Postcard from the tenor section – by another of our Rachels, Rachel Emmett.
About 20 years ago I returned to choral singing after a few years away and found my teenage second alto voice struggling at the top end. A wonderful female tenor (thanks, Jen) persuaded me to join her in the tenor section, and I have never looked back.
For any altos finding it a strain, feeling like a change, or just wanting to be needed, this postcard is for you!
Reasons to become a female tenor:
You get all the best lines (no more endless Gs and As) – tenors get some proper big tunes and some fabulous harmonies.
You can shine on all the high tenor bits when the men are struggling. The notes will be within the part of your range where you sound really good.
Don’t worry if it gets too low for you, just mime. Tenors never really have to belt out a low bit, so you can just pretend and let others sing these bits.
You will always be in demand. There is a notorious shortage of male tenors in most choirs (not NCS though) so your contribution will be much appreciated, and you might even get some interesting invites from other choirs.
It does take a bit of time to get used to singing an octave below the printed treble clef stave, but you will adapt. Also, occasionally you have to switch to read bass clef notes, so you might need to brush up on that, but nothing you can’t handle.
Maybe give the tenor part a try at an MfE weekend, like Haydn’s The Creation, with weekend rehearsals Saturday 31 January and Sunday 1 February, and concert Saturday 7 February. Usually about one third to half of the tenors at these events are female so you’ll be in good company. And we’re all very friendly!!
A woman’s place is… is in the tenors: female singers revel in opera’s looser gender divide – Article in The Guardian, though more about the voice dropping for various reasons rather than tenor being a woman’s original range.
Academic abstract comparing male and female tenor voices.
Tenor range image by PeterCS Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
Interested in joining the choir? Click here
Become a Friend of NCS Click here