Voicings for Youth Choirs

[jrs81]

How do you determine where to place your younger members, ages 5-10, in your youth choirs?  They are so young and their voices are not developed to actually fit with sopranos or altos.  What do you do?

[MrSparrow]

5-10 are sopranos unless they are more developed...

I don't know that many 7 year old tenors but in my youth choir I do have some young girls that can't get up there where the normal voices are for elementary school students...

I slide them to alto...

MrSparrow

[jrs81]

I only have about 3 maybe 4 that I can classify as sopranos.  The rest are altos.  Most of my boys can hold the tenor line.  But I have so many altos that they overpower the sopranos.  How can I make some of those altos sing soprano?

[MrSparrow]

What ages are the singers in your choir? That information will help me help you...

[jrs81]

The ages are 5 to 18.  Mostly girls between the ages of 7 to 13.  It is becoming a chore to try and sing some of the songs that we sing and we really need sopranos.  I have 2 matrons, one helps the sopranos and the other helps the tenors.  The director tries to help the altos.  When I can I try and help the sopranos, but with only about 4 sopranos they are overshadowed by all of the altos.

[sjonathan02]

The ages are 5 to 18.  Mostly girls between the ages of 7 to 13.  It is becoming a chore to try and sing some of the songs that we sing and we really need sopranos.  I have 2 matrons, one helps the sopranos and the other helps the tenors.  The director tries to help the altos.  When I can I try and help the sopranos, but with only about 4 sopranos they are overshadowed by all of the altos.

You may need to change the type of songs that you're doing. 

[MrSparrow]

What I would do first of all is determine if the girls are singing alto because they're best friend or the most popular girl sings alto... AKA Lazy Sopranos... I find it HIGHLY QUESTIONABLE to only have 4 sopranos... You can also use your younger boys to sing soprano. It looks crazy but if they can't get the low tenor notes, then use them where they are. Have them sing soprano between the sopranos and the tenors so it looks like they are singing tenor and won't be standing in the middle of the girls.

Celebrate their high voices and they'll feel confident when they sing and will realize that they can sing soprano better than the girls. The girls will see that as a challenge and will step up to the plate. I'm POSITIVE.

MrSparrow

[michaeln]

I know that there is a question on the floor already but I would like to avoid thi situation if posible.  Please tell me how to determine choir parts, I would assume that deep voice are "TENORS", and high voices are "ALTOS" and that would put "SAPRANOS" in the middle.  But you know what is said about assuming, where would the cut off be?

[MrSparrow]

Sopranos High Voices
Altos Medium High
Tenor Lower Voices


There are more specific classifications but generally only men's ensembles use Baratone (medium low) and Bass (very low) parts. Gospel choirs generally have soprano, alto and tenor harmony otherwise known as 3 part harmony...

In my opinion, there are no dumb questions, only dumb people who don't ask questions...


MrSparrow

[jrs81]

You may need to change the type of songs that you're doing. 

I have tried doing that and playing songs in C, E flat, or F, trying to make it more comfortable for them.

What I would do first of all is determine if the girls are singing alto because they're best friend or the most popular girl sings alto... AKA Lazy Sopranos... I find it HIGHLY QUESTIONABLE to only have 4 sopranos... You can also use your younger boys to sing soprano. It looks crazy but if they can't get the low tenor notes, then use them where they are. Have them sing soprano between the sopranos and the tenors so it looks like they are singing tenor and won't be standing in the middle of the girls.

Celebrate their high voices and they'll feel confident when they sing and will realize that they can sing soprano better than the girls. The girls will see that as a challenge and will step up to the plate. I'm POSITIVE.

MrSparrow

I have individually heard what they sing.  I had only 1 young man that could sing soprano and he is no longer with us.  Some of my girls have very deep voices.

I have done the la-la-la with them to see how high they could sing and most of the can't go beyond a above middle c.

[sjonathan02]

I have tried doing that and playing songs in C, E flat, or F, trying to make it more comfortable for them.
I have individually heard what they sing.  I had only 1 young man that could sing soprano and he is no longer with us.  Some of my girls have very deep voices.

I have done the la-la-la with them to see how high they could sing and most of the can't go beyond a above middle c.

Then, use THAT as your guide for the voicings. What is their 'bottom' note?

[jrs81]

Then, use THAT as your guide for the voicings. What is their 'bottom' note?

Most of them can hit "g" below middle c.

[Mysteryman]

I know that there is a question on the floor already but I would like to avoid thi situation if posible.  Please tell me how to determine choir parts, I would assume that deep voice are "TENORS", and high voices are "ALTOS" and that would put "SAPRANOS" in the middle.  But you know what is said about assuming, where would the cut off be?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vocal_range
Here is a link of vocal ranges. You can play those scales and the people who can sing in these ranges are in their perspective places. Although some altos maybe be trained to sing soprano.

When the young kids at my church sing the directress usually has them on the front row.