Choral Repertoire, 63.

59
operas, nor symphonies, is considered one of the greatest composers of all time. Musicologist
Henry Davey stated that:
[T]he immortality of art-works depends not on their size; it depends on their
quality. In music comes also the question of adapting ideas to their expressing
medium. Palestrina’s task was to use a small unaccompanied choir. Palestrina
solved the problem perfectly, and recent scientific discoveries show that his ear
selected the best-sounding chords.48
Palestrina’s work in mastering polyphony for the unaccompanied choral ensemble was
crucial for showing that careful compositional techniques could enable intelligibility of text
within the context of polyphonic writing in the wake of the Council of Trent. His style of writing
was based on the prior masters, but he developed it to its zenith. As Shrock notes:
Palestrina’s motets are modeled after the pervasive point-of-imitation style as
practiced by Adrian Willaert and other Franco-Flemish masters. In particular,
melodies are characterized by wide melodic intervals, with stepwise motion in the
opposite direction following any leap of a third or fourth; rhythms are within a
narrow range of durational values, with a preponderance of half and quarter notes
(in present-day transcriptions); and harmonies are logically ordered, with buildup
of tension followed by inevitable resolution.49
This style of writing, which includes melodic intervals of fourths, fifths, and octaves, and
stepwise motion in the opposite direction tending to follow leaps, can be seen in this example,
from mm. 13-18 of “Sicut cervus”:
48 Emphasis in original. Henry Davey, “Giovanni Pierluigi, Da Palestrina,” Proceedings of the Musical
Association 25 (1898): 64. http://www.jstor.org/stable/765152.
49 Shrock, Choral Repertoire, 63.

60
Musical Example 2.6 - “Sicut cervus” by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, mm. 13-18
Musical Example 2.6 is also a representative snapshot of the tessiture of each of the four
parts throughout the entire piece. It bears noting that polyphonic, unaccompanied works such as
this motet may be sung, according to conventional performance practice, at any pitch which
works best for one’s singers or space, although “the original tessitura of a piece often gives it a
special colouring.”50 Therefore, range and tessitura are considered within the context of the
original key: G Major.
The full result is below:
Table 2.6 - Range and Tessitura: “Sicut cervus” by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
SOP R SOP T ALTO R ALTO T TEN R TEN T BASS R BASS T
D4-D5 G4-D5 G3-G4 B3-F#4 D3-E4 G3-D4 G2-C4 C3-G3
50 Davey, “Giovanni Pierluigi, Da Palestrina,” 61.

61
Every voice part range is squarely in line with the recommended range for four-part
choirs. The tessiture for alto and tenor are also directly aligned with the recommended tessitura
intervals for each voice part; only the bass tessitura, which is one whole step higher than the
recommended tessitura, exceeds the recommended tessitura on the higher end. The soprano
tessitura is a semitone lower than the recommendation. Relative to all other pieces and
movements in this study, “Sicut cervus” unequivocally stands out as the piece written with the
best (most optimal) range and tessitura for each voice part.
Minor Work No. 2: Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden (BWV 230) by Johann Sebastian Bach
The most famous and accomplished composer of the late Baroque era, Johann Sebastian
Bach (1685-1750) has gained the title as one of the greatest composers in all of Western music.
His music is typified by masterful treatment of harmony, counterpoint, and innovative use of
older and newer styles alongside one another.51 His output is massive; he wrote in nearly all
genres of his time, excluding opera. A lifelong church musician, Bach wrote many sacred pieces,
including his motets.
Bach’s motet Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden is scored for four-part mixed choir and would
have been performed with colla parte instrumental accompaniment. Its date of composition is
unknown.52 It is one of the most-performed of Bach’s motets not only due to its exuberance and
beauty, but also because of its four-part voicing; relative to the other motets, it is the only piece
not scored for double choir or for five-part choral ensemble. Due to this texture, it is more
51 Christoph Wolff and Walter Emery, "Bach, Johann Sebastian," Grove Music Online, 2001, accessed 4 Aug.
2023, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.
52 It is worth noting that in the past, Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden has been considered to have spurious or
doubtful authorship. However, presently, it is ultimately considered to be one of Bach’s own works. As
Christoph Wolff states, “the authenticity of Lobet den Herrn has been questioned, probably groundlessly, but
the paucity of material that would permit comparisons weakens the arguments on either side.” Ibid.

62
accessible for many choirs for whom a multi-movement a cappella motet in double choir would
be too advanced. This motet is presented in three sections, including an exuberant opening, a
more peaceful inner movement, and a joyful “Alleluja!” at its close.
Table 2.7 - Range and Tessitura: Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden by Johann Sebastian Bach
SECTION SOP R SOP T ALTO R ALTO T TEN R TEN T BASS R BASS T
I. Lobet den
Herrn, alle
Heiden
C4-A5 C5-G5 G3-D5 E4-B4 C3-A4 C4-G4 G2-E4 D3-A3
II. Denn seine
Gnade und
Wahrheit
F4-A5 B4-F5 A3-D5 C4-G4 C#3-G4 A3-E4 F#2-D4 C3-G3
III. Alleluja! G4-G5 A4-E5 A3-D5 E4-B4 E3-A4 B3-F4 F2-E4 D3-A3
The tessiture for all voices for the vast majority of sections are higher than recommended;
the only section which is not above the recommended tessitura is the second movement for the
alto part. Ranges, in general, are higher than the ideal intervallic range put forth by the AATS,
excepting the soprano range for movement three, the tenor range for movement two, and the bass
range for movement two, which are all within optimal range. It is also notable that tessiture are
slightly variable for each voice part between the three movements, which is helpful for
increasing variability. The second movement is at a lower tessitura for each voice part, which
provides a shift in collision exposure for the voices between the higher first and third
movements.

63
Minor Work No. 3: “Ave verum corpus” (K. 618) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) is one of the most influential
and popular composers, and his work is considered the peak of the Viennese Classical tradition.53
Though he died at the age of thirty-five, he produced more than 800 compositions, writing in
every musical form that existed at the time.54 Beginning his life and musical career as a piano
prodigy, he was taught and later promoted to play on tour by his father, Leopold. His style is
influenced by the music he engaged with during his travels, and he had a skill for synthesizing
multiple elements in his music.55
Mozart’s motet “Ave verum corpus” was published in 1791, just six months before
his death, for mixed choir, strings, and organ. It is one of Mozart’s most admired short works
and is regularly performed today. In the absence of strings and organ, the work is performed
with a piano accompaniment. The piece is the setting of a Latin Eucharistic hymn by the
same name which translates to “Hail, true body.”
In the example below, the homophonic structure which dominates the piece can be
seen. The melody, in the soprano line, is gently supported by the alto, tenor, and bass lines,
which mainly progress in stepwise motion.
53 Cliff Eisen and Stanley Sadie, "Mozart, (Johann Chrysostom) Wolfgang Amadeus," Grove Music
Online, 2001, accessed 12 Jul. 2023, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.
54 Ibid.
55 Ibid.

64
Musical Example 2.7 - “Ave verum corpus” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, mm. 1-10
Ranges are fairly limited and tessiture generally reasonable throughout, reflected in
Table 2.8:
Table 2.8 - Range and Tessitura: “Ave verum corpus” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
SOP R SOP T ALTO R ALTO T TEN R TEN T BASS R BASS T
D4-D5 G4-D5 G3-G4 B3-F#4 D3-E4 G3-D4 G2-C4 C3-G3
The ranges for all four voice parts are within the AATS recommendations. They are also
notably smaller in relation to the other works analyzed in the study: the soprano and alto ranges
are only an octave, and the tenor range only a ninth. The bass range is an octave and a half,
which is smaller than other bass ranges observed in this study. Tessitura for the bass is higher
than recommended. Alto and tenor are aligned with the optimal recommended tessiture, and the
soprano tessitura is a semitone lower than optimal. This piece is second only to Palestrina’s
“Sicut cervus” in terms of being written in optimal (according to the AATS) areas for each of the
voice parts.

