Choral

A choir or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. more...

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A vocal ensemble which sings in a church, or sings exclusively sacred music, is called a choir, whereas an ensemble which performs the non-soloist parts of an opera or musical theatre production (or sometimes an oratorio) is called a chorus. For most other ensembles those two words may be used interchangeably. Other equivalent terms, often used in the names of choirs to provide variety, include chorale. There are also terms for more specific types of choir, such as glee club, show choir, barbershop quartet, and Madrigal group.

A choir usually has eight or more singers, typically with two or more singers on each part; a chorus is typically larger still, with many singers on each part. Smaller vocal ensembles are usually called trios, quartets, quintets, etc. (e.g., barbershop quartet), or a vocal group or singing group.

Structure of choirs

Choirs are often led by a conductor or choirmaster. Most often choirs consist of four parts but there is no limit to the number of possible parts: Thomas Tallis wrote a 40-part motet entitled Spem in alium, for eight choirs of five parts each; Krzysztof Penderecki's Stabat Mater is for three choirs of 16 voices each, a total of 48 parts. Other than four, the most common number of parts are three, five, six and eight.

Choirs can sing with or without instrumental accompaniment. Singing without accompaniment is typically called a cappella singing (although this usage of the phrase is discouraged by the American Choral Directors Association). When singing with instrumental accompaniment, the accompanying instruments can consist of practically any instruments, one, several, or a full orchestra. In Anglican church music the accompanying instrument is almost always an organ.

For rehearsals, a piano accompaniment is often used even if a different instrumentation is planned for performance, or for rehearsing a cappella music.

Choirs can be categorized by the voices they include:

• Mixed choirs (i.e., with male and female voices). This is perhaps the most common type, usually consisting of soprano, alto, tenor and bass voices, often abbreviated as SATB. Often one or more voices is divided into two, e.g., SSAATTBB, where each voice is divided into two parts, and SATBSATB, where the choir is divided into two semi-independent four-part choirs. Occasionally baritone voice is also used (e.g., SATBarB), often sung by the higher basses.
• Male choirs, with the same SATB voicing as mixed choirs, but with boys singing the upper part (often called treble or boy soprano) and men singing alto (in falsetto), also known as countertenor.
• Female choirs, usually consisting of soprano and alto voices, two parts in each, often abbreviated as SSAA, or as soprano, soprano II, and alto, abbreviated SSA
• Men's choirs, usually consisting of two tenors, baritone, and bass, often abbreviated as TTBB (or ATBB if the upper part sings falsetto in alto range, as is common in barbershop music).
• Children's choirs, often two-part SA or three-part SSA, sometimes more voices.

Choirs are also categorized by the institutions in which they operate:

Read more at Wikipedia.org