Comparing Vocal Ranges: How High and Low Can Your Voice Go?

Finding and Naming the Notes on a Piano or Keyboard

To start this science fair project, you will need to be familiar with the names and locations of notes on the piano so that you can both play them, and write down in your lab notebook which ones you are playing.

1. First, find Middle C on the piano or keyboard.
   1. If you do not know which key is middle C, you will need to find a friend, family member, or music teacher who can show you or figure it out using this article about Middle C or Figure 2, below.
   2. In this science fair project, we will refer to Middle C as C4. Middle C is often called C4 because it is the fourth C key on a standard piano. The names of all the other notes will be based around C4.
   3. If you are using this virtual piano keyboard to do this science project, the keys are labeled when you hover over them with your mouse or click on them. You can use Figure 2, below, to help you locate C4 on the virtual keyboard.
2. There are seven notes—A, B, C, D, E, F, and G—repeated over and over on the piano. See Figure 2, below.
   1. The white keys on the piano represent these seven notes. The black keys are smaller shifts in pitch (either sharps or flats) and will not be used; you will only use the white keys for this experiment.
   2. The keys to the right of C4 are higher in pitch. The D to the right of C4 is called D4, the D to the right of C5 is called D5, and so forth.
   3. The keys to the left of C4 are lower in pitch. The B to the left of C4 is called B3, the B to the left of C3 is called B2, and so forth.

A zoomed image of keys on a piano keyboard highlights the C4 key, also referred to as middle C. 8 keys that play a C note are marked on the keyboard.

Figure 2. The top diagram shows the placement of all of the different C notes on a full-size piano. The bottom diagram shows a close-up with the names of the notes represented by the white keys around Middle C. Middle C is highlighted in yellow in both diagrams.

Determining Vocal Range

1. Start by playing C4 on the piano or keyboard. Have the volunteer sing the note back to you. If he or she can comfortably sing the note, then it is in his or her vocal range.
   1. If the volunteer has to strain to reach the note, then it is not in his or her vocal range.
   2. The volunteer has to actually sound like he or she is singing. If the "singing" sounds like grunting, growling, screeching, or squeaking, then it does not count and the note is not in the volunteer's vocal range.
2. If the volunteer can sing C4, keep playing increasingly higher-pitched notes (to the right of C4) and have the volunteer sing them back until you reach a note that is no longer comfortable for him or her to sing.
   1. Remember to only use the white keys for this experiment.
   2. If the volunteer finds it helpful, he or she can sing "do," "re," "mi," "fa," "sol," "la," "ti," "do," when singing increasingly higher-pitched notes (such as for singing the notes C4, D4, E4, F4, G4, A4, B4, and then C5).
   3. Make a data table, like Table 1, in your lab notebook. Mark each note that the volunteer can sing with an "X". The highest pitched note that he or she can sing is the top of his or her vocal range. Note: You will probably need to include more notes (higher and/or lower) than the ones shown in the data table below.

3. To find the bottom of the volunteer's vocal range, go back to C4. This time, keep playing increasingly lower-pitched notes (to the left of C4), and have him or her sing each note back to you until you come to a note that is no longer comfortable for him or her to sing.
   1. If the volunteer finds it helpful, they can sing "do," "ti," "la," "sol," "fa," "mi," "re," "do," when singing increasingly lower-pitched notes (such as for singing the notes C4, B3, A3, G3, F3, E3, D3, and then C3).
   2. Remember to mark each note that the volunteer can sing with an "X" in the data table in your lab notebook.
   3. The lowest-pitched note that he or she can sing is the bottom of his or her vocal range.
4. Repeat steps 1–3 of this section for each of the volunteers. In the end, you should have data from a total of 20 people. You can include yourself as one of the volunteers, if you fit into one of the volunteer categories.
   1. You should have data from four categories of people, with five volunteers per category:
      • Male adults, age 21 or older
      • Female adults, age 21 or older
      • Male children, age 9 or younger
      • Female children, age 9 or younger

Analyzing the Data

1. For each category of volunteers, count how many of them were able to reach each note. Make a new data table, like Table 2, below, in your lab notebook, showing the totals.
   1. For example, if all five of the male adults you tested were able to sing C4, write "5" under the C4 column in the "Male adults" row.

2. Using the totals in your data table, make bar graphs showing the number of volunteers who can sing each note. Put the notes on the horizontal axis going across (the x-axis) and the number of volunteers on the left axis going up and down (the y-axis). Make one bar graph for each volunteer category, for a total of four graphs.
   1. If you need help graphing, or would like to use the computer to make your graphs the Create a Graph website might be helpful.
3. Compare the four graphs.
   1. How do the vocal ranges of male and female children compare? Are they similar or different?
   2. How do the vocal ranges of male and female adults compare? Is one higher than the other?
   3. Look at just the male graphs. Does age affect vocal range for males? Now look at just the female graphs. Does age affect female vocal range?