65
Minor Work No. 4: Trois chansons de Charles d’Orléans by Claude Debussy
French composer Claude Debussy (1862-1918) is noted for his influential and innovative
harmonic innovations, which have made him one of the most important composers of the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
56 Although he rejected the title of Impressionist, his
works undoubtedly have their own particular range of colors and timbres.57 Of the six works
written specifically for choirs by Debussy, Trois chansons de Charles d’Orléans is the only one
for unaccompanied choir and is by far the most popular. Trois chansons (French for “Three
Songs”) was written in 1909. Each of the three pieces is in ternary or ABA form, and all are
scored for mixed chorus. The second movement features a treble soloist rather than the full
soprano section. Debussy sets three romantic medieval poems written by Charles, Duke of
Orléans (1394-1465) in Trois chansons, and they are thematically unrelated to one another.
Table 2.9 - Range and Tessitura: Trois chansons de Charles d’Orléans by Claude Debussy
SECTION SOP R SOP T ALTO R ALTO T TEN R TEN T BASS R BASS T
I. Dieu! qu'il la
fait bon
regarder!
D#4-F#5 F#4-C#5 A3-C#5 C#4-G#4 F#3-F#4 A3-E4 F#2-C#4 D3-A3
II. Quand j'ai
ouy le
tambourin
sonner
D4-E5
(solo)
F#4-C#5
(solo)
C4-B4 /
A#3-B4
C#4-G#4 /
C#4-G#4
C#3-F#4 /
C#3-D4
A3-E4 /
D3-A3 F#2-G#3 G2-D3
III. Yver, vous
n'estes qu'un
villain
E4-F#5 G4-D5 A3-D5 C4-G4 E3-B4 B3-F4 B2-E4 /
G2-E4
E3-B3 /
E3-B3
The tessitura for the bass line in the first movement is particularly variable, so the D3-A3
56 François Lesure and Roy Howat, "Debussy, (Achille-)Claude," Grove Music Online, 2001, accessed 1 Jul.
2023. http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.
57 Ibid.

66
determination is truly a median tessitura for a melodically variable vocal line. The soprano
writing in this piece is comfortable: the ranges for the three movements are all within the AATS
recommendation. Tessiture are all slightly (a semitone or whole tone) below optimal, which,
when out of the recommended interval, is generally considered preferable to being higher with
respect to vocal fatigue. The alto line varies: ranges are optimal for movements one and two, but
the third is higher than recommended. Conversely, the tessiture for the first two movements are
slightly higher than ideal, with the third movement being in range. Tenor ranges are optimal
except for movement three, in which the tenor range is E3-B4. The high B4 is written with an
indication for the tenors to sing in their falsetto, and tessiture are all too high (with one
exception: the tenor 2 line is too low in movement two). In the bass line, there is divisi in
movements two and three, but the divisi in movement two is only in the last five measures and
does not impact range and tessitura. Movement two has an optimal range and a low tessitura,
while movements one and three are considered too high in both range and tessitura.
Minor Work No. 5: “O magnum mysterium” by Morten Lauridsen
Morten Lauridsen (b. 1943) is a popular twentieth-century American composer and
teacher. His works are often performed and recorded and have earned him numerous
compositional awards. American composer and musicologist Byron Adams notes:
He is first and foremost a composer for the voice, especially for
chorus. Lauridsen has immersed himself in the flowing modal lines of both
plainchant and Renaissance polyphony, but has assimilated this repertory into an
inimitable style. His harmonic idiom extends tonal resources through recourse to
9th and 13th chords treated as triads enriched by added notes.
58
58 Byron Adams, "Lauridsen, Morten," Grove Music Online, 22 Sep. 2015, accessed 12 Aug. 2023,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.

67
“O magnum mysterium” was written in 1994 for unaccompanied mixed chorus and
reflects Lauridsen’s interest in plainchant as a basis for composition. The work is a setting of a
Latin text of the same name which is a Gregorian Nativity chant. It is one of his most oftenperformed pieces, regarded for its ethereality, tenderness, and beauty.
As depicted in
Table 2.10, ranges for soprano and bass are slightly lower than optimal. The low A3 in the
soprano is of particular note. The ranges for tenor and alto are higher than recommended.
Tessiture for every voice part is higher than the optimal tessiture. Particularly, the soprano
tessitura is a minor third higher than the recommendation for the soprano in a four-part choir and
a semitone higher than the recommended range for a soprano I specifically. When such a piece
has every voice part operating at a higher tessitura than is ideal, there is a higher risk of vocal
fatigue.
Table 2.10 - Ranges and Tessiture: “O magnum mysterium” by Morten Lauridsen
SOP R SOP T ALTO R ALTO T TEN R TEN T BASS R BASS T
A3-G5 B4-F#5 G3-D5 D4-A4 D3-G4 A3-E4 D2-D4 B2-F#3
Tessitura Midpoints
When considering the relationship between pitch and vocal fold collisions per second, it
can be helpful to compare Hertz and pitch centers. In order to represent the process of illustrating
centers of pitch, consider the Lauridsen “O magnum mysterium.”

68
Table 2.11 - Range and Tessitura Revisited: “O magnum mysterium” by Morten Lauridsen
Soprano Alto Tenor Bass
Range A3-G5 G3-D5 D3-G4 D2-D4
Tessitura B4-F#5 D4-A4 A3-E4 B2-F#3
Midpoint D5; 587.33 Hz F#4; 369.99 Hz C#4; 277.18 Hz D3; 146.83 Hz
Whereas ranges and tessiture which fall within the best practices acknowledged by the
American Academy of Teachers of Singing59 are highlighted in green, those which are higher
than recommended limits are highlighted in yellow, and those which are lower than
recommended limits are highlighted in blue. In Table 2.11, the tenor range and the tessitura of
the alto and tenor all matched the range and tessitura chart parameters.
The tessitura, then, can be further reduced to the midpoint, or median pitch, within the
band of the fifth, in order to more clearly compare data about pitch as represented by Hertz (Hz),
“the unit of frequency equal to one cycle per second.”60
If the alto tessitura midpoint is considered an F#4 in the choral rehearsal (369.99 Hz)
while the soprano section is situated around a D5 (587.33 Hz), the sopranos’ vocal folds are
exposed to more collisions than the altos at a ratio of about 5:3. Relative to the altos, the
sopranos are experiencing nearly 1.6x, or 160%, more vocal fold collisions per second than the
altos. Thus, the sopranos are predisposed to fatigue faster due to the vocal demand written into
59 As represented in Figure 2.2: Range and Tessitura Chart; Emmons and Chase, Prescriptions, 314.
60 “Hertz," Grove Music Online, 2001; http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com. ; While it is overly reductive to
characterize an entire voice part for any piece of music with a single pitch, identifying the middle of the
tessitura, in the context of the key, allows for an examination of where each part sits in relation to another.

69
the choral repertoire itself. It is imperative that the choral director understand this disparity of
vocal collision exposure.
Another way to represent the midpoints is through placement on a staff. For instance,
compare the tessitura midpoints for Debussy’s Trois chansons de Charles d’Orléans with those
for Lauridsen’s “O magnum mysterium”.
Figure 2.1 - Tessitura Midpoints for Trois chansons de Charles d’Orléans by Claude Debussy
Figure 2.2 - Tessitura Midpoints for “O magnum mysterium” by Morten Lauridsen

70
While the alto and tenor are relatively similar in the two pieces, the soprano and bass
differences are significant. Considering which pitch the voice part tends to lie around, or the
tessitura midpoint, can be helpful for conductors when planning a rehearsal or concert. If the
tessitura is similar for a voice part for several pieces in a row, and therefore the midpoint is
similar for many pieces in a row, choristers will probably tire of the monotony experienced.
Analysis of Study Results
While this is not intended to be a comprehensive analysis of all choral music being
performed and studied in mixed-voice collegiate ensembles today, it is an interesting and
illustrative snapshot of a set of pieces which are gems in the repertoire and are performed with
great frequency. Overall, the results tended to support the “high tessitura” warned against by the
AATS.61 Not all tessiture were higher, however, of the forty-one sections, movements, or entire
pieces analyzed for each of the four voice parts, totaling 162 data points, 134 were higher than
the recommended range. Therefore, 83% of the works studied are above the AATS
recommended tessitura levels.
Ranges tended to be within range or higher, with 53% of all of the pieces and voice parts
observed being above the recommended ranges for each voice part. See the results of this
aggregate comparison in the table below.62
61 Emmons and Chase, Prescriptions, 313-314.
62 See Appendix E: Tessitura in The Diagnosis and Correction of Vocal Faults for a color-coded chart reflecting the
aggregate range and tessitura data.

