Just as each of the instrument families contains a multitude of instruments, there is also a wide variety of tone colors in the human voice!

Every voice has its own unique timbre. Timbre is a French word that musicians use to describe tone quality. Timbre is what allows you to recognize your best friend’s voice on the phone or identify your favorite singer’s distinctive sound.

Generally, female voices are divided into two categories: soprano, or high voice, and alto, or low voice. Likewise, male voices are categorized as tenor, or high voice, and bass, or low voice. Soprano, alto, tenor, and bass are the four major voice parts that make up a typical choir. Music written for these four voice parts is often referred to by the abbreviation “SATB.”

But just as not every person fits neatly into the category of blond or brunette, lots of voices fall somewhere in between soprano, alto, tenor, and bass. It is this rich variety that makes the human voice so interesting to listen to. To learn about the full spectrum of vocal timbres, refer to the chart below.

Soprano	Coloratura soprano	a high-voiced woman who has the vocal agility to sing complicated runs and leaps
	Lyric soprano	a high-voiced woman with a light and delicate tone quality
	Mezzo soprano	a woman with a medium voice that falls between soprano and alto - the most common female voice part.
Alto	Alto	a rich, low-to medium-ranged female voice
	Contralto	a woman whose voice is fullest and richest in the very low register
Tenor	Countertenor	a man whose voice is quite high in pitch. He may easily be mistaken for an alto.
	Tenor	a man with a voice that is light and high in pitch
Bass	Baritone	a man with a medium voice that falls between tenor and bass - the most common male voice part.
	Bass	a man with a full, rich low register
	Basso profundo	a man who can sing unusually low notes

It is typical for a person’s voice type to change over the course of their life. This is most obvious for boys, who sing alto or soprano before puberty but develop lower voices as they get older. But girls’ voices change too. A singer’s voice does not reach full maturity until they are in their thirties, but even in adulthood it can continue to change.