What key do men sing in?

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mwc9725e - Posted - 03/07/2012: 11:10:44

I was told that there is, by a former banjo teacher. When I complained that I have difficulty singing with G tuning, his response was that it's the natural key for the male voice, i.e., it suits the male voice better than any other key does, and I should learn to sing in that key. Perhaps he was correct, but I repeat, he's my former banjo teacher. I almost had to stand on my toe tips to reach some of those notes in G tuning. The high, lonesome sound's pretty, but why can't there be a low lonesome sound as well?

bd - Posted - 03/07/2012: 11:17:56

I'm glad he's your former teacher 'cause that doesn't seem right at all. G and A are easiest for me, but my voice is on the high side. There're a lot of men as sing way deeper than me.

stevel - Posted - 03/07/2012: 11:19:05 somewhere around F.... give or take.

Marc Nerenberg - Posted - 03/07/2012: 11:22:17

Your former banjo teacher spoke nonsense. Sheer, utter and unadulterated nonsense. There is not even a natural key for one particular male voice - it depends on the sang. Each song has its own key that works best for any particular singer. Different songs emphasize different parts of the range - it depends where the melody lies. Different singers will find that different keys work best for them for any particular song, and those keys will be particular to that singer.

Has your former banjo teacher not noticed that singers are not doing all of their songs in the same key all the time, and that people sing in all different keys?

I often have to experiment with a bunch of different keys to find the right one for me for any particular song. And those keys have gotten a little lower as I've gotten older.

Edited by - Marc Nerenberg on 03/07/2012 11:22:41

trapdoor2 - Posted - 03/07/2012: 11:23:33

The predominant male voice is "baritone", a range from around the F below middle C to the F above middle C (encompassing two octaves). The banjo (bluegrass) is tuned to the D below middle C all the way up to the second C above middle C (a whole tone less than three octaves). What that means macht nichts. YOUR comfort zone is what matters...and the key you play the banjo in should conform to YOUR comfort key. Most of the guys that sing in our jam like Eb or Bb.

kmwaters - Posted - 03/07/2012: 11:29:10

Johnny Cash's normal key had to be different from a soprano. Give me a break.

oldwoodchuckb - Posted - 03/07/2012: 12:21:46

There is a natural "range" for each voice on the planet - but there is no single natural range for voices at all. I sang for 30- 40 years and have probably sung in every key known to man. When I sang a lot my "range" was greater than it is now (mostly upwards - I have never been able to extend my voice downward). There is a quick way to check on folk song tunes. Try singing them in two keys - like C and G. Most folk songs should work out well in one of these keys - if not both. If you can't sing a song in either key perhaps there is something wrong with your voice, and you simply don't have enough range to do the tune except in some specific key. Start checkng keys around the circle of fifths until you find one where it works. If there aren't any - maybe you should loook for another song. I used to "sing along" with Bud and Travis on Malaguena Salerosa back in the day. Not any more. The circle of fifths is Gb Db, Ab, Eb, Bb, F, C, G, D, A, E, B, Most fretted instrument players stick to the easy keys for their instrument, but the capo will get you any key you need It is hard to present the full circle in text because it is hard to put text in a circle - there are also un-shown "equivalent" keys (ie F# = Gb) When I'm trying out a song these days (on banjo) I start with the key of D or A. I can sing almost every folk song in one or the other. If I want to get the range better for my voice I will continue around the circle - either forward A,E,B,F#(aka Gb) or backward D,G,C,F,Bb. Actually what I sing now will mostly work in D, A, C, or G. If I can't reach the notes for songs (mostly tunes with words like Cripple Creek & Old Joe Clark) normally played in the standard fiddle keys - I don't sing them. There are younger guys who could do them and I'm not going to strain myself anymore. It is hard enough being heard over 15 instruments in a GOOD key for my voice. I'm no longer going to kill myself trying to sing Shady Grove in A Major, unless everyone is willing to move it down to F In my guitar days I tended to start with G and D and refine with A and E. I don't think I ever sang folksong melody in any but those 4 keys and C, but I could sing harmony in just about any key, and in my rock and country days we tended to do those songs (which could have a very compressed range) in the key we got off the record.

minstrelmike - Posted - 03/07/2012: 12:21:51

I think each person has a set of 'natural' keys it is easiest to sing in first and develop ear and voice together.

But each person has his own.

moxcey.net/mike/minstrel/jampa...ging.html

BanjoFlyboy - Posted - 03/07/2012: 13:21:21

Yes, a "Church Key."

