Register (music)

In music, a register is the relative "height" or range of a note, set of pitches or pitch classes, melody, part, instrument or group of instruments. A higher register indicates higher pitch.
*Example 1: Violins are in a higher register than cellos.

In woodwind and brass instruments, the word register usually distinguishes pitch ranges produced using different normal modes of the air column, with higher registers produced by overblowing. Often the timbres of different woodwind instrument registers tend to be markedly different.

*Example 2: The Western concert flute plays approximately three and a half octaves and generally has three complete registers and one partial register. The musical note C4 (corresponding to middle C on the piano) would be in that instrument's first register, whereas C5 (one octave higher) would be in its second register.

However, on the clarinet the notes from (written) G4 or A4 to Bmusic|♭4 sometimes are regarded as a separate "throat register", even though both they and the notes from Fmusic|#4 down are produced using the instrument's lowest normal mode; the timbre of the throat notes differs, and the throat register's fingerings also are distinctive, using special keys and not the standard tone holes used for other notes.

The register in which an instrument plays, or in which a part is written, affects the quality of sound or timbre. Register is also used structurally in musical form, with the climax of a piece usually being in the highest register of that piece. Often, serial and other pieces will use fixed register, allowing a pitch class to be expressed through only one pitch.

Vocal register

Vocal registration is a topic of study within vocal pedagogy and is an important subject for students of the art of singing. A register in the human voice is a particular series of tones, produced in the same vibratory pattern of the vocal folds, and possessing the same quality. Registers originate in laryngeal function. They occur because the vocal folds are capable of producing several different vibratory patterns. Each of these vibratory patterns appears within a particular range of pitches and produces certain characteristic sounds.cite journal
last=Large
first= John
year= 1972
month= February/March
title= Towards an Integrated Physiologic-Acoustic Theory of Vocal Registers
journal= The NATS Bulletin
volume= 28
pages= 30–35] The term register can be somewhat confusing as it encompasses several aspects of the human voice. The term register can be used to refer to any of the followingcite book
title= The Diagnosis and Correction of Vocal Faults
last= McKinney
first= James
year= 1994
publisher= Genovex Music Group
isbn=13: 978-1565939400] :

* A particular part of the vocal range such as the upper, middle, or lower registers.
* A resonance area such as chest voice or head voice.
* A phonatory process
* A certain vocal timbre
* A region of the voice which is defined or delimited by vocal breaks.

Within speech pathology the term vocal register has three constituent elements: a certain vibratory pattern of the vocal folds, a certain series of pitches, and a certain type of sound. Speech pathologists identify four vocal registers based on the physiology of laryngeal function: the vocal fry register, the modal register, the falsetto register, and the whistle register. This view is also adopted by many vocal pedagogists.

ource

*"Hints on Singing". Manuel Garcia. New York: Joseph Patelson Music House (1894)
*"Singing the Mechanism and the Technic" by William Vennard (1967)

References

ee also

* Ambitus
* Chest register
* Head register
* Tessitura
* Vocal registration