Mezzo-soprano vocal range: A3 to A5

Mezzo-soprano is the middle higher voice, between alto and soprano, with a typical range from A3 to A5.

What a mezzo-soprano sounds like

Warm and full in the middle with an easy upper range. It is the most common of the higher voice types.

Where a mezzo-soprano is comfortable

A mezzo is most at home in the middle of her voice, roughly from C4 to E5. Soprano notes are reachable but tiring to hold.

The full range, A3 to A5, is a typical one. Choirs and teachers draw the lines a few notes apart, and trained singers often reach beyond them. What matters more than the outer notes is where you can sing a whole song without strain.

Are you a mezzo-soprano?

Mezzos are often placed with the altos in choirs because they can sing low, and with the sopranos because they can sing high. If both feel possible and the middle feels best, you are probably a mezzo.

The quick way to check is to measure. The voice type test listens to your lowest and highest notes through your microphone and tells you which type fits. If you only want the two notes, use the vocal range test.

Singers often described as mezzo-sopranos

• Adele
• Beyoncé

Pop singers are rarely classified the way opera singers are, so these are the labels most often given to them, not official titles.

Practice tips for a mezzo-soprano

• Most pop songs sung by women sit in this range, so you can usually sing them in the original key.
• Practise moving smoothly between chest voice and head voice around A4 to C5.
• Extend the range one note at a time at each end, not both ends in one session.

Mezzo-soprano compared with the other voice types

The next voice down is the alto (F3 to F5). The next voice up is the soprano (C4 to C6). The ranges overlap, so if you fall between two, go with the one where a whole song feels easiest.

For the full picture, read what is my voice type and how to find it.