9991th - Posted - 03/07/2012: 13:28:51

F is called the "Peoples Key." At one time car horns honked in the key of F.

banjotom2 - Posted - 03/07/2012: 15:08:50

quote:

Originally posted by mwc9725e

I was told that there is, by a former banjo teacher. When I complained that I have difficulty singing with G tuning, his response was that it's the natural key for the male voice, i.e., it suits the male voice better than any other key does, and I should learn to sing in that key. Perhaps he was correct, but I repeat, he's my former banjo teacher. I almost had to stand on my toe tips to reach some of those notes in G tuning. The high, lonesome sound's pretty, but why can't there be a low lonesome sound as well?

In singing, there are voice 'classifications'... one size DOES NOT fit all...

There are four basic categories that voices fit into:

1. Soprano - Highest and usualyy sung my a female...

2. Counter Tenor - The male equivalent of a Soprano - Not a true soprano, but it subtitutes...

3. Tenor - Usually the highest male voice

4. Baritone - Lower than Tenor, but higher than Bass...

5. Bass - The lowest male voice

Each of these has a comfort range...

Please note: Lower male voices such as John Hartford's and Johnny Cashes would be considered "Baritone"... Tony Rice and John Prine would be considered Tenors...

* * *

Found this on Wayne Erbsen's site:

Bill Monroe, who later became known as "The father of Bluegrass Music," is the perfect example of someone who sang with the tight vocal style of his Scotts-Irish ancestors. In his case, he was able to emulate the vocal styles of female ballad singers because he naturally had a high vocal range similar to many female singers. So, there ya go... Bill was essentially a Counter Tenor or a Soprano... Johnny Cash sang a lot in Bb and E... similar keys for John Hartford... So, the long and short of it is that ONE SIZE does not fit all! A singer's range can be stretched or extended by small amounts, but you will, indeed, have certain keys that work better for certain songs... and Capos will get you into the other keys... that's really what they're there for... to allow a singer to accompany himself using an easier open-position tuning and key... to accomodate the singer's pitch range... so as not to sound bad and wreck the vocal chords... I dated a degreed singing teacher for 10 years and sang in the church choir she directed.

Tom

Edited by - banjotom2 on 03/07/2012 15:10:41

minstrelmike - Posted - 03/07/2012: 16:14:07

oldwoodchuckb - Posted - 03/07/2012: 16:27:19

Your date apparently forgot about Mezzo Sopranos, Altos and Contraltos. At least 2 ranges are generally given for female voice Soprano and Alto, while the male equivalents are Tenor and Bass. Baritone is between Tenor and Bass and there was also the Bass-Baritone which was between Baritone and Bass, but I think that particular term is archaic now. The Counter-Tenor is a male who sings soprano range and some of them can match the highest sopranos - some can even match pre-pubescent males. The Counter Tenors originally were created surgically but in recent times most men have opted for simple voice training to reach into that range. If they still can't make it they just go with what they've got. B esides, once you pass puberty your voice will not go back up in range - at least not much. In Opera there are several sub-ranges that are still in use because there are parts that not all the singers in a given range can handle. Consequently terms like Lyric Soprano and Mezzo Soprano. In some cases the terms actually are moe about the quality of the voice than the ultimate range. I think the cureent Met star Anna Treblenka (sp) is technically a Mezzo, but she sings just about the entire Soprano range jes'fine and there is a richness to her voice that is really pleasing. Opera isn't the only place you have vocal ranges getting named. The so called "Torch" singers of the 50s tended to be altos with a certain amount of extra richness (like Vermont ice cream). And the so called Whiskey Tenor (Pete Seeger for example) is a high tenor voice also called Irish Tenor. This is the range of most successful male rock singers from the 50s and 60s, and why I decided I was best as an instrumentalist back then. Elvis was more baritone in tone than tenor but his voice was startlingly clear in the upper register. I might have been able to do that, but it was not what I wanted to sing. He wasn't just a white kid who knew how to swivel his hips. In bluegrass and Old Time singing, the High Lonesome Sound (Bill Monroe, Roscoe Holcomb) is a very high tenor that MUST be accomplished without going into falsetto. Back in the 60s I started singing the high tenor parts in a Country Group (Nashville stuff) and from there went on to do the High Lonesome in folk groups. Unfortunately I never studied singing, or I would still be able to do it today. I ended up with polyps on my vocal chords and have lost most of my ability to sing at all. I don't know how Bill Monroe kept it up for so long. I suppose he might have had some training, or he naturally did it right. According to a friend (who shall remain nameless, because I'm sure he wouldn't want his name attached to something that could get him sued 10 years from now) of mine who's natural voice is in the low tenor range, "any male in the tenor range should be able to sing the High Lonesome with a minimum of training." This fellow has sung on more than one Old Time record you would have heard. That Minimum of Training is MY emphasis. Without the training you might end up croaking like a frog - like me. High Lonesome singing would never do for an opera - but it would be fun to hear a good HL singer take on some art singing. Give a whole new meaning to Nessun Dorma (No One is Sleeping). It should also be pointed out that your natural range excludes the use of falsetto - the artificial raising of the voice by one or two octaves. I would like to exclude falsetto from all serious singing (Joni Mitchell's voice can be painful and Whitney Houston's big screetch fest from that movie with Kevin Costner practically made my head explode). I don't mind a little (like in Earl Johnson's Shortnin' Bread and I Get My Whiskey From Rockingham) but women doing long held falsetto notes is just plain too much.

