Concept in Definition ABC

A choir is a vocal grouping or group of people who perform a piece of music in a sung and coordinated way.

It is called a chorus in singing to the group of often professionally trained individuals who can collectively perform sung works through the intervention of his voices led by a director or teacher.

A choir has the ability to interpret monodic works or with a single voice, or polyphonic, that is, with several simultaneous voices. As such, the chorus is made up of different types of voices that are grouped into strings. In the case of female voices, there is the soprano, which is the highest voice and often leads the melody main part of the work, the mezzo-soprano, a more frequent and intermediate voice for women, and the contralto, the deepest voice among women. In the case of male voices, we can find the falsetto, a male voice that imitates or resembles the record of a soprano, the countertenor, the highest voice of a man that can reach the alto register and that is considerably uncommon among men, the tenor, the high-pitched voice of the male, and the baritone, the more common voice among the masculine ones. Bass and deep bass, which are the lowest among men's voices, are also counted.

At the same time, there is a choral typology that allows them to be classified according to various criteria. When it comes to a criterion instrumental, the choir can be: "a cappella" (without accompaniment of instruments) or concertante (with accompaniment). When the criterion is for timbre and tessitura, there are choirs of equal voices (white, bass, two or more voices) and choirs of mixed voices. If we speak of a chorus based on the composition of their voices, they speak of a choir when it comes to a choir of kids (often linked to religious settings), the women's, men's and mixed choir. Choruses are also classified according to their size, and then one can speak of quartets, octets, chamber choir (from 12 to 20 members), symphonic (from 30 to 60), orpheon or grand choir (with more than 100 members).