71
Table 2.12 - Observed Instances of Higher Range and Tessitura for the Major and Minor Works
SECTION SOPRANO ALTO TENOR BASS ALL
Instances of higher
range
18/40 20/40 23/41 25/41 86/162
Percentage of pieces
with higher ranges 45% 50% 56% 61% 53%
Instances of higher
tessitura 28/40 30/40 37/41 39/41 134/162
Percentage of pieces
with higher tessiture 70% 75% 90% 95% 83%
The increasing percentage of higher range and tessitura in order from soprano to bass is
particularly intriguing. This suggests that basses, more than any other part, are likely to spend
time in a choral rehearsal and performance singing in a place that is not optimal for their voice.
Considering higher tessitura to constitute higher vocal demand, this will result in a more vocally
taxing experience if not handled carefully by the choral director. The results also show that the
tessitura demands are higher in major works separately, at 87% higher.
Table 2.13 - Observed Instances of Higher Tessitura for the Major Works
SECTION SOPRANO ALTO TENOR BASS ALL
Instances of higher
range
16/31 15/31 20/32 21/32 72/126
Percentage of pieces
with higher ranges 52% 48% 63% 67% 57%
Instances of higher
tessitura 24/31 24/31 30/32 31/32 109/126
Percentage of pieces
with higher tessiture 77% 77% 94% 97% 87%

72
Table 2.14 - Observed Instances of Higher Tessitura for the Minor Works
SECTION SOPRANO ALTO TENOR BASS ALL
Instances of higher
range
2/9 5/9 3/9 4/9 14/36
Percentage of pieces
with higher ranges
22% 56% 33% 44% 39%
Instances of higher
tessitura
4/9 5/9 7/9 8/9 24/36
Percentage of pieces
with higher tessiture
44% 56% 78% 89% 67%
Another trend which was observed throughout this study is that the bass line tends to be
much more melodically variable than the other three lines. Writing for the bass part almost
always utilizes a larger range than the other voice parts, undoubtedly due to the harmonic
underpinning function that the bass line often plays. The bass line often serves to propel
harmonic function along and thus has a more active role, necessitating a more variable tessitura.
Consider Musical Example 2.3, the excerpt from “Ave verum corpus” by William Byrd, which
was discussed previously: while the soprano, alto, and tenor voice parts move in a primarily
stepwise manner, the bass line is written in a way that utilizes many areas of the vocalist’s range,
resulting in a richer tessitura variety (a positive factor regarding vocal preservation.)
Conclusions
With 83% of all major works surveyed sitting at a higher tessitura than recommended for
their voice part to sing in a choral setting and 53% requiring a higher range than recommended
as well, conductors must consider the implications for choral singers. The results here show a
mismatch between accepted norms of voice part range and tessitura and what is actually required
in choral repertoire. Singers who complain of vocal fatigue in choir may be experiencing overly

73
demanding range requirements or a mismatch of tessitura between one’s innate optimal tessitura
and that of the written score. However, this study shows a third type of mismatch: between the
real (experienced) and theoretical tessitura for each voice part.
When singers are placed into choral sections, this is done so according to their abilities;
choir directors match singers with a choral designation whose general tessitura requirements will
align with their tessitura. The AATS range and tessitura chart, reproduced in the textbook
Prescriptions for Choral Excellence, is one of the only resources for range and tessiture in the
choral context, and so it is used as a reference for categorizing voices into choral sections
(soprano, alto, tenor, and bass) and their divisions (i.e. soprano I and soprano II).63 This chart,
however, is largely at odds with the required ranges and tessiture in the literature, considering the
ten pieces observed in this study. Therefore, one could surmise that choral singing is overly
dangerous and should not be attempted. On the contrary, the author believes that once conductors
understand the extraordinary task required of singers in the context of the choir, they can
appropriately guide and encourage singers toward vocal fitness which will give them the skills,
stamina, and confidence to flourish when singing this amazing repertoire.
While there are limits to the benefits offered by robust vocal fitness, and singing at a
prolonged high tessitura will tire the voice, the process of harnessing these results to transform
programming, rehearsing, and auditioning practices can be transformational to choristers’
feelings of enjoyment, contribution levels, vocal health, fatigue levels, and longevity as lifelong
singers.
63 See Appendix C.

74
Chapter 3: Recommendations for the Choral Director
A choral director should approach her work from a place of empathy. She should
examine repertoire selection, ensemble personnel, and rehearsal time with questions like these in
mind: what are the singers being asked to do in this piece of music, and does the tessitura of the
piece match their own? How long are choral retreat activities, and what is their vocal demand on
the singers? How long are choral rehearsals and performances, and do they offer singers vocal
breaks and tessitura variation?
By leading, rehearsing, and planning from a place of empathy for singers, empowered by
science-informed vocal research, the choral director can be empowered to equip her singers with
the tools to build a robust quality of vocal fitness. The stamina-focused choral director will
design targeted warm-up sequences and will provide accurate and helpful vocal technical
information to educate their singers in the process.
1 Considering variety, both in tessitura and
voicing duration, is something the choral director should prioritize when rehearsal planning,
selecting repertoire, and choosing rehearsal techniques. As the results of this study dictate, choral
singers need to be prepared to sing at higher tessiture and with higher ranges than choral
directors may realize. Through targeted practice regimens, thoughtful rehearsal techniques, and
considerate repertoire, rehearsal, and concert planning, the conductor can empower choral
singers to build the vocal strength needed to accomplish the supranatural task of singing these
exquisite, challenging works of choral art. The twin goals, shared by choral directors and choral
singers alike, are to build vocal stamina and avoid vocal fatigue, preserving vocal health and
promoting vocal longevity.
1 Sally Louise Glover, “How and Why Vocal Solo and Choral Warm-Ups Differ,” The Choral Journal 42, no. 3
(2001): 17-22.

75
Conductors should apply rehearsal techniques which will inculcate vocal efficiency and
fitness, such as semi-occluded vocal tract exercises (SOVTEs) and other exercises which
exercise adduction and abduction of the intrinsic laryngeal muscles. Conductors must consider
section classification and repertoire selection with singers’ vocal development in mind and take
note when a piece requires vocal demand which is outside of the singers’ normal comfortable
tessitura. Tessitura and voicing duration demands, particularly for higher-tessitura singers like
tenors and sopranos, are real obstacles for choral singers; they should be given the option to
vocalize on an SOVTE, or sing down the octave (or both) every other time a range-taxing
passage is being sung. Such a strategy can become a norm in the choral rehearsal, giving agency
to singers and signaling to the choir that the director cares about their vocal longevity and
stamina. Conductors should not continue rehearsing sections which cause singers to exhaust a
certain part of their range revealing a lack of consideration of the effect on the vocal instrument,
and should consider the effects of asking for non-vibrato singing as well as other timbral effects.
Based on the positive research outcomes regarding recovery time with regard to the regeneration
of epithelial cells that can become damaged by collision exposure, and the potential for
strengthening intrinsic laryngeal muscles, choral directors can feel empowered to create a choral
environment that will strengthen their singers’ voices rather than tax them. Singers will also feel
a renewed sense of responsibility, belonging, and agency in their ability to care for their vocal
instrument and advocate for themselves in the choral setting.
Choral directors should not recommend absolute vocal rest for singers presenting with
vocal strain or exhaustion, nor should they participate in promoting a tradition of fear mongering
about “vocal fatigue;” rather, they can focus on the positive side: building vocal fitness as a
preventative measure against fatigue. This, paired with singer education and advice on building
an individual protocol including keeping a vocal dose log and exercising the voice with SOVTEs

76
and messa di voce practice, will benefit singers and conductors alike. Singers should leave the
choral rehearsal room feeling like they have just been performing in the ‘voice gym,’ invigorated
and better equipped to face the vocal challenges ahead. This will only lead to higher levels of
engagement and performance, as well as satisfaction in the choral rehearsal process. May we all
endeavor to promote rehearsal practices which build singers up rather than wearing them down,
both physically and mentally.
Another component to consider in the choral setting is novice vocal athleticism. In an
undergraduate, mixed-voice ensemble, there will be a mixture of trained and untrained singers,
each with varying degrees of experience and knowledge about vocal technique.2 There is a skill
set of vocal athleticism needed in order for these singers to flourish, which will grow from
education about strengthening their instrument. Choral directors may shy away from building
vocal stamina and vocal skills, preferring instead to rely on the trained vocalists in the ensemble
to bring the less-trained voices along, or choral directors may rely on modeling and mimicry
without a deep focus on educating their singers on vocal technique. Instead, directors should
incorporate voice-building exercises into the choral rehearsal and deliver a basic level of voice
function knowledge and exercise routines to the benefit of all of the ensemble singers, regardless
of training level.
Consider the experience of a lengthy rehearsal period such as a choral “retreat” or honor
choir weekend. Singers often leave these experiences having benefited from them in many ways,
but they may feel vocally fatigued in their wake. A 2011 study by James Daugherty, Jeremy
Manternach, and Kathy Price documented 256 high school students’ voice use and vocal health
2 “Choral teachers are often the only vocal instructors that students have from whom to learn sustainable vocal
technique.” Brian J. Winnie, “The Horse Before The Cart: Redefining The Choral Warm-Up,” The Choral
Journal 60, no. 9 (2020): 30, https://www.jstor.org/stable/27033860.

