Tenor vocal range
A tenor sings from about C3 to C5, two octaves. The highest common male voice.
What a tenor sounds like
Bright and ringing at the top, where a tenor’s high notes carry. Many male pop and rock lead singers sing in a tenor’s range.
In a choir: The third part from the top, above the basses. Tenor parts are written in the treble clef an octave higher than they sound.
Parts written for tenor
Rodolfo in Puccini’s La Bohème, Calaf in Turandot (“Nessun dorma”), and Jean Valjean in Les Misérables.
Where it sits among the voice types
Find out where your own voice sits with the vocal range test.
Questions about the tenor range
What is a tenor’s range?
About two octaves, from C3, an octave below middle C, up to C5, the “tenor high C”.
How do I know if I am a tenor?
Find your range with a vocal range test: if it runs from about C3 to C5, and your voice feels easiest and sounds best in the middle of that, tenor fits. A voice teacher also listens for where your voice changes gear and how it sounds.
Other voice types
All six side by side are on the vocal ranges page.
Are you a tenor?
Sing from your lowest note to your highest into your mic and see your range and the voice type it fits. Free, with nothing recorded.
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