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John Gribble - Posted - 03/07/2012: 16:29:49

Your former banjo teacher was mistaken. I used to favor the key of D, but as I get older (and sing less), I find that C is more comfortable for me. Each new song you sing presents something new. A good voice teacher will first determine your range (your lowest and highest notes) and then work with you on, among other things, extending it. You should be able to sing in any key, so long as the melody doesn't go above or below your range. I'm curious as to what the banjo teacher's opinions on saxophone technique would be.

mwc9725e - Posted - 03/07/2012: 16:36:34

quote:

Originally posted by 9991th

mwc9725e - Posted - 03/07/2012: 16:40:45

quote:

Originally posted by minstrelmike

Edited by - mwc9725e on 03/07/2012 16:42:45

Rizo - Posted - 03/07/2012: 16:43:28

quote:

Originally posted by 9991th

F is called the "Peoples Key." At one time car horns honked in the key of F.

I thought G was called the people's key?

Personally, I like tend to hang around D or C.

9991th - Posted - 03/07/2012: 16:46:42

quote:

Originally posted by mwc9725e

quote:

Originally posted by 9991th

F is called the "Peoples Key." At one time car horns honked in the key of F. Is that really true? If so, it's very interesting. I wonder what it is about people that would lead us to make such an observation. I looked it up and Wiki says the the "Peoples Key" is G major, I was told it was F by my High School music teacher...But car horns one time blew a F chord.

hoverflytheo - Posted - 03/07/2012: 17:21:51

quote:

Originally posted by mwc9725e

quote:

Originally posted by minstrelmike

Another reason I like folks to work thru fake books of Hit Radio tunes is because in the songbook usually the key is _the_ key it is played in on the radio which is also _the_ key that everyone tries to sing it in. In many banjo/guitar books, the key is transposed to something easier to pick or teach and therefore, doesn't sound right, especially to the person who does sing along well with the radio on that tune. What about opera, do they actually re-key a singer's part, or do all sopranos, tenors, etc., have to sing in the key as written by the composer? Seems like changing the key could actually change the mood of the whole opera. I would think that, if Mozart said C, he really meant it. Apparently Beethoven's tuning fork was actually flat of concert pitch, meaning that when he was composing vocal parts he wasn't planning for them to be sung as high as they are now (as thus straining the singer's voice as much as some of them do.)

Jim Yates - Posted - 03/07/2012: 18:27:58

As Marc said, it's not the key that suits a particular voice, it's the range. If you have a two octave range that goes from G on the bottom line of the bass clef to G on the second line of the treble clef, no matter what the key is, you'll be comfortable singing a song in this range. I have no idea what my range is. I just try different keys till I find one that works. Hey, Good Lookin' seems to work in A, while Waitin' For A Train works best in D and I'm Satisfied With My Gal works best in C.

drew-gurbach - Posted - 03/07/2012: 18:42:37

I like D, C, and A. E is good for certain songs...I have a fairly deep toned voice.

Marc Nerenberg - Posted - 03/07/2012: 18:51:48

quote:

Originally posted by hoverflytheo

quote:

Originally posted by mwc9725e

quote:

Originally posted by minstrelmike

Corwyn - Posted - 03/07/2012: 19:00:42

quote:

Originally posted by mwc9725e

What about opera, do they actually re-key a singer's part, or do all sopranos, tenors, etc., have to sing in the key as written by the composer? Seems like changing the key could actually change the mood of the whole opera. I would think that, if Mozart said C, he really meant it. No, they match the singer to the part. If the part calls for a Mezzo Soprano, one of the troupe's Mezzos sings the part.