77
perceptions during a three-day all-state chorus event.3 The singers were surveyed on vocal health
on the first and final days of the event, and the comparison revealed a decline in five of seven
vocal health indicators. Additionally, the two compositions ranked highest relative to demands
on adolescent voices consumed 61% of total rehearsal time. Not to mention, students were using
their voices outside of rehearsal time as a result of being in a crowded environment and meeting
their peers, talking and singing together excitedly. How can the choral director encourage singers
to take responsibility for their vocal stamina? How can she build norms in the rehearsal process
that will preserve vocal function and promote singers’ longevity while not allowing for the
deterioration of vocal fitness?
The Importance of a Vocal Exercise Regimen
Singers are vocal athletes and therefore benefit from an exercise regimen (practicing
plan) aimed at developing vocal stamina. Miller states: “no singer should expect sudden bursts of
vocal endurance without a continuing discipline. For this vocal conditioning, the singer must
take responsibility, and it is often hard to make oneself do it.”4 The benefits of the
aforementioned vocal conditioning, including a vocal mechanism better equipped to confidently
flourish at the tessiture required, staving off vocal fatigue, both perceived and actual, and an
increase in vocal athleticism, should be incentive enough for singers to invest in the regimen. A
regimen which can be baked into the initial group warm-up in the choral rehearsal is important,
not only for the time it offers to facilitate individuals’ vocal practicing, but also as an opportunity
for directors to impart key tenets of vocal technique while monitoring their singers for signs of
3
James F. Daugherty, Jeremy N. Manternach, and Kathy K. Price, “Student Voice Use and Vocal Health During
an All-State Chorus Event,” Journal of Research in Music Education 58, no. 4 (2011): 346-367.
4 Miller, The Structure of Singing, 220.

78
healthy, efficient vocal production. Certainly, individuals may bring to the rehearsal any number
of health issues of which the choral director may not be aware, along with “potential contributing
factors, such as illness, inefficient habits of vocal production, lack of adequate sleep, and various
nutritional and hydration dispositions”; nevertheless, the promotion of basic healthy vocal
function is most important and keeps conductors within their scope of practice.5 For example, if
the goal of a choral warm-up is to prime the voice for a two-hour rehearsal of the finale of
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, which calls for near-constant voicing at the high
extreme of range and tessitura, the warm-up should be designed to aid in fatigue-resistance
training, leading to an increase in vocal efficiency and a decrease in vocal effort.6 In other words,
the warm-up should be designed to strength-train the adductor and respiratory muscles and set up
an optimal vocal tract posture.
Some choral directors forego the warm-up process, finding the concept to be juvenile or
pointless. On the contrary, advice for singers at all levels stands that “no matter how pressed for
time you may be, warming up prior to singing in the extreme parts of your range is essential.”7
Choral technician Brian J. Winnie proposes that the choral warm-up can be “a significant
component of the choral rehearsal that focuses on targeted vocal exercises connected to specific
anatomic movement and coordination needed for phonation, aural awareness, and the
development of musicianship skills.”8 A warm-up sequence that specifically targets muscular
habituation will inculcate the best conditions for building vocal stamina while minimizing
5 Daugherty, Manternach, and Price, “Student Voice Use,” 348.
6 Winnie, “The Horse Before the Cart,” 30.
7 Lucinda Halstead in Scott Jeffrey McCoy, Your Voice: An Inside View (Gahanna Ohio: Inside View Press,
2019), 193.
8 Winnie, “The Horse Before the Cart,” 30.

79
fatigue.9 This may seem obvious, as many choral directors already thoughtfully design warm-up
sequences and exercises with intentions like working on musical concepts such as phrasing and
dynamics, improving range extension, facilitating a balance of chiaroscuro by pairing bright and
dark vowels, calibrating intonation in the group, and so forth. These goals are noble, but the
director should evaluate both the order and reasoning behind the exercises chosen.
In general, choirs should not just vaguely warm-up through a random assortment of
exercises which move up and down the scale. Similarly, they should not immediately launch into
warm-up exercises intended with musical outcomes (to promote group blend, for instance);
instead, the choral director should design the warm-up with the first intention of engaging the
musculature of the vocal tract and trunk. This approach supports singing and relaxing the
extrinsic laryngeal muscles. This will allow singers the opportunity to establish their vocal tract
posture and engage with their respiratory mechanism to best inculcate optimal voicing of the
vocal demand in the rest of the warm-up, throughout the choir rehearsal, and beyond. An
important note is to not spend the warm-up in the extremes of range, though they should be
exercised. Halstead warns:
Most importantly, when warming up for a performance you should not test the
extremes of your range more than a couple of times. Often young singers are
tempted to ‘check their money note’ many times to be sure that it is there, only to
find that they have now over sung that note and it is not there in performance.10
9 “The anticipated effects of a vocal warm-up parallel those of a warm-up to prepare for any physical exercise.”
Monica McHenry, Jim Johnson, and Brianne Foshea, “The Effect of Specific Versus Combined Warm-up
Strategies on the Voice,” Journal of Voice 23, no. 5 (2009): 572, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvoice.2008.01.003.
10 Halstead, Your Voice: An Inside View, 193.

80
Furthermore, stamina-building exercises should not be limited to the first five- to tenminutes of the rehearsal period. These exercises will improve vocal tract postures and vocal
fitness when interpolated throughout the rehearsal period and even throughout the course of a
singer’s week outside choir. One of the key tenets of healthy singing technique is singing in
one’s own optimal tessitura; choristers should know their own optimal tessitura to know when to
employ accommodations or personally structure targeted practice to strengthen their voice when
they are asked to sing outside this tessitura for a significant portion of time.
Vocal Exercises Aiding in Developing Vocal Stamina
Many speech pathologists, voice therapists, and voice teachers extensively use semioccluded vocal tract exercises (SOVTEs) with their clients. SOVTEs involve partial closure of
the vocal tract, which refers to the passages above the larynx through which air passes in the
production of speech, including the buccal, oral, nasal, and pharyngeal cavities.
11 This closing
action is useful because of its ability to trap some of the acoustic energy traveling through the
vocal tract and harness it in order to keep the vocal folds oscillating, boosting vocal tract
inertance (when the kinetic inertial energy is stored in the velocity of the air flow at a
constriction in the vocal tract, the reactance, or, resistance to the flow motion, is referred to as an
inertance).
12 Exercises that accomplish this include: phonating with tongue or lip trills, using
voiced bilabial fricatives,
13 other voiced durational consonant exercises, and singing through a
straw. All of these exercises are, by definition, exercises which involve partial closing of the
11 Marco Guzman et al., “Vocal Tract and Glottal Function During and After Vocal Exercising With Resonance
Tube and Straw,” Journal of Voice 27, no. 4 (2013): 19, doi: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2013.02.007.
12 Ibid.
13 Represented in the International Phonetic Alphabet /β/ as in the English word “upvote,” pronounced /
ˈʌpˌβoʊt/.

81
vocal tract. The benefits of semi-occluded vocal tract exercises are manifold, and include an
increase in vocal tract inertance. Such an increase may be favorable to voice production by
decreasing phonation threshold pressure (or PTP, the subglottal pressure required to initiate
phonation).14 Voice Pathologist Marco Guzman’s research shows that in a clinical study
measuring singers’ vocal tract postures both during and after using SOVTEs, there were positive
changes, including a lengthening of the vocal tract due to laryngeal lowering, a widening of the
pharyngeal region, better velar closure (referring to the posture of the velum, or soft palate, as
being raised to close the nasal cavity, resulting in a sound which does not travel into the nose,
which is generally preferable in western singing styles), an increase in the contact quotient (CQ,
the amount of time per oscillatory cycle which the vocal folds are in contact), and an increase in
in beneficial inertance. For many reasons, SOVTEs are correlated with an increase in vocal
efficiency and economy.15
Since vocal efficiency and economy contribute to the goal of longevity and stamina in the
choral rehearsal, SOVTEs should be utilized often. Guzman’s research shows that the positive
effects of SOVTEs are measurable not only during and immediately after practicing them, they
can even be measured fifteen minutes after practicing them; while long-term effects have not
been fully studied, that the positive postures of the vocal tract and glottis remain is a significant
find. Therefore, choral directors and their singers would benefit from using SOVTEs to prime the
voice for choral rehearsal singing because they have measurable, lasting positive effects relating
to inertance and optimal vocal tract posture. Lip trills, straw phonation, and tongue-lip trills
(“lingual raspberries”) can be easily incorporated into the vocal warm-up, but they should not be
14 Guzman et al., “Vocal Tract and Glottal Function,” 19.
15 Ibid, 31.

