Notation. The basics.

Notation

Pitch

Duration

Dynamics

Styles of singing

There are lots of styles of singing. Listen to some of them

• Bel canto:  singing beautifully, flexibly and smoothly, in a similar style from top to bottom.
• Scat: vocal improvisation with wordless vocables, nonsense syllables or without words at all (from 1:31 to 1:50 minutes, 2:15-2:34)
• Screaming: vocal technique often used in punk rock. Singers can sing very high or very low and always very loud. 
• Beat boxing: form of vocal percussion, the art of producing drum beats, rhythm and musical sounds using one's mouth.
• Yodeling: singing rapidly making changes from chest voice to the head register, making a high-low-high-low sound.
  
  

Forms of group singing

• Unison: same melody, lots of singers

• Singing in harmony: different melodies

• Call and response: alternation of singers

• A capella: only singers, no instruments

Vocal ensembles

Vocal ensembles 

A Choir is a group of singers. Each part is performed by more than one singer.

• Mixed voice choir
• Female choir
• Male choir
• Children´s choir

Depending on the number of singers there are many different vocal groups: a duet (2 singers), a trio (3 singers), a quartet (four singers)....

• Quartet
• Duet
• Sextet

Male voices

The countertenor is a special male voice, even higher than the tenor. Countertenors generally sing in the falsetto register.

• Countertenor (Rinaldo / David Daniels) from «Rinaldo» by G. F. Handel.

The tenor is the highest common male voice

• Tenor (Nemorino / Juan Diego Flórez), from  «The elixir of love» (L´elisir d´amore) by Gaetano Donizetti.

The baritone sings the top part of the bass range and the bottom part of the tenor range

• Baritone ( Fígaro / Dmitri Hvorostovsky), from «The barber of Seville» by Gioachino Rossini. 

The bass is the lowest male voice

• Bass (Sarastro / Kurt Moll), from «The magic flute» by W. A, Mozart.

Female voices

The soprano is the highest female voice

• Soprano (The Queen of the night / Diana Damrau),  from The Magic Flute by W. A. Mozart

The mezzo-soprano is the middle-range type for females.

• Mezzo-soprano (Carmen / Anne Sofie von Otter), from «Carmen», by Georges Bizet.

The contralto (or alto) is the lowest female voice 

• Contralto (Nathalie Stutzmann), from «Songs on the Death of Children» (Kindertotenlieder nº 2) , by Gustav Mahler.

Voice system

Do you remember the vocal mechanism? This picture can help you.