choir

a company of singers, especially an organized group employed in church service. any group of musicians or musical instruments; a musical company, or band, or a division of one: string choir.

an organized company of singers 1. : an organized company of singers (as in a church service) greeted by a large male choir wearing red bowties and singing carols New Yorker. 2. : a group of instruments of the same class.

Choir, pronounced QUIRE, comes from the Latin word chorus, which itself comes from the Greek name for a group of singers and dancers. We still use chorus for singing or dancing, but choir is exclusively for singing groups.

This word evolved into the Latin chorus: "a dance in a circle, the persons singing and dancing, the chorus of a tragedy" (Online Etymology Dictionary). It can then be noticed how, through the etymology of this word, a historical connection between choir and dancing resurfaces…

Put simply, a choir's role is to lead the assembly's song. This sounds simple enough, but what does this look and sound like? The tradition of a choir leading worship is an ancient one that has been renewed and reformed over the centuries. The Old Testament refers to choirs of men and boys.

Choir music is divided into four basic parts: Soprano (C4 to C6), Alto (G3 to F5), Tenor (D3 to A4), and Bass (E2 to E4). Test out your vocal range by playing the notes in those ranges on a piano and sing along to see which part is most comfortable.

A choir refers to a group of singers, but a chorus may include dancers or actors. The two terms share some meanings but are not interchangeable. For example, chorus can refer to the refrain of a song, but choir can't. Both words can refer to groups of people or animals.

The origins of choral music are found in traditional music, as singing in big groups is extremely widely spread in traditional cultures (both singing in one part, or in unison, like in Ancient Greece, as well as singing in parts, or in harmony, like in contemporary European choral music).

a group of people who sing together: He sings in the church choir. choir practice. See also. choral.

Put simply, a choir's role is to lead the assembly's song. This sounds simple enough, but what does this look and sound like? The tradition of a choir leading worship is an ancient one that has been renewed and reformed over the centuries. The Old Testament refers to choirs of men and boys.

choir, body of singers with more than one voice to a part. A mixed choir is normally composed of women and men, whereas a male choir consists either of boys and men or entirely of men.

Choral phonetics uses our hidden ability to perceive resonances in the vocal tract as pitches (→ hearing test). And it trains a special fine motoricity of the tongue to control these resonances and to adapt the timbre to chords. This know-how enables singers to tune resonances just as precisely as their vocal tones.