singer
techniquesSING-er
A person who uses their voice as a musical instrument to produce melody and song.
A singer produces musical sound through vocal cord vibration, breath control, and resonance in the chest, throat, and head cavities. Singers are classified by voice type: soprano and mezzo-soprano for higher female voices, contralto for the lowest female range, tenor and baritone for male voices, and bass for the lowest male range. Classical singers train in bel canto technique to project over an orchestra without amplification, while pop music and rock singers typically use microphones. Vocal techniques include vibrato, falsetto, and throat singing. Choral singers blend their voices in a choir, while opera soloists perform arias and recitatives on stage. The singer is the most immediately accessible musician, since the human voice requires no external instrument.
The human voice can produce a range of roughly three to four octaves in trained singers, though most people use less than two octaves in everyday speech.