Singing | Definition, History, Styles, & Facts

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class="font-serif font-weight-bold text-black link-blue" href="https://www.britannica.com/art/singing">singing</a> </div> <button aria-label="Close" class="js-sections-close-button btn-link btn-sm btn d-lg-none position-absolute top-0 p-10 right-0" > <em class="material-icons font-26" data-icon="close"></em> </button> </div> <div class="section-content pl-10 pr-20 pl-sm-50 pr-sm-60 pl-lg-5 pr-lg-10 pt-10 pt-lg-0 bg-gray-50 clear-catfish-ad"> <div class="toc mb-20"> <div class="font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mx-15 mb-15 mt-20"> Table of Contents </div> <ul class="list-unstyled my-0" data-level="h1"><li data-target="#ref1"><div class="pl-25"><a class="link-gray-900 w-100" href="/art/singing">Introduction</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref284638"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><div class="ml-25"></div><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/singing#ref284638">Singing versus speaking</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref284639"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><div class="ml-25"></div><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/singing#ref284639">The character of Western singing</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref284640"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><div class="ml-25"></div><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/singing#ref284640">Bel canto from the 17th to the early 19th century</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref284641"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><div class="ml-25"></div><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/