Home > Alto (voice)

In music, an alto is a singer with a vocal range somewhere between a tenor and a soprano. A typical alto will have a range from around the F below middle C to the D a ninth above middle C. In four part choral harmony, the alto is the second highest voice. Altos originally sang from music written in the alto clef, but now use the treble clef.

Although both men and women may have voices in the alto range, the word is usually used to mean a female singer. However, choirs singing early music frequently include male altos, also called countertenors. In English church usage, the term alto is sometimes exclusively used to mean a boy with this range, while contralto is used for a female singer. However, this is not done consistently, and for most practical purposes, alto and contralto can be thought of as synonyms (the phrase "boy alto" can be used if there is a chance of misunderstanding).

The word alto is often applied to instruments to indicate their range in relation to other instruments of the same group. In common usage, particularly among jazz musicians, the word has become synonymous with the alto saxophone. In US usage the alto horn is an Eb saxhornBrass instruments The saxhorn family of valved brass instruments was named after Adolphe Sax, who did much to bring it to its present day form. His claim to have invented the instrument was hotly contested by other brass instrument makers during his lifet, a brass instrumentBrass instruments A brass instrument is a musical instrument whose tone is produced by vibration of the lips as a player blows into a tubular resonator. Brass instruments are also called labrosones literally meaning "lip-vibrated instruments" (Baines, 199.

Some well known contraltos include:

• Marian AndersonMarian Anderson ( February 27, 1897 April 8, 1993) was an African-American contralto, best remembered for her performance on Easter Sunday, 1939 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D. The concert, which featured a stirring rendition of " Go
• Janet BakerJanet Baker as Mary Stuart The British mezzo-soprano Janet Baker (born August 21, 1933) is a well-known opera, concert, and lieder singer. She was particuarly closely associated with baroque and early Italian opera and the works of Benjamin Britten. Consi
• Kathleen FerrierKathleen Ferrier ( 22nd April, 1912 8th October, 1953), was a British contralto born in Preston, Lancashire, England. She left school at 14 and worked as a telephone operator in Blackburn. She married a bank manager called Bert Wilson in 1935, and moved t
• Ernestine Schumann-HeinkErnestine Schumann-Heink ( 15 June, 1861 17 November, 1936) was a well-known operatic contralto, noted for the great control, tone, beauty, and wide range of her singing. She was born as Tini Rossler to a German-speaking family in the town of Lieben, near

See also soprano, tenor, baritone, bass