Edited by - Corwyn on 03/07/2012 19:04:21

Corwyn - Posted - 03/07/2012: 19:06:45

quote:

Originally posted by 9991th

F is called the "Peoples Key." At one time car horns honked in the key of F.

How do you honk in a key?

An F note, I understand.

An F chord, I understand.

An F key?

Paul R - Posted - 03/07/2012: 19:39:27

Quote:

Originally posted by mwc9725e

Is there a "natural" key for the male voice?

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Does this include castrati?

mwc9725e - Posted - 03/07/2012: 20:35:44

quote:

Originally posted by Paul R

Quote:

Originally posted by mwc9725e

Is there a "natural" key for the male voice?

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Does this include castrati?

I think I would have to be, if I wanted to sing very many songs in the key of G.

Jim Yates - Posted - 03/07/2012: 20:56:16

quote:

Originally posted by mwc9725e

quote:

Originally posted by Paul R

Quote:

Originally posted by mwc9725e

Is there a "natural" key for the male voice?

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Does this include castrati?

I think I would have to be, if I wanted to sing very many songs in the key of G. Once again, the key of a song doesn't determine how high or low it is. Songs in G may be high, low or mid range. They may have less than an octave range or may have a three octave range. If you can't hit the highest and lowest note in a song, then you won't be able to sing it no matter what key it's in without altering it in some way. This could include jumping octaves, altering the melody to eliminate notes that are out of your range or changing the key of the song. mwc9725e - Please try these possible solutions before you do anything drastic and irreversable.

Edited by - Jim Yates on 03/07/2012 21:00:24

hoverflytheo - Posted - 03/08/2012: 00:49:08

quote:

Originally posted by Marc Nerenberg

quote:

Originally posted by hoverflytheo

quote:

Originally posted by mwc9725e

quote:

Originally posted by minstrelmike

bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/b...oven.html

John Gribble - Posted - 03/08/2012: 02:56:05

A 440 as a standard pitch is a relatively recent thing. This from wikipedia: In 1939, an international conference recommended that the A above middle C be tuned to 440 Hz, now known as concert pitch. As a technical standard this was taken up by the International Organization for Standardization in 1955 and reaffirmed by them in 1975 as ISO 16. There were attempts to create pitch standards in the 19th century, but none of the proposals gained wide acceptance. And even now various orchestras will tune to an A either higher or lower than 440 hz. And Beethoven was not deaf his entire life. He lost his hearing later in life, after he had composed many of his major pieces.

Jim Yates - Posted - 03/08/2012: 09:07:18

quote:

Originally posted by John Gribble

And even now various orchestras will tune to an A either higher or lower than 440 hz. As do various bluegrass groups. So do rock, country, folk...performers and groups. As long as you don't have a fixed pitch instrument, why not? Let's put the accordion back in bluegrass...where it belongs. banjered - Posted - 03/08/2012: 09:10:08 I hope you realize mw after all these posts what your "teacher" said was pure nonesense. Took me years to realize that "G" was a pretty limiting key/range on the banjo for me to sing with. Most people have a range of an octave and a half, some more more, some less but 1& 1/2 octaves is about it for most folks. If you look at standard G tuning for the banjo, the strings go from D to D - DGBD, one octave. One thing to realize about notes and keyes is that each note/key is BOTH above and below every other note/key. If you put a capo on the 7th fret the banjo goes from DGBD to the key of D - ADF#A. You could also get to D by putting on fat strings or get a banjo with a longer neck to get to the same key. Either way you would sing the song in the same key/pitch unless you have a mega octave voice. To get the most milage out of your banjo for singing,it helps to know what NOTE is the lowest your voice can do, and then tune your lowest string (4th string) to that note and tune the banjo accordingly. For me that lowest note is A so if I wanted to stay in the standard G pattern I'd tune it to D as above - ADF#A. My banjos don't handle that pitch very well so I end up in the key of E - BEG#B. Many song's notes go below the key of the song, such as Red River Valley. So if I have the banjo in E above, the lowest note I'd sing would be B which works out fine. The highest note I can hit is D/E which in the key of E would be the note E on the fifth fret of the first string. This range of an ocateve and a half or so from B on the bottom 4th string to E at the fifth fret on the first string ends up covering most folk songs. Some songs like Dixie don't go below the key of the song and you could sing that in standard G pattern or double C/D pattern. Whatever I said about altering standard G tuning applies to double C/D tuning as well. I have a Tradesman with minstrel nylgut strungs that I keep in E tuning and another short neck banjo I keep in C -GCEG tuning for singing. I know some will jump in and say you can sing any song in any key on the banjo and while that is theorectically correct it would be a lot of work. I am lazy and this is what works for me. Use a piano or guitar to fing the lowest note you can sing. Your Milage May Vary. Banjered

