Find Your Singing Range

Some singers can hit breathtaking high notes, while others can dig deep for soulful lows. A lucky few can do both with ease! A singer's range is the spectrum of notes that he or she can sing comfortably and clearly. Finding your range is easy — all you'll need is a musical instrument like a piano (or a digital alternative) to give you a few reference tones and you'll know your range within a minute or two.

Steps

Using a Piano or Keyboard

  1. Press middle C (C4) on the keyboard. Because it can play a relatively wide range of notes perfectly in tune, a piano (or an electric keyboard) is usually the most useful instrument for finding your vocal range. Start by pressing the note middle C (also called C4) on the keyboard. Note that you won't need to know how to play the piano to use this method of finding your vocal range.
    • If you're not familiar with the keys on a piano, middle C is the fourth C natural note counting from the left side of the keyboard. In other words, it is the fourth white key that is two the left of two black keys. Usually, this is right in the middle of the keyboard, under the manufacturer's name or logo.[1]
    • If you're not sure whether you're using the right note, consider using a digital middle C reference tone (which can be found on YouTube, etc.) to help you find it.
  2. Sing the note, matching your pitch carefully. When you've found middle C, sing the note out loud. Use a good amount of air support — you don't have to belt the note, but you need to sing it (and all of the other notes in this exercise) strongly and confidently.
    • Starting at middle C is a good idea because it's contained in all of the traditional voice classes (i.e., bass, baritone, tenor, alto, soprano.) However, middle C falls at the top of a bass's vocal range and at the bottom of a soprano's, so if you have an exceptionally low or high voice, you may not be able to hit it.[2] This is OK — simply start at a more comfortable note instead.
  3. Play descending notes, matching your pitch each time. Press the white key to the left of middle C. This note is called B3. If you can, sing this tone as you try to match your pitch to the piano's. Next, press the white key to the left of B3 (which is called A3) and repeat. Keep moving down the piano through G3, F3, and so on until you reach a note that you can't sing comfortably. The previous note is the bottom of your singing range.
    • For example, let's say that Sandy starts from middle C and reaches F3 (four notes below it) comfortably. However, when she tries to sing the next note, E3, her voice wavers and she can't produce a clear tone. This means that F3 is at the bottom of her vocal range.
  4. Play ascending notes starting from middle C, matching your pitch as before. Next, return to middle C and simply go in the other direction. When you reach a note that's too high for you to sing clearly and comfortably, you'll know that the previous note marks the top of your vocal range.
    • Let's say that Sandy starts from middle C and reaches D5 (eight notes up — over a full octave) without any problems. When she tries to sing E5, she can't maintain her pitch. This means that D5 is at the top of her vocal range.
  5. Repeat as needed. Your singing range contains all the notes in between (and including) your highest note and your lowest note.
    • In our example, Sandy can sing from about an F3 to a D5. This means her vocal range makes her roughly a contralto — traditionally the lowest vocal category for women.[2]

Using Online Solutions

  1. Use a video for reference tones. If you don't have a piano or you just don't want to bother with one, fear not — it's easy to find the reference tones you need on streaming video sites like YouTube, etc. Simply search for a query like "middle C" or "finding vocal range" to get plenty of results that can help you sing the right tones to determine your vocal range.
    • One great video that contains reference tones for finding your singing range is included at the end of this article.
  2. Use a vocal range-finding lesson. This article offers a simple but effective path to finding your vocal range. However, this isn't the only way to find your vocal range. A wide variety of lessons and tests are easy to find with simple search engine queries like "find my vocal range" and so on.
    • The BBC offers a fairly thorough DIY lesson for finding your own vocal range with five exercises and instructions for each.
  3. Use singers' resources for further information. If you're willing to spend a little extra time and energy, there's much more to learn about what gives each person his or her unique vocal range. Try browsing "serious" journals and articles written for moderate-to-advanced singers as your next step — there are are an absolute wealth of these available with a simple search engine query!
    • Choirly.com offers a fairly beginner-friendly introduction to different vocal ranges and the associated terminology.
    • Vocalist.org.uk has a more technical text article available. Included in this article are definitions for over a dozen categories of vocal ranges.

Defining Your Vocal Range

  1. Below, find the note ranges for the most common traditional vocal classes. Your personal vocal class is the option with the range that you most closely match. Note that your range may not match one of these categories perfectly and that vocal profiles besides the ones below, though rare, are possible.[3]
Vocal Ranges
Class Range Singer's Sex Famous Examples
Soprano B3-C6 Female Maria Callas, Mariah Carey, Kate Bush
Mezzo-Soprano A3-A5 Female Maria Malibran, Beyoncé, Tori Amos
Contralto F3-F5 Female Adele; Sade
Countertenor G3-D5 Male Alfred Deller, Philippe Jaroussky
Tenor C3-Bb4 Male Luciano Pavarotti; Freddie Mercury
Baritone F2-F4 Male David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix
Bass E2-E4 Male Klaus Moll, Barry White, Louis Armstrong



Tips

  • Singing with a clean, clear tone and strong support is important. Finding your vocal range isn't about straining to squeeze out the absolute highest and lowest notes you can possibly hit — it's about finding the notes you can sing musically.
  • Many singers like warming up before they sing (for instance, by drinking warm tea and performing vocal exercises) to maximize their range. See our vocal warm-ups article for more information.
  • Contraltos and Basses are very rare. If you fall under the Bass or Contralto range, you are probably a Baritone or Mezzo-Soprano. An example of a true Bass would be Rick Astley and a true Contralto would be Chet.

Warnings

  • This bears repeating: do not strain to hit notes that are outside of your vocal range. This is a good way to put stress on your vocal chords. Over time, doing this can even reduce your range.
  • Avoid smoking, frequent shouting, and any habits that cause coughing — these habits can damage your singing voice.[4]

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://www.infinitymusicstudio.net/2/post/2012/09/tutorial-on-how-to-find-middle-c-on-the-piano.html
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 http://www.singwise.com/cgi-bin/main.pl?section=articles&doc=UnderstandingVocalRangeRegistersAndType
  3. ↑ http://choirly.com/whats-my-voice-type/
  4. ↑ http://thesingingvoice.com/about/vocal-health
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