Choral Arrangement Ranges

[dennarr]

(I think this is the right forum to post this in...if not - sorry!)

Questions for the more "musically educated" folks... :)

I am planning our Christmas musical at church and am having to arrange most and even rekey some of the songs (it is not a standard off the shelf musical). Many of the songs are in the key of G or D.

Question: is that too high for normal choir arrangements? I check on some of our off the shelf stuff and not many songs are in G.

Thanks for any help!

D

[Viclyn]

It's really not the key that matters but the range of notes. For your typical choir soprano only a few very gifted individuals can do an A above the clef and not sound like they are screeching. I'm a mezzo and I can do a G but it's pushing the vocal quality. Then if you have females going to a G below the clef they start sounding like they are eating gravel. However, every situation is different. So, I would look at what the highest notes in a song are and what the lowest notes are and work from that. It also depends if you are doing 3, 4, or 5 part harmonies. Typically if you are adding a great deal of harmonies you need the melody to be a little on the high side to fit in all the other parts. If you are having the guys sing melody then you need to look at how the high harmonies have to go.

The reason why most of your off the shelf stuff in not in some of those keys is that usually they are accompanied by an orchestra. They tend to write for more flat instruments than sharp. (Piano vs. guitar)

[madviolinist]

Sibelius Software puts the Range as Follows:
Soprano: Middle C-A above the stave
Alto: G Below Middle C to C octave above Middle C
Tenor: C one octave below Middle C to G above Middle C
Bass: F below the Bass Clef Stave (2 octaves below middle C) to E above Middle C

If you know how to use Alto and Tenor Clefs, a good rule of thumb is to keep it within the Stave, and it will be fine to sing for most people. Of course, you'll probably need to put it back into Treble and Bass clefs, but it's a handy guide: Keep the Sopranos in the Treble Clef stave, the Altos in the Alto Clef Stave, Tenors in the Tenor Clef stave and Basses in the Bass Clef Stave.

[dennarr]

Thanks for the info! I'm using Finale PrintMusic, so it probably has the same staves. That said, I may just use the ranges you noted!

[dennarr]

Thank you , thank you, thank you for the info! Very helpful!