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Klondike Waldo - Posted - 03/08/2012: 10:03:06

quote:

Originally posted by Paul R

Quote:

Originally posted by mwc9725e

Is there a "natural" key for the male voice?

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Does this include castrati?

Nothing natural about voice change ( or lack there of) due castration, dude. Any blanket statement about "The male voice" is complete nonsense (says the lyric tenor). my range is from C below Middle C to F on the top line of treble clef (on a good day) - that's actual pitch, not written. Sometimes I can even reach a low B flat or A with a reasonable sound, but I'd never be a baritone. As for what key I 'd sing in, I'd have to ask which song, and which key the composer wrote it in. Some songs you can change, ( for example I sing Torna a Surriento in Eflat minor/major rather than C) and "Bring Him Home" from les Miserables in A flat rather than A because it's more resonant in my voice in that key, and some you cannot change, unless you're a big name, well established star past your prime. (precedent exists).

Marc Nerenberg - Posted - 03/08/2012: 12:34:47

quote:

Originally posted by hoverflytheo

quote:

Originally posted by Marc Nerenberg

quote:

Originally posted by hoverflytheo

Apparently Beethoven's tuning fork was actually flat of concert pitch, meaning that when he was composing vocal parts he wasn't planning for them to be sung as high as they are now (as thus straining the singer's voice as much as some of them do.) Beethoven was deaf. He didn't use a tuning fork. He used the sound he heard in his mind. Beethoven went deaf. He composed (and performed on the piano) a lot before he lost his hearing, and continued composing when he was deaf. If he was deaf all his life, he wouldn't have needed a tuning fork at all...

bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/b...oven.html

I know he started out hearing - otherwise I doubt that he would ever have gone into music in the first place. It's just that I'm pretty sure that those famously "outside the normal vocal range" singing parts that he wrote were written after he had been completely deaf for some time. I could be wrong about that, but it's what I recall reading many many years ago in a biography of him.

Edited by - Marc Nerenberg on 03/08/2012 12:36:15

tomberghan - Posted - 03/08/2012: 19:28:25 Only Jim Yates has answered correctly. (and your teacher was ignorant about music theory - I didn't say stupid - just ignorant - not technical) The key has NOTHING to do with your range. A key is determined by the number of sharps or flats that it has. DON'T GET RANGE AND KEY CONFUSED. A melody can start and end on ANY note in that key if that is how the melody goes! So, each of us has a RANGE. For each of us there is a limit. For each of us there is a pitch that is the lowest note we can sing and some pitch that is the highest note we can sing. Within each of our own personal range, we can each find a melody we can sing in every key. BUT we cannot sing every melody in every key. However, each of us can sing in every key BUT WITHIN OUR RANGE. Make sense?

banjoholic - Posted - 03/08/2012: 19:37:20

quote:

Originally posted by tomberghan

Only Jim Yates has answered correctly. (and your teacher was ignorant about music theory - I didn't say stupid - just ignorant - not technical) The key has NOTHING to do with your range. A key is determined by the number of sharps or flats that it has. DON'T GET RANGE AND KEY CONFUSED. A melody can start and end on ANY note in that key if that is how the melody goes! So, each of us has a RANGE. For each of us there is a limit. For each of us there is a pitch that is the lowest note we can sing and some pitch that is the highest note we can sing. Within each of our own personal range, we can each find a melody we can sing in every key. BUT we cannot sing every melody in every key. However, each of us can sing in every key BUT WITHIN OUR RANGE. Make sense?

Exactly. If a melody requires a 3 octave range it doesn't matter squat what key it's in - most humans won't be able to sing it :) The key only matters as it pertains to a particular melody (as both together will determine the frequency range required).

tomberghan - Posted - 03/09/2012: 06:23:36 quote: Originally posted by banjoholic

quote:

Unless the singer is (was) Elvis Presely! ;-)

jrjoplin - Posted - 03/09/2012: 09:56:46

Wasn't the whole point of the Pete Seeger long neck banjo to get the open key down into Pete's natural singing range (and presumably a key more suitable for folk sing-a-longs)?

raybob - Posted - 03/09/2012: 10:15:25

I agree with the 'range vs key' points.

