Choral Compositions

What word alternatives are there for sections of a choral composition for which words would be too complex (difficult to pronounce), or when I simply don't have suitable words?

Are there instrumentation guidelines for the human voice?

What word alternatives are there for sections of a choral composition for which words would be too complex (difficult to pronounce), or when I simply don't have suitable words?

Are there instrumentation guidelines for the human voice?

generally, one selects a text to be set to music BECAUSE it is suitable to be set as choral/vocal music.

as for guidelines for choral writing, there are entire books written about it, so it depends on what you need as information.

If you mean vocal ranges, yes there are general guidelines, but it seriously depends on the quality of the ensemble for which you are writing.

Generally, each voice will have an (extreme) range of two octaves. The highest notes will NOT be usable with all choruses, and the lowest notes will not necessarily be usable with all ensembles.

For example, you could say that choral sopranos have a range from the high B above the staff, two octaves down to the B just below the staff. There will always be singers capable of notes beyond this range, and there will ALWAYS be singers completely incapable of the upper and lower notes of that range. The former are rarer, generally speaking, in a chorus, while the latter are considerably more common.

Altos have an extreme range of G above the staff down to the G below the staff. This is a VERY extreme range. I've worked with choruses with alto sections capable of this, and I've also worked with alto sections with a one octave range C-C. :D

Tenors have an extreme range of of high B/Bb down to middle C (if you force tenors to sing too low, too often, you end up destryoing their high note capabilities). The highest notes (A - Bb) are also a question of the type of chorus you have. I've heard choruses where you couldn't go above a G above the staff with them without them sounding like a bunch of strangled chickens.

Basses are generally divided into two categories - living and dead...errr, oops, sorry, baritone and bass.

Baritones generally have a slightly wider range than basses, but it's specialized towards the higher end of the spectrum: G above the bass clef, and down to a G at the bottom of the bass clef. The lowest 4th of the baritone range does NOT have the power of the same notes sung by true basses.

I have seen a high A written for baritones in an opera chorus, but that shouldn't be considered a normal part of their range.

Basses, on the other hand, MIGHT have that high G, more than likely won't go higher than an E or even a D just above the bass clef, but should be very comfortale going down to the G at the bottom of the bass clef. Good choruses will have at least half their bass section that can continue with perfectly usable notes right down to an E below the bass clef.

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Avoid writing tenor and bass parts that are close, with a huge hole between the tenor and alto sections. The same general accoustic rule applies to vocal writing as to instrumental writing:

the lower in register you go, the more open your scoring should be.

Think of the Soprano and Tenor as a matched pair, and the Alto and Bass as another matched pair.

You CAN and SHOULD cross the tenor above the alto section without fear.

While this information will not apply to all choruses, it should be general enough to help you on your way. Remember that a chorus is made up of human voices, which are as individual as the people who are singing, making all choruses unique creatures.

Thanks for all the information. Regarding what you said about texts:

"Generally, one selects a text to be set to music BECAUSE it is suitable to be set as choral/vocal music."

According to this, you mean one cannot compose choral music and write the text to suit it later? I followed that method in composing a song. Or the music and the text can sometimes be composed together.

Regarding guidelines I was thinking more in terms of the nature of music composed. If a theme occurs to me, what are the characteristics that determine if it should be for a choir or some other ensemble like a string quartet for example. Are there characteristics like certain speeds or just the nature of the music that do not suit a chorus?

There are many differant ways of setting text to already written music. One of my favorite ways (if your song is rhythmic enough) is just to use simple silables as text as in Greg Jasperse's "Voice Dance". I used this in a piece I wrote for piano. I enjoyed the sound much more when coming from voices, but thanks to the arpegiated/rolling chords I couldnt figure out how to make text fit. So I put differant silables on each note instead of words. The song is called "Ba Va Doo Way Ah Da".

Could you post a segment of the piece you have in mind?

Thanks for all the information. Regarding what you said about texts:

"Generally, one selects a text to be set to music BECAUSE it is suitable to be set as choral/vocal music."

According to this, you mean one cannot compose choral music and write the text to suit it later? I followed that method in composing a song. Or the music and the text can sometimes be composed together.

Regarding guidelines I was thinking more in terms of the nature of music composed. If a theme occurs to me, what are the characteristics that determine if it should be for a choir or some other ensemble like a string quartet for example. Are there characteristics like certain speeds or just the nature of the music that do not suit a chorus?

I think we missed each other on this one.

I was not refering to music to which one then adds text. I presumed you meant what sorts of text one can use to write music to.

You could certainly write a text to fit music you've already composed.

As for your second point, it is a question of understanding what can and what can not be sung by a chorus (or soloists). Obviously, if you are writing for a particular person or group, then you take their particular demands and abilities into consideration.

What makes instrumental music and vocal music different is that generally vocal music will be more linear and conjunct, while instrumental music can handle more disjunct movement.

For example, a violin can very easily handle a series of octave, or greater, leaps for an extended period of time. While a chorus will have considerably more trouble with a passage made up entirely of octave leaps.

Just remember that the total range of an instrument/voice will dictate how much leaping it can do.

The average choral singer has between one and a half and two octaves of usable range, so jumping by octaves is a very dramatic shift within the total range of that "instrument".

The violin has around a four octave range (more with harmonics), so an octave jump is not a very noticeable shift within that range.

Moving by conjunct movement, you can very quickly cover the entirety of a singer's range. Moving entirely in conjunct movement will take considerably more time/notes for the violin to cover its entire range.