How High is Too High (Unless You're Israel Houghton)?

It's happened to the best of us. There you are, singing along at a worship event, but when you get to the chorus you find yourself squeaking out the high notes, if you can hit them at all. The worship leader who chose the song sounds great, but you (and most of the people in the congregation) have to drop an octave or stop singing.

Luckily, following a couple simple guidelines can prevent this problem and keep most people singing comfortably.

There are two main types of voices:

High Voices: These are sopranos and tenors who can easily hit a D or higher.

Low Voices: Alto and bass voices are strongest under A or even G.

The old-school rule of thumb for congregational singing is to keep worship songs between C and C. Most people can sing comfortably in this octave. It's the same range most children's songs are written in, songs like the Sesame Street theme and "Row, Row, Row Your Boat."

If you have an alto or a baritone leading worship, consider setting your songs between A and A. This is a comfortable range for most people, and allows an alto or baritone to sing with a confident lead quality.

Many worship songs are written by and for high tenors, so keeping the key reasonable may require a little bit of tweaking. Simply find the highest note of the song and set it at a C if you have a soprano or tenor leading, or A if you have an alto leading. Be careful though--you don't want the lowest note of the song to go much lower than the A below middle C (assuming a woman's octave.)

Never, ever, ever set a song to go any higher than the E an octave and a half above middle C! Most people simply cannot get hit this, amateur vocalists included. (And even if they could, you wouldn't want them to!) Use Ds with care, and touch an E if there is no way around it, but anything above that should be left for performances where no one is expected to sing along.

C to C is best.

A to E is okay. (But stay on the low side of this spectrum!)

Anything else should be left for the offertory or the conservatory.