Anecdotally, I'll say that one time I attended a singing class conducted by Alice Gerrard and Tom Rozum at a CBA music camp. They were going to demonstrate roughly the same idea... about finding where one can sing a song in 'full voice' and not just merely being able to cover all the notes in a song. I volunteered to be the guinea pig, and they used 'Rough and Rocky' as the demo song. They started out playing it in G and I sang along. I was just covering the notes though. They kept bumping it up a half-step at a time and asking me to sing it in the new key. When we got to C there was a marked difference in how my voice sounded singing the range of notes in that song. The volume and quality just naturally improved when we got up to that key. It was obvious I was using my full voice (and not straining at all). And this, of course, would be different for another song because of the range of notes used in the new song.

tomberghan - Posted - 03/09/2012: 10:49:56

quote:

Originally posted by jrjoplin

Wasn't the whole point of the Pete Seeger long neck banjo to get the open key down into Pete's natural singing range (and presumably a key more suitable for folk sing-a-longs)?

No – the whole point of Pete’s long-neck was to facilitate the KEY he was playing in not the range of his voice. He was playing with a lot of guitarists at the time (Like Woody) who preferred the keys of E-major (4 sharps), and A-major (3 sharps). E-major doesn’t sit well on a 5-string tuned gDGBD, and Pete didn’t want to capo at the 9th fret, and he didn’t want to retune to another tuning. So, his solution was a longer 5-string that would be tuned eBEG#B (open E) and then he would simply move his capo back to the 3rd fret and it would essentially then be a “normal” banjo again. (just as you say - "more suitable for folk -sing-a-longs) Again, don’t get range and key confused. You can have a tune in the key of G major (or any other key) and that is outside of your range. It depends on the range of the melody. Your range and the range of the melody must work together. A key signature only specifies the number of sharps or flats. The key of G doesn’t have a range – only a melody has a range. I can play a G-major scale starting and ending on the 4th step of the scale (just as an example) and it could very well be outside of your range. Any number of sharps and flats can fit within your range.

oldwoodchuckb - Posted - 03/09/2012: 11:46:11

Furthermore listen to Pete's voice a bit and you realize that he is a High Tenor - aka Irish Tenor, Whiskey Tenor. This is also the range that most male rock singers use. Buddy Holly, Crosby Stills and Nash AND Young, etc. You can move Down Keys for a higher voice too The Circle of Keys is a just that - A Circle, and there is a point where your voice will work for any tune that doesn't go much more than an octave. I'm not sure where Pete tuned his original long neck as it only had two extra frets, which would be F in G tuning and Bb in C tuning, neither a particularly popular key on guitar. But he might have also tuned down a half tone to E and A.

oldwoodchuckb - Posted - 03/09/2012: 11:56:05

As I stated before the best way to find your Key for any particular song is to try it in 2 keys that are a fifth apart - C and G if you are with a guitar based bunch, and A and D if you are in Old Time. If a Tune is too low or too high in C it will probably work in G for you and vice versa. Same is true for D and A if you play in a string band and use those keys most of the time. From there you can refine it for your particular voice, but I don't suggest going too far with that unless you plan on singing solo. For singalongs I really recommend C and G as any song books you get will be in those keys, and a large group of untrained singers will be able to sort themselves out into melody singers and harmony singers pretty quickly. It will aldo mean a lot less tunings when you go to jams. For singing in a more formal situation there are two factors. The vocal ranges of the singers and the need for a specific key for the instrumental. For a folk group the second need is taken care of with a capo. For Old Time groups it is up to you but not too many fiddlers and banjo players want to change the keys of stuff they've been playing for a long time. They might not go along with Turkey In The Straw in F or Texas Gals in Bb.

tomberghan - Posted - 03/09/2012: 12:44:56

Old Woodchuck's advice for finding the key to fit your range for a given melody is perfect! Here is another tip: I often find that the range difference for many ladies (on average) works out to be about a fourth higher from the average male. So guys . . . when it comes time to sing happy birthday, make sure one of the guys kicks the song off BEFORE one of the gals starts it - otherwise we wind up having to sing it in the key the ladies are comfortable with it will be too high for us!

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