82
relegated only to the warm-up. They can also be utilized as rehearsal techniques with a dual
purpose: to allow singers to practice the pitches and rhythms of a section without text, and to also
facilitate vocal efficiency and reshape glottal and vocal tract postures for optimal voicing. In
order to introduce variability when practicing difficult passages, the choral director might invite
singers to sing on an SOVTE for 5-10 minutes, or in the course of the normal repetitions in a
rehearsal, they might provide singers with the option to alternate between singing normally and
singing on an SOVTE in order to ward off vocal fatigue and reposition the vocal tract for optimal
efficient voicing.
Another acclaimed tool for building vocal strength and teaching breath management in
voice research is the performance of a messa di voce (a singing practice which requires a singer
to gradually crescendo and then diminuendo on a single pitch.) As choral voice researcher Duane
Cottrell explains, “When used at the beginning of rehearsals as part of a well-rounded warm-up
routine – before scales, arpeggios, and other florid vocal work – sustained tones will build the
physiological foundation for healthy and athletic singing.”16 The muscles of the larynx are used
to manipulate numerous variables such as pitch, timbre, register, and even breath management,
and these muscles need to be conditioned and strengthened. The thyroarytenoid muscles (also
called the vocalis muscles) are attached to the thyroid cartilage in the anterior (front) and the
arytenoid cartilages in the posterior (back) of the larynx. These muscles form the core of the
vocal folds. When a singer sustains a tone and these muscles are engaged, particularly when
singing in the lower register, they contract and become thicker, just as any muscle would when
flexed. Continuing to sustain the tone is an isometric exercise that builds strength, just as holding
16 Cottrell, “Building Vocal Strength,” 79.

83
a heavy weight in a fully extended arm would build arm and shoulder muscles.17 Particularly
because choral singing requires extended duration on long tones, often calling for messa di voce
in the repertoire, it is important to train the intrinsic laryngeal muscles and the respiratory
muscles to achieve a longer maximum phonation time, building strength in the voice.
Furthermore, this practice will lead to a more well-developed (vocally fit) vocal mechanism,
reducing the number of breaths needed by choral singers and resulting in higher efficiency.18
Approaching Non-Vibrato Singing
Choristers may be asked to sing without vibrato in the choral setting. While non-vibrato
singing is safe, amateur singers might achieve senza vibrato through unhealthy vocal behaviors if
not trained for such a task. An almost infinite number of combinations of the activities of the five
major laryngeal muscles can be produced, but generally, the cricothyroid (CT) muscle is
involved with thinning the vocal fold and stiffening the body of the vibrator, while the
thyroarytenoid (TA) thickens and shortens it.19 Particularly with respect to priming the voice for
non-vibrato singing, the choral director should design exercises that work on the interplay
between intrinsic laryngeal muscles. The intrinsic adductor laryngeal muscles like the TA, LCA,
and IA (whose action is to bring the vocal folds together, towards the midline) and the abductor
muscle (whose action is to move the vocal folds apart from one another): the posterior
cricoarytenoid can be engaged in concert with one another productively. For example, voice
researcher John Nix proposes alternating between passages intended to train agility containing
17 Ibid, 75.
18 Ibid, 77.
19 Minoru Hirano, “Vocal Mechanisms in Singing: Laryngological and Phoniatric Aspects,” Journal of Voice 2, no.
1 (1988): 57, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0892-1997(88)80058-4.

84
rapid, wide pitch changes with sustained-tone singing, with the goal of “the same quick and easy
pitch swing and air flow found in the agility portion on the sustained tones.”20 Nix also
encourages the further practice of contrasts, suggesting that alternating between vibrato and nonvibrato singing on a single tone will help a singer to practice keeping a steady flow of air
throughout, especially if the singer can ensure that the “sensations of freedom in the vibrato
singing continue in the non-vibrato segments.”21 Additionally, training in sustained tones (with
or without messa di voce) is especially helpful for choristers, partly due to the fact that long
phrases and sustained tones are often required in the repertoire.
Employing the exercise physiology practice of the cool-down, a culminating activity after
exercising, is also helpful for singers. While the warm-up has become accepted normal practice
in vocal rehearsing, the cool-down is much less often incorporated. Halstead states:
Studies have shown that the cool down for singers is as important as the warm up
to relax the vocal folds and neck muscles. Utilizing lip and tongue trills, breathy
decrescendo sighs and mid-range humming while packing up your practice
materials and preparing to go to your next activity are easy and effective cool
downs.22
While her comments are directed towards solo vocalists, the same can be applied to choral
singers. The cool-down is particularly important for high-tessitura singers in order to reconnect
with their speaking voice which they will likely use after the choral rehearsal or performance,
and which is likely at a lower tessitura. As voice researcher Kari Ragan notes, “although
20 John Nix, “Shaken, Not Stirred: Practical Ideas for Addressing Vibrato and Nonvibrato Singing in the Studio
and the Choral Rehearsal,” Journal of Singing 70, no. 4 (2014): 415.
21 Ibid, 416.
22 Halstead, Your Voice: An Inside View, 193.

85
research of cool-down exercises is still in its infancy, there is evidence to indicate the necessity
to include a cool-down regimen after a heavy singing (or speaking) voice load.”23 After singing,
“the cool-down routine serves to bring the laryngeal framework to a neutral position.”24 In
addition, there is “a fluid and structural protein disarray occurring mainly in the soft tissue
directly under the skin of the vocal fold” after a strenuous singing workout, which can be
brought back to homeostasis in part by cool-down voicing. A 2012 study showed that SOVTEs
like humming “may help to attenuate acute vocal fold inflammation more than spontaneous
speech at the end of a heavy voice load.”25 Ragan recommends a cool-down regimen much like a
warm-up regimen, in eight parts: (1) straw phonation pitch glides, (2) hummed slides spanning a
major third, (3) hums alternating with vowels on a single pitch, (4) /hw-ɔ/ on a sustained pitch
for two seconds, then ascending by half-steps, (5) gentle vocal fry exercises in five-second
durations, (6) singing a three-note scale using /væ/ in the chest register, (7) pitch glides on /væ/
in the chest register, and (8) singing a five-note descending scale on a soft, floaty /u/.26 The
exercises should all be sung with ease of function in mind, but they both help to bring the voice
back to a state of homeostasis and reveal physical changes in the vocal folds caused by extended
periods of voicing. For instance, a singer who has trouble accessing head voice in the light,
floaty /u/ of exercise 8 might need more time to recover from the voicing they have done in
23 Kari Ragan, “The Efficacy of Vocal Cool-down Exercises,” Journal of Singing 74, no. 5 (2018), 524,
ProQuest:
2039854103.
24 Sandage and Hoch, “Exercise physiology,” 423.
25 Ragan, “The Efficacy of Vocal Cool-down Exercises,” 524.
26 Ragan, 522.

86
rehearsal. This cool-down protocol specifically helps sopranos, who generally spend most of
their time in the rehearsal process singing in the head voice, to reconnect with the chest voice (as
referenced in exercises six and seven). The choral director should experiment with taking the last
few minutes of the choral rehearsal to incorporate a cool-down procedure.
Individualized Singer Protocol
There are, of course, personal protocols that individuals should follow to build and
protect their own vocal stamina. Lucinda Halstead, M.D. notes: “The focus of vocal health is
undergoing a dramatic transformation for singers and other vocal professionals. There is
currently a tremendous push to teach young vocalists how to care for their bodies in the same
way that athletes care for their bodies.”27 Singers should care for their instrument by following
general tenets of good health, including diet, nutrition, hydration, and sleep. Proper systemic
hydration is especially important for singers, so that the mucosal tissue of the vocal fold which
vibrates to produce phonation may oscillate freely. A low vocal fold mucosa viscosity level is
critical with regard to oscillation and overall glottal performance, and “hydration enhances vocal
fold vibration by reducing the viscosity of mucus.”28 A 1994 study found an inverse relationship
between phonatory effort and hydration level, specifically for high-pitched vocal demand.29 In
other words, as the water level in mucus increases, the vocal folds become less viscous (sticky)
and thus vibrate more freely, resulting in vocal production benefits as well as acoustical
27 Halstead, Your Voice: An Inside View, 187.
28 Stéphane Ayache et al., “Experimental Study of the Effects of Surface Mucus Viscosity on the Glottic
Cycle.” Journal of Voice 18, no. 1 (2004): 107-115, https://doi.org/10.1016/ j.jvoice.2003.07.004.
29 Katherine Verdolini, Ingo R. Titze, and Ann Fennell, “Dependence of Phonatory Effort on Hydration Level,”
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 37, no. 5 (1994), https:// doi.org/10.1044/jshr.3705.1001.

