Baritone
In music, a baritone is a male singer whose vocal range falls somewhere between that of a bass and a tenor. A typical baritone's range will extend from around the A a tenth below middle C to the F above middle C. Many singers in popular music have been baritones, such as Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby.
The term bass-baritone is sometimes used to mean a singer who has a range just slightly higher than that of a bass.
The word "baritone" is often applied to instruments to indicate their range in relation to other instruments of the same group, for instance the baritone saxophone. There is also a brass instrument called the baritone horn; being a member of the saxhorn family it is not closely related to the French horn.
Some famous baritone singers include Vladimir Ruđak, Thomas Allen, Pierre Bernac, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Robert Goulet, Thomas Hampson, John Shirley Quirk (perhaps bass-baritone), Gérard Souzay.
Barbershop baritone
In barbershop music, the baritone part sings in a similar but somewhat lower range to the lead (singing the melody), but has a specific and specialised role in the formation of the four-part harmony that characterises the style. Because barbershop singers can also be female, there is consequently such a singer (at least in barbershop singing) as a female baritone.
The baritone singer is often the one required to support or 'fill' the bass sound (typically by singing the fifth above the bass root). On the other hand, the baritone will occasionaly find himself harmonising above the melody, which calls for a tenor-like quality. Because of the nature of barbershop arrangements the baritone part is invariably the most challenging to learn and the hardest to improvise.
See also soprano, alto, tenor, bass, timbre
Referenced By
List of musical instruments
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