How this instrument works
A vocal range classification sorts singers into a handful of standard voice types — soprano, mezzo-soprano, contralto, tenor, baritone, bass — based roughly on where their comfortable singing range sits, from a low note to a high note. This instrument looks up the textbook boundary notes for each type and converts them to frequency in Hz using A440 equal temperament, the tuning standard where the A above middle C sits at exactly 440 Hz and every other pitch is a fixed multiple of it.
The six-type system is the one most commonly taught for opera and Western classical singing, and it's a genuinely old convention — codified well before anyone could measure a singer's frequency range on an instrument, built instead from centuries of listening to which voices could comfortably sing which operatic roles. Soprano tops out around G6 (1568 Hz); bass bottoms out around G2 (98 Hz) — a span of roughly four octaves across all six types combined, though any one singer's own range is a much narrower slice of that.
It's worth being upfront that this chart is a rough sorting tool, not a rigid test. The classification a singer actually gets from a teacher or conductor weighs timbre, vocal weight, tessitura (where the voice sits most comfortably, not just where it can reach) and register breaks far more heavily than raw range — two singers with an identical measured range can be classified completely differently once those other factors come into play.
- Choose a voice type from the dropdown — soprano, mezzo-soprano, contralto, tenor, baritone, or bass.
- Read the lowest note in Hz — the bottom edge of that voice type's standard operatic range.
- Read the highest note in Hz — the top edge of the same range.
- Use the two figures with a tuner or frequency-analysis app to see where a specific note or recording falls relative to the standard range for that voice type.
Worked example — where does a tenor sit?
Select 'Tenor' from the voice-type list. The standard operatic range for tenor is D3 to A4. Using A440 equal temperament, D3 works out to 146.83 Hz and A4 works out to exactly 440.00 Hz — so the calculator returns a lowest note of 146.83 Hz and a highest note of 440.00 Hz.
That A4 top note is a useful anchor: it's the same A that orchestras tune to before a performance, so a tenor singing at the very top of their standard classification range is, by definition, singing the exact pitch the whole orchestra tuned around. It's also why the famous operatic 'tenor high C' (C5, roughly 523 Hz) sits noticeably above this textbook range — real tenor repertoire routinely asks for notes above the classification boundary, which is part of why range alone doesn't fully define the voice type.
Questions
What is the vocal range of a tenor?
D3 to A4 in the standard operatic classification, which works out to about 146.83 Hz to 440.00 Hz under A440 equal temperament. In practice, many tenor roles and top notes reach well above A4 — the famous 'tenor high C' (C5) is a full third higher — so this range describes the core classification band, not the outer limit of what a trained tenor can sing.
What are the six main voice types and their ranges?
From highest to lowest: soprano (C4-G6, ~261.63-1567.98 Hz), mezzo-soprano (A3-G5, ~220.00-783.99 Hz), contralto (F3-C5, ~174.61-523.25 Hz), tenor (D3-A4, ~146.83-440.00 Hz), baritone (B2-F4, ~123.47-349.23 Hz), and bass (G2-C4, ~97.99-261.63 Hz). Each pair overlaps with its neighbors, which is expected — the boundaries are a teaching convention, not hard walls between voice types.
Is vocal range enough to classify a singer's voice type?
No, and the source this chart is drawn from says so explicitly: these ranges are approximations, not meant to be rigidly applied. Real classification leans heavily on timbre (the voice's color), vocal weight, tessitura (the range where the voice sits most comfortably and sustains longest, as opposed to where it can merely reach), and where the voice's register breaks fall. Two singers can share an identical measured range and still be classified into different voice types once a teacher hears those other qualities.
Do choir directors and other genres use the same boundaries as opera?
Not always. This chart uses the standard operatic classification convention, which is the version most commonly taught in classical voice training. Choral music often uses a simpler four-part split (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) with somewhat different boundary notes tuned to blend in an ensemble, and contemporary commercial music (CCM) — pop, musical theatre, rock — commonly classifies voices with its own, looser boundaries built around genre-specific technique rather than operatic tradition. Treat this chart as the classical/operatic reference point, not a universal standard.
How is a note converted to a frequency in Hz?
Through A440 equal temperament: f(n) = 440 × 2^((n−49)/12), where n counts piano keys from the bottom of the keyboard and A4 is key 49, fixed at 440 Hz by international convention. Every semitone up multiplies the frequency by the twelfth root of two (about 1.0595), and every octave doubles it — which is why, for example, A3 sits at exactly half of A4's frequency, 220 Hz.
Why does soprano go so much higher than bass goes low?
It doesn't, proportionally — both spans cover roughly the same interval in musical terms once you measure in octaves rather than raw Hz, because pitch is perceived logarithmically, not linearly. Soprano's roughly 261.63-1567.98 Hz range is about 2.6 octaves; bass's roughly 97.99-261.63 Hz range is about 1.4 octaves. The Hz gap looks lopsided because frequency doubles with every octave, so the same musical distance covers far more raw Hz at the top of the scale than at the bottom.