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Pitch detector › Vocal range test
Vocal range test: your lowest and highest notes
Press Start, allow the microphone, and sing your lowest comfortable note on an open "ah" until it has held for about a second, then do the same with your highest. The test shows your range in note names, such as A2 to A4, how many octaves it spans, and which of the six voice types in the New Harvard Dictionary of Music, from bass to soprano, sits nearest.
Press Start and allow the microphone
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Lowest -- · Highest --
Notes are worked out in your browser from the microphone and thrown away frame by frame. Nothing is recorded and nothing is uploaded. Sing on an open vowel such as “ah”, in a quiet room, and only as low and as high as feels comfortable: a range test is not a reason to strain your voice.
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Vocal ranges by voice type
Two standard music references give slightly different edges for most voice types, so both are shown. The test matches your range against the New Harvard Dictionary of Music, the ranges the Library of Congress tells music catalogers to use when a score does not state its vocal range, as Yale University Library's cataloging guide explains.
| Voice type | New Harvard Dictionary of Music | Grove Music Online |
|---|---|---|
| Soprano | C4 (262 Hz) to A5 (880 Hz) | C4 (262 Hz) to A5 (880 Hz) |
| Mezzo-soprano | A3 (220 Hz) to F5 (698 Hz) | A3 (220 Hz) to F♯5 (740 Hz) |
| Alto (contralto) | F3 (175 Hz) to D5 (587 Hz) | F3 (175 Hz) to D5 (587 Hz) |
| Tenor | B2 (123 Hz) to G4 (392 Hz) | About C3 (131 Hz) to A4 (440 Hz) |
| Baritone | G2 (98 Hz) to E4 (330 Hz) | A2 (110 Hz) to F4 (349 Hz) |
| Bass | E2 (82 Hz) to C4 (262 Hz) | F2 (87 Hz) to E4 (330 Hz) |
Grove gives alto as G3 to E5 and contralto, the lowest of the female voice types, as F3 to D5; the row shows contralto. The frequencies are worked out from A4 = 440 Hz.
How the test works
The test listens for the note you are singing about a dozen times a second and counts a note only once you have held it, staying within a little over half a semitone, for about a second. That way a slide, a crack or a breath does not set your range. In step one it keeps the lowest note you hold, in step two the highest. Your nearest voice type is the one whose range has its middle closest to the middle of yours; the chart under the result shows your range against all six.
Range is not the whole voice type
Voice teachers classify a voice by more than its range. They also listen for its tessitura, the part of the range where it sits most comfortably, its timbre, and the passaggio, where it changes register, and some also take physical characteristics into account. Two singers can reach the same notes and still be different voice types, and young voices keep changing into adulthood. Treat the nearest voice type here as a starting point.
Tips for an accurate result
- Warm up gently first, and sing only as low and as high as feels comfortable.
- Use an open vowel such as "ah", one steady note at a time, in a quiet room.
- Hold the phone or stand about an arm's length from the laptop, and keep the distance the same for both steps.
- If a note an octave out appears, hold the note more steadily or try again.
Note names and octaves
The test uses scientific pitch notation, the ISO system in which middle C is C4 and the A above it, A4, is the 440 Hz tuning note. Each octave doubles the frequency, so A3 is 220 Hz and A5 is 880 Hz. To see the exact note and frequency you are singing at any moment, use the pitch detector; to find the pitch of your speaking voice, the voice pitch analyzer; to test your ear, the pitch test.
What is a good vocal range?
There is no single good range. The New Harvard Dictionary of Music gives each classical voice type 20 or 21 semitones, about an octave and two thirds, and other references give about two octaves. A comfortable range in that region is in line with one standard voice type.
Can an online test tell me my voice type?
Only roughly. Voice teachers classify a voice by several qualities: its range, its tessitura (where it sits most comfortably), its timbre (its tone colour) and where it changes register (the passaggio). A microphone can measure the first. The result here is the voice type whose range sits nearest yours, a starting point for a teacher or a choir director, not a classification.
Why did it read a note an octave too high or too low?
A sung note contains its harmonics as well as the note itself, and some voices and phone microphones put more energy into a harmonic than into the note. The detector can then lock onto the octave above or below. Holding each note steadily on an open vowel such as "ah", in a quiet room, usually settles it.
Does falsetto count?
The test counts any note you hold for about a second, falsetto included. If you only want the range of your full voice, stop where your voice flips into falsetto.
Does it record me?
No. The notes are worked out in your browser from the microphone and thrown away frame by frame. Nothing is stored or uploaded.
Sources: Yale University Library, vocal ranges (New Harvard Dictionary of Music and Grove Music Online; ISO octave designation); Dillon, Female Voice Classification and the Choral Director (The Phenomenon of Singing, 2009) and Wikipedia, voice type on how voices are classified; HyperPhysics, equal temperament.