87
benefits.30 Additionally, dehydrated mucosal membranes under collision can exhibit signs of
damage caused by shear stress, leading to vocal fold tissue damage which exceeds the
capabilities of vocal fitness to mi damage. In short, dehydration of the vocal folds, both systemic
(as in, not drinking enough water) and superficial (as in, breathing in air with very low humidity
levels which dries out the vocal folds), makes the vocal folds more viscous, increases PTP and
vocal effort, and renders the vocal folds susceptible to damage.31 The choral director can easily
encourage systemic hydration by allowing and promoting the use of water bottles in rehearsal,
and more importantly, she can educate singers about the importance of systemic hydration to
vocal health so that singers may be encouraged to begin the hydration process well before
rehearsals and performances. If the rehearsal space is extraordinarily dry, the choral director can
consider introducing a humidifier into the room, which would enable superficial hydration of the
mucosal membrane and help to protect against shear stress damage.
Managing extracurricular vocal dose
Another component the choral director should consider when prioritizing vocal stamina is
vocal dose both inside and outside of the choral rehearsal. Halstead notes: “good speaking habits
are very important for maintaining vocal health…Approximately 50% of singers will have poor
speaking voice habits which will adversely affect their singing voice.”32 Extroverted singers
might be more susceptible to vocal injuries and pathologies caused by extreme overuse due to
30 Ibid.
31 “A compromised epithelial barrier could make vocal fold tissue more susceptible to damage during vocal fold
oscillation.” Mahalakshmi Sivasankar and Ciara Leydon, “The Role of Hydration in Vocal Fold Physiology,”
Current Opinion in Otolaryngology & Head and Neck Surgery 18, no. 3 (2010): 171-5,
doi:10.1097/MOO.0b013e3283393784.
32 Halstead, Your Voice: An Inside View, 191.

88
talkativeness. Singers involved in extracurricular activities that involve shouting (as in
cheerleading or vigorous vocal activities associated with athletic or social activities) may also be
at risk of excessive vocal dose which can cause material fatigue (that is, collision damage at a
rate faster than the epithelial cells can regenerate). Singers should keep a log of vocal dose to see
how duration affects their voice. Each individual voice and daily routine is different, so singers
who are able to track how vocal demand impacts their vocal performance, perceived and actual,
will learn how to care for their instrument in a more optimal way. As Titze recommends, the
vocal dose log should account for all intermittent rest periods so that the individual is able to
determine how long it takes their voice to recover from a variety of rehearsal, performance, or
day-to-day activities.33 A choral director might have a physical or digital log available for access
(in the front of the choir folder or on the homepage of the choir website, for instance) and could
ask singers to report their vocal dose. Similar to a practice chart, this information, paired with
information provided by the singer about their perceived fatigue level on a given day, could help
singer and conductor alike. From there, both parties would be empowered to make adjustments
such as an increase in vocal practicing or a decrease in vocal dose which could positively affect a
singer’s ability to perform in choir.
The Promotion of Agency
The traditional western model of the submissive chorister and the domineering,
omnipotent maestro is one which is quickly falling out of style. Yet, the format of choral director
and choir necessarily creates a power imbalance. Choir singers who feel unimportant, uncared
for, or disengaged from the music-making process may have higher instances of fatigue, leading
33 Titze, “Getting the most,” 38.

89
to attrition in the choir. One of the most important things humans need in order to feel
responsibility in a community is a sense of agency. Agency is defined by researcher and
professor in psychology James Moore as “the feeling of control over actions and their
consequences.”34 In the 2017 choral textbook The Oxford Handbook of Choral Pedagogy, Dr.
Hilary Apfelstadt explained the importance of agency in choir:
…if the teacher is always the one responsible for making decisions in the choral
rehearsal, the students become like mindless drones that have no reason to utilize
independent thought or critical thinking. It is important that students not only
make decisions in the rehearsal, but that they realize they are involved and acting
critically.35
As noted prior, the benefits of prioritizing vocal stamina to ward off fatigue are not limited to
physical fitness: inculcating a sense of agency in the mental state of the chorister can have a
profound impact on singer development in the ensemble as well. A soprano who is told to sing
pianissimo and non-vibrato above the staff, and chastised when her voice falters or when she
sings too loudly, might feel completely bereft of agency. Likewise, a singer whose voice is tired
after every weekly rehearsal might choose to engage in complete voice rest between choir
rehearsals in an effort to help her voice feel better, yet would then find herself fatigued further
by only engaging her musculature for singing once a week in the choral setting. Without
building a vocal fitness necessary for choral singing, she will be left feeling helpless to
positively affect her vocal performance or vocal stamina. This singer might feel that her
34 James W. Moore, "What Is the Sense of Agency and Why Does it Matter?” Frontiers in Psychology 7 (2016),
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01272.
35 Frank Abrahams and Paul D. Head, The Oxford Handbook of Choral Pedagogy, (New York: Oxford
University Press, 2017), 20, doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199373369.001.0001.

90
contributions to the ensemble are minimal, and her effortful voicing is unproductive and
overlooked.
By promoting vocal stamina in the choral rehearsal with explicit instructions and
explanations in the warm-up, cool-down, and throughout the employment of various rehearsal
techniques, the director will communicate that she cares about each individual’s ability to
vocally function at optimal levels. Giving singers a vocal fitness protocol to follow while at
home and options to use at their own discretion from their chair in the choral rehearsal will
contribute to a sense of agency.
Psychologist Chris D. Frith purports that “one of the key social functions of sense of
agency is the attribution of responsibility.”36 The voice is a dynamic system, and there is not
always a linear cause and effect relationship in the mind of the singer when making a change to
affect singing, as minor changes to the approach to voicing can affect the vocal system in
significant and myriad ways. Sometimes taking one’s attention away from the act of singing
entirely can result in relaxation of the extrinsic laryngeal muscles, which can free a constricted
larynx for better oscillation, but the singer may not know exactly what they did to make the
sound better. As research in motor learning has shown, bodily movements can occur without our
awareness and also without our intentional control. Nevertheless, while we are not aware of
every detail of our actions and their associated sensations, we are “vividly aware of being in
control,” and a sense of control is very important for the feeling of having agency.37 As Frith
explains, the attribution of responsibility is an important function in society, based first upon the
36 Chris D. Frith, “Action, agency and responsibility,” Neuropsychologia 55 (2014): 137-42,
doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2013.09.007.
37 Ibid.

91
self-perception of being an agent: ”it was I that caused the outcome.”38 Agency contributes to a
chorister’s sense of belonging, and the overall sense of trust and reciprocity in the choral
community. Solo singers train to gain and exercise control over their bodily instruments and
must be able to intentionally manipulate highly specialized muscle movements to accomplish
specific goals. In a choral setting, where the singer is working at the pace and instruction of a
director and not solely him or herself, does the average singer have a meaningful sense of agency
with regard to their own vocal contributions? As Moore states, “responsibility is closely related
to the concept of free will. That is, for most people it only makes sense to hold someone
responsible for their actions if they are freely in control of them.”39 As any chorister who has
been berated by a conductor for not singing something to their standard can affirm, the feeling of
being held responsible for something you feel you cannot control is incredibly damaging. Singers
who feel in control of the care of their voice, who regularly check in with their body and take
ownership of their practice regimen, diet, and hydration levels, will feel more responsible for
their participation in creating beautiful, reliable sound, and have a better sense of agency when
singing.
The choral director should make a concerted effort to monitor singers’ vocal dose and
stamina through the course of a season, week, and even throughout the rehearsal itself. When
singers come to the rehearsal, they should have the opportunity (through the vocal dose log, for
instance, or another brief survey) to self-monitor (How have I cared for my voice today? How
does my voice feel? How much voicing have I done in the last 24 hours?) and report this
information to the choir director beyond the aforementioned vocal dose log. This reporting could
38 Ibid.
39 Moore, "What Is the Sense of Agency.”

92
be as simple as the director saying, “Vocal check-in: how are you today on a scale of 1-5?” and
surveying the room by a show of fingers. The student report could also look like a simple
question or two added to an attendance form QR code, to be completed in the moments before
class begins, such as “I rate my vocal exercise this week as (minimal, on target, excessive)”;
“Today the following issue is affecting my vocal production”; and so forth.) If this sort of selfassessment and reporting protocol is built into the rehearsal process, the director can then take
into account his singers’ progress over time after following a proposed fitness regimen.
Additionally, on a day-to-day basis, the director could keep vocally exhausted singers in mind
when rehearsing difficult passages. For instance, if 80% of the soprano section screamed at a
sporting event prior to the choral rehearsal and feel hoarseness when phonating, the choral
director might take this into consideration when deciding which rehearsal techniques to employ.
Embracing Vocal Naps
The author does not advocate for long swaths of silence, as such practices will not make
the best use of exercising the intrinsic laryngeal and respiratory muscles which need to be
worked out in the ‘voice gym’ of the choral rehearsal. Yet, pauses in the course of singing which
briefly cease duration are helpful for preserving vocal health and minimizing material fatigue
related to vocal fold collisions, particularly at high pitch levels. Short voicing breaks, or vocal
naps as referenced earlier, abound in choral rehearsals. Although the most fastidious music
educator might seek to eliminate as much non-singing time as possible in the name of
engagement and efficiency, pauses are natural and should not be eliminated. Vocal naps should
be thoughtfully included, particularly when repertoire such as the Lauridsen “O magnum
mysterium” is being rehearsed, which has almost constant duration by all voice parts. In a piece
such as Missa ‘Pange lingua’ by Josquin and “Sicut cervus” by Palestrina, voice breaks are built

93
into the normal sequence due to the nature of singing contrapuntally-driven music. These breaks
can aid in vocal recovery.
In the aforementioned all-state study, students were engaged in active phonation for up to
38% of the rehearsal time, the rest of it mostly lost to conductor speech.40 There is more research
about vocal fatigue yet to be done, but it is hypothesized that recovery takes place even in the
short pauses in rehearsal when conductors give an instruction or call out a measure number.41
Furthermore, recovery of tissue damage, in the form of regeneration of epithelial cells, occurs at
a maximum of 72 hours:
Short term recovery takes place when we stop phonating, even momentarily. This
recovery is primarily a benefit to the muscles, whose chemistry gets reset for the
next contraction. Meanwhile, traumatized skin cells and extracellular material in
the vocal cover are not quickly repaired. Epithelial cells––they line the inner and
outer surfaces of the body––may have been heavily bombarded by vocal fold
collision; consequently, they may die and be shed off. New cells will develop
underneath but that takes time…The repair process may take anywhere from a
few hours to as much as 72 hours to complete. Thus, minor destruction and repair
is continual, even when we do not overuse our vocal folds. The key question is
can the regenerative processes keep up with the destructive process. If not, a
recovery time will be needed, because an accumulation of damage will have taken
place.42
Absolute vocal rest is, more often than not, not necessary. While seconds of “downtime”
in choral rehearsals which may occur due to a singer stopping the rehearsal process to ask a
question, pass out music, move to a different formation, and so forth may seem like lost vocal
40 Daugherty, Manternach, & Price, “Student Voice Use,” 346-367.
41 “It is hypothesized that there is some recovery in seconds, but other aspects of recovery may take hours or
even days.” Ragan, “The Efficacy of Vocal Cool-down Exercises,” 522.
42 Doherty, Mary Lynn, “On the Voice: Making the Connection Between Healthy Voice and Successful
Teaching and Learning in the Music Classroom,” The Choral Journal 51, no. 11 (2011): 44,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/23561625.

94
practice time, choral directors and singers should take heart in the realization that these short
pauses in phonation which occur in the normal course of the rehearsal can benefit voices and
assist recovery. The fact that extremely tired vocal mechanisms, and even those which have
sustained material fatigue, will experience cell regeneration in 72 hours so long as continued
damage does not exceed the rate of regeneration, is empowering news for the singer.
Singers who are more prone to collision exposure, particularly those sopranos and tenors
singing at higher frequency levels (higher pitches) for their vocal mechanism, should be treated
with specific care, and with a sufficient variety of techniques, duration, and encouragement from
their director. Music educator Jeffrey Webb noted the following in a 2007 Music Educators
Journal article:
Prolonged phonation at high frequencies is extremely dangerous to the voice. This
is especially true for sopranos. It takes a great deal of energy to sing passages with
a high tessitura. If those passages are going to be rehearsed for twenty consecutive
minutes, it can have a negative effect on the section, and singers can become
fatigued very easily. Singing the passage an octave lower still allows them to
learn the notes and the rhythms without extreme exertion, although it would not
work as well for tuning a chord or determining a vowel modification. Conversely,
when the section sings the passages in the written octave, it is important not to
under-sing, because this can produce vocal fatigue and damage to the vocal
folds.43
In order to put this recommendation into practice, a norm that could be introduced in the
choral rehearsal is a standing agreement between conductor and singer that higher-tessituraprone singers will sing an octave lower than indicated in the musical score every other time the
conductor leads the ensemble through it, if the section is being repeated at length. Better yet,
43 Jeffrey L. Webb, “Promoting Vocal Health in the Choral Rehearsal,” Music Educators Journal 93, no. 5
(2007): 26-31, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4488983.

95
these voices could sing on an SOVTE as well as at an octave lower every other time in order to
better work to build vocal fitness. Singing in the TA-dominant vocal range strengthens the CTdominant range. This could be employed in many of the high-tessitura works discovered in this
study: for instance, in the rehearsal of the Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, sopranos,
tenors, and even basses would benefit from rehearsing down an octave from the written pitch.
Singers could also have a communication method with the conductor so that they can take
ownership of, and feel a sense of personal agency for, the care of their voice in the rehearsal,
such as holding up 1 finger when singing an octave down, 2 fingers when singing on an SOVTE,
or some other visual, concurrent signal, so that the conductor can maintain their leadership,
conducting, and aural evaluation process without being aurally disturbed by octave-displaced
singing. If singers are allowed to take responsibility for caring for their voices’ tessitura exposure
in this way in the rehearsal process, this will benefit responsibility and the promotion of agency
as well as show the singer that the conductor cares about their vocal demand and wants to
preserve longevity. Choral directors might also reserve “performance runs” of pieces,
specifically asking singers to sing a piece without any accommodations, in “performance mode”
once or twice in a rehearsal rather than four times in a row, for instance.
Considerations for Future Study
The AATS tessitura and range guidelines should be evaluated with a modern, voicescience-informed perspective; since their publication in 1944, and subsequent republication in
2006, no changes have been made to them. With the influence of AMAB and AFAB transgender
singers staffing choirs, ranges and tessiture for choral designations might need to shift. More
research is needed on a number of factors encountered in this study, including understanding the
prevailing practices regarding voice part classification in the choral audition, how multi-

96
generational voicing impacts vocal fatigue, the effect of room setup on perceptions of fatigue as
they relate to singer proximity and acoustics, and the effect of hearing on the vocal dose of the
choral singer.44 Additionally, the choral director’s modeling, gesture, and rehearsal atmosphere
has a direct effect on singer voicing; the practice of singer empathy cannot be overlooked.
Further, an extended choral repertoire survey would be valuable for identifying the vocal demand
in a college choral program, and beyond: a survey for treble choir repertoire, BBT repertoire,
children’s choir repertoire, and so forth would be valuable information for the choral field.
However, at the local level, each conductor can process such a survey themselves, for the
repertoire encountered by their choirs, in order to inform their own voice classification,
monitoring, and rehearsal planning processes.
The increasing trend of choral directors programming contemporary choral works by
living composers rather than those from the historical eras of Western music calls for a look into
the body of modern choral repertoire specifically, which is so large and diverse that it requires
specific rather than comprehensive study. Relative to traditional Western choral music,
contemporary compositions may include increased range, higher tessitura, and innovative
extended vocal techniques (such as reverse phonation, grunting, gliding, and screaming). These
factors contribute to vocal demand in meaningful and different ways; more research would need
to be done in order to evaluate what singers are being asked to do generally. Choral directors
should feel a sense of responsibility to consider the impact and importance of range and tessitura
in the pieces on their particular concert cycle, season, and year rather than choosing pieces that
44 “When young changing voices are assigned vocal parts that exceed the vocal capabilities of their maturing
anatomy, they are learning to use their voices with excess effort, and their vocal potential and health are being
compromised.” Leon Thurman, “Voice Health and Choral Singing: When Voice Classifications Limit Singing
Ability,” The Choral Journal 28, no. 10 (1988): 30, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23547721.

97
are on trend in the choral field, align with the conductor’s personal ambitions, or are selected at
the request of their singers, for instance. Repertoire that is incongruent with the vocal abilities of
the singers performing it can discourage and fatigue singers and should therefore be
reconsidered, no matter how beautifully that repertoire may fit into a concert’s theme, the flow of
its key relationships, or a conductor’s goal of representing a variety of musical eras and genres in
choral repertoire.

98
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104
Appendices
Appendix A: Hertz Chart
Appendix A
Hertz Chart1
Note Frequency (Hz) Wavelength (cm)
C0 16.35 2109.89
C#0/Db0 17.32 1991.47
D0 18.35 1879.69
D#0/Eb0 19.45 1774.20
E0 20.60 1674.62
F0 21.83 1580.63
F#0/Gb0 23.12 1491.91
G0 24.50 1408.18
G#0/Ab0 25.96 1329.14
A0 27.50 1254.55
A#0/Bb0 29.14 1184.13
B0 30.87 1117.67
C1 32.70 1054.94
C#1/Db1 34.65 995.73
D1 36.71 939.85
D#1/Eb1 38.89 887.10
E1 41.20 837.31
F1 43.65 790.31
F#1/Gb1 46.25 745.96
G1 49.00 704.09
G#1/Ab1 51.91 664.57
1 B. H. Suits, “Tuning: Frequencies of Musical Notes, A4 = 440 Hz,” Physics of Music Notes, https://
pages.mtu.edu/~suits/notefreqs.html.

105
A
1 55.00 627.27
A#1/Bb1 58.27 592.07 B1 61.74 558.84 C2 65.41 527.47 C#2/Db2 69.30 497.87 D2 73.42 469.92 D#2/Eb2 77.78 443.55 E2 82.41 418.65 F2 87.31 395.16 F#2/Gb2 92.50 372.98 G2 98.00 352.04 G#2/Ab2 103.83 332.29 A2 110.00 313.64 A#2/Bb2 116.54 296.03 B2 123.47 279.42 C3 130.81 263.74 C#3/Db3 138.59 248.93 D3 146.83 234.96 D#3/Eb3 155.56 221.77 E3 164.81 209.33 F3 174.61 197.58 F#3/Gb3 185.00 186.49 G3 196.00 176.02 G#3/Ab3 207.65 166.14 A3 220.00 156.82

106
A#3/Bb3 233.08 148.02 B3 246.94 139.71 C4 261.63 131.87 C#4/Db4 277.18 124.47 D4 293.66 117.48 D#4/Eb4 311.13 110.89 E4 329.63 104.66 F4 349.23 98.79 F#4/Gb4 369.99 93.24 G4 392.00 88.01 G#4/Ab4 415.30 83.07 A4 440.00 78.41 A#4/Bb4 466.16 74.01 B4 493.88 69.85 C5 523.25 65.93 C#5/Db5 554.37 62.23 D5 587.33 58.74 D#5/Eb5 622.25 55.44 E5 659.25 52.33 F5 698.46 49.39 F#5/Gb5 739.99 46.62 G5 783.99 44.01 G#5/Ab5 830.61 41.54 A5 880.00 39.20 A#5/Bb5 932.33 37.00

107
B
5 987.77 34.93
C
6 1046.50 32.97
C#6/Db6 1108.73 31.12 D6 1174.66 29.37 D#6/Eb6 1244.51 27.72 E6 1318.51 26.17 F6 1396.91 24.70 F#6/Gb6 1479.98 23.31 G6 1567.98 22.00 G#6/Ab6 1661.22 20.77 A6 1760.00 19.60 A#6/Bb6 1864.66 18.50 B6 1975.53 17.46 C7 2093.00 16.48 C#7/Db7 2217.46 15.56 D7 2349.32 14.69 D#7/Eb7 2489.02 13.86 E7 2637.02 13.08 F7 2793.83 12.35 F#7/Gb7 2959.96 11.66 G7 3135.96 11.00 G#7/Ab7 3322.44 10.38 A7 3520.00 9.80 A#7/Bb7 3729.31 9.25 B7 3951.07 8.73

108
C8 4186.01 8.24
C#8/Db8 4434.92 7.78
D8 4698.63 7.34
D#8/Eb8 4978.03 6.93
E8 5274.04 6.54
F8 5587.65 6.17
F#8/Gb8 5919.91 5.83
G8 6271.93 5.50
G#8/Ab8 6644.88 5.19
A8 7040.00 4.90
A#8/Bb8 7458.62 4.63
B8 7902.13 4.37

109
Appendix B: Choral Works Identified in “Essential Choral Repertoire for the Undergraduate Music Major”
Appendix B
Choral Works Identified in “Essential Choral Repertoire for the Undergraduate Music
Major” 1
Major Works2
1. A German Requiem, Brahms (10)
2. Requiem, Mozart (9)
3. Messiah, Handel (9)
4. Requiem, Faure (5)
5. Magnificat, Bach (4)
6. Gloria, Poulenc (4)
7. Mass in G, Schubert (4)
8. Gloria, Vivaldi (3)
9. Chichester Psalms, Bernstein (3)
10. The Creation, Haydn (3)
11. Vespers (K. 339), Mozart (3)
12. Carmina Burana, Orff (3)
13. Elijah, Mendelssohn (3)
Minor Works3
1. Sicut Cervus, Palestrina (11)
2. Ave Verum, Mozart (8)
3. O Magnum Mysterium, Victoria (8)
4. Alleluia, Thompson (7)
5. “How Lovely are Thy Dwellings,” from
A German Requiem, Brahms (6)
6. Ave Verum, Byrd (6)
7. Trois Chansons, Debussy (6)
8. “Ubi Caritas,” Duruflé (6)
9. Frostiana, Thompson (6)
10. Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden, Bach (5)
11. Reincarnations, Barber (5)
12. “Hallelujah” from Messiah, Handel (5)
13. Schaffe in mir, Gott, ein Rein Herz
(Opus 29, No. 2), Brahms (5)
1 Trott, “Repertoire and Standards,” 48.
2 The list represents choral/orchestral literature that was listed by three or more respondents in a survey of
essential repertoire conducted by Trott (the number inside each parenthetical indicates the number of times
repertoire was listed).
3 The list represents unaccompanied or accompanied literature that was listed by five or more respondents in a
survey of essential repertoire conducted by Trott (the number inside each parenthetical indicates the number of
times repertoire was listed).

110
Appendix C: Choral Range and Tessitura Parameters According to the American Academy of Teachers of Singing
Appendix C
Choral Range and Tessitura Parameters According to the American Academy of Teachers
of Singing1
Range and Tessitura Parameters for SATB, with Divisi
1 Emmons and Chase, Prescriptions for Choral Excellence, 314.

111
Range and Tessitura Parameters for SATB, without Divisi

112
Appendix D: Choral Repertoire Study Results
Appendix D
Choral Repertoire Study Results
Range

113
Tessitura

114
Range and Tessitura, Color-Coding Removed

115
Appendix E: Tessitura in The Diagnosis and Correction of Vocal Faults
Appendix E
Tessitura in The Diagnosis and Correction of Vocal Faults1
Range and tessitura are often confused with each other. Range is concerned with the total
compass of a voice part or of a singer. Tessitura is concerned with that part of the range which is
receiving the most use; it may refer to the voice part itself or to how the singer relates to it. Two
songs may have the same general range but different tessituras, as shown below:
Song 1
Song 2
There are some singers who can sing both of these tunes comfortably; there are others
who can handle the range without any problem, but who find the tessitura of the second tune
very demanding because it lies so high within the octave. It is in this sense that tessitura can
become a very valuable determinant of voice classification. Even though two voices may have
identical ranges, one of them may actually be a higher voice than the other because it finds the
tessitura comfortable while the other voice does not. Singers with very wide ranges often have to
make a choice between tenor and baritone or between soprano and mezzo because they have the
range to sing either part. The decision should be made, in part, on the basis of which tessitura
1 James C. McKinney, “Voice Classification” in The Diagnosis and Correction of Vocal Faults, 114-115.

116
proves to be more tiring. Vocal longevity bears a direct relationship to vocal comfort.
2 If you can
sing well in two different tessituras, it is the better part of wisdom to choose the one which is less
fatiguing vocally. Normally this will be the lower one.
2 Emphasis in original.

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Core Title Harnessing range and tessitura: a conductor's guide to the identification and management of vocal demand in mixed-voice choral repertoire

School Thornton School of Music

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Degree Conferral Date 2023-12

Publication Date 10/13/2023

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