2026, Kids, Music, Uncategorized

Low Alto

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When I was in high school I was fortunate to have wonderful music teachers and choir/ band directors. My favorite choir director, Mr. Phelps, was a Concordia College, Moorhead grad who eventually settled in the Twin Cities, where he was equally beloved by students there.

Mr. Phelps, aka Showboat Phelps to other local directors, really knew how to put on a show, be it musicals or difficult choral pieces. One Christmas we did The Messiah. It is a demanding piece with a very high First Tenor part. Mr. Phelps had no qualms about enlisting the Second Altos to sing First Tenor in the Messiah as well as on any other song the Tenors struggled with. I am a Second Alto, and to this day I still know the First Tenor part from The Messiah much better than the Alto part.

My speaking voice isn’t particularly low, but singing Tenor in high school as my voice was maturing kept my singing range really low. My voice breaks at the C above Middle C, and I am able to get down comfortably to the D below Middle C. That is pretty low.

Last week in church choir the Bass section was having a hard time with a couple of measures that had several accidentals. it was identical to the Alto part an octave higher. The director joked that it was too bad we couldn’t sing the part with the Bass section in their register. I told her I could, and I did. The Sopranos were astounded I could sing that low. I was the only one who could sing the measures correctly. Thanks, Mr. Phelps. It’s just too bad you didn’t have me sing along with the Sopranos as well as the Tenors. Think of what my vocal range would have been if you had!

What were your best/worst school music experiences? What is your vocal range?

25 thoughts on “Low Alto”

  1. I can’t say I had any best/worst school music experiences. I did leave the FUU choir several years back – combination of a choir director who I didn’t think had the best people skills and a general turn of direction of the music (that did, unfortunately result from a general turn of direction of the church itself – I did also end up a couple of months later leaving the church.) It was two difficult choices because I did really enjoy that choir and had been attending the church since YA was a toddler.

    I have a middling voice – not really solo material but good enough to be a good part of a choir… and I can read music, so that helps. I’m a first soprano and I can hit a high A if called upon (and if there has been sufficient warm-up!).

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  2. I’ve always loved singing, and I loved the high school choirs. I was in every group I could be in: senior choir, chamber singers, and Da Capo singers. I was a very high soprano.

    When I went to St. Olaf, I tried out for the choirs there. Freshman women are put into Manitou Singers. I was coloratura soprano. The St. Olaf Christmas Festival that year was one of the highlights of my life. It was an incredible experience.

    Since then, my voice has dropped significantly. Singing folk music, and harmonizing with male leads, has turned me into an alto. I have a similar break in my voice. I can either sing above the break or below it, but it’s very difficult these days for me to sing in certain keys. I can harmonize very well in the key of G, but if I sing lead, I like A, B, or C.

    Now I’m losing my voice. I’m often quite hoarse, and singing can irritate my vocal cords enough to make me cough. It’s frustrating, and a bit heartbreaking as singing is part of who I am. Last year I had two procedures to visualize my vocal cords. They are mildly scarred. I had voice therapy, which really didn’t help much. I know I have mild esophagitis from reflux disease, which may be scarring my vocal cords, but not badly enough to cause the hoarseness I am experiencing. So, I still don’t understand what is causing the hoarseness and irritation. I can only conclude that it’s my asthma, and that it’s a condition I will have to live with.

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  3. I have sung in choir since I was a kid – church and school mostly. My high school combined with the local church choirs to put on The Messiah twice. The first time I sang with the altos. The second time I shared piano duties with one of the local piano teachers. I was going to try out for the school musical my senior year (South Pacific) but two days before tryouts I was handed the piano score by the director. I got to rehearse with the cast while the rest of the pit band rehearsed with the music director. That was pretty fun.

    My vocal range has changed over the years. I started out as a soprano. In junior high school I became an alto – probably because I could read music and harmonizing came easily. My break used to be A above middle C. But now I am truly a second alto/first tenor. My break is closer to F above middle C. I can comfortably reach E below middle C. I don’t consider myself to be a solo singer but I know how to blend.

    My overall best vocal music experience was back in late 2009/early 2010. I was a member of a choir that got to sing in Notre Dame (quite chilly inside during the winter) and at Westminster Abbey on New Year’s Eve (we got to sit in the choir seats way up front and led the service).

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  4. I had been a second soprano in high school and college choruses, but I, too, now break at about the C above middle C. I have the same voice deterioration that Krista describes, but I can blend well enough to still sing in the choir. I’ve never had a solo voice, but am sometimes called upon to lead our UU hymns/songs on Sunday mornings, with mixed results.

    More later, I hope…

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  6. Elementary music was hit or miss. Junior high music was terrible. It was taught by the senior high choir director, which was a very good choir. He was a snob about going to Concordia, about his choir, and just about himself. He was insulted to be teaching junior high music and made it tedious. He constantly lectured us about Concordia and his senior choir. Many of the kids in his senior choir became snobs about it. He taught me nothing about the structure of music, which I wanted to learn. He and his choir left a sour taste in my mouth for music.
    Then I went to the U of C where the humanities classes taught me about most of the arts and the relationships between them. I fell in love with classical music. Sandra shared that love, one of the things that bonded us.
    When I went back to teach at that high school, he had no memory of me. I stayed away from him. Then we had a big clash I won’t go into.
    Clyde

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    1. Well, Paul J Christianson had that effect on his Concordia students. He was the one who said Altos should sing like contend cows. Subsequent choral conductors have been much more humane.

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  7. I couldn’t tell the difference between a Soprano and a Corleone.
    Not a school experience but while working at a senior living center, I was singing along with Marty Robbins’ El Paso and hit the high note. An aide rushed in and shouted, “Who fell?!”

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  10. I was a decent soprano for years. In high school I played the piano, so that was where I was put to use. That’s where my parents wanted me, so it was a done deal. Sang plenty with my church’s choir when the s&h was little.

    My singing came to and end maybe 10 years ago and I miss it, but them’s the breaks. Why is musical ability so fraught? It’s not unlike math ability or the capacity to draw. We have such a belief that it’s somehow this “gift” that’s bestowed up on you (or not). Utter nonsense. If I could eradicate. one thing, it would be this belief. Don’t and enjoy it!

    Been reading about the Washington Opera’s future plans and I wish them well. They are doing a new work about Georgia O’Keefe next season. I’ll be following that story with interest!

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  11. Rise and Sing a Tune, Baboons,

    Most of my early singing experiences were pretty negative, with the final one being with a choir director who told me not to sing because I had a terrible voice. No coaching or instruction about how to sing followed that assessment. So, while I belonged to some choirs over the years, I have generally found it to be not very inspiring as a participant myself.

    Most of my positive musical experiences were in the instrumental world which I enjoyed immensely. At least that was a counter balance to the choir director without many people skills. I often have wondered how her career worked out.

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  12. As an adult, I got to sing in choruses/choirs in San Francisco (Civic Chorale), and a few over the years in the Twin Cities. Probably the most moving performance was being part of an “enhanced” Hamline University Chorus as they performed Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, as other choruses around the world were performing the same, when the Soviet Union was coming to an end in 1991. (I think I have this right… something like that.)

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  13. I always enjoyed singing in a choir, but I was terrified of singing solo. I was put in with the altos.

    Today there were many vocal ranges being explored in my neighborhood, identified by Merlin as a chorus of warblers – Tennessee Warbler, Northern Yellow Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Also the usual suspects – cardinal, blue jay, catbird, house sparrow, robin, goldfinch.

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  14. One of the highlights of my time in the UU choir was when we went and sang at the Guthrie. It was a playlet and the director contacted quite a few choirs in the Twin Cities. Most choirs got one night, our choir got two for some reason. There were six or seven songs that we worked hard to learn, and there were enough of us that our choir director split us into group 2 groups (one group to do one night and one group to do the other night.) I was to do the second night and on that afternoon of the first night I got a call from the choir director saying that someone had gotten ill and dropped out and could I fill in … so I was the only one who actually got to do both nights. It was a hoot.

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  15. Chorus in 7th grade was horrible.
    The class always followed band practice. Spit everywhere was de-gusting.
    Rehearsal after rehearsal of Moon River. I’ve watched Breakfast At Tiffany’s only once. I cannot stand that song.

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  16. i was a bass in jr high, cant do the rightous bros or old man river but i can do bass. when i got to high school the choir director was a nazi hippy hater. i got invited to be the front man for a talented rock and roll group. i sang bass and tenor but couldnt sing neil young falsetto. i played by myself for a fistful of years then joind my guitar circle and sang a lot of harmony as well as my lead stuff and developed a falsetto of my own . its more like the grateful dead or the band but its up there. i dont sing low as much because i cant project.
    my thanks goto the jr high chior director who told me i could sing and had a one in a lillion voice. i had no idea but i belied him
    when my son was a singer at age 3 it was obvious hed be great. wednesday night guitar is a true highlight of my week
    my grandsons piano lessons are also a highlight. i have recently arranged for him to start cello at his request ( i love cello) music is a big deal but its so different from fm radio and lps i grew up with . its all phone and computer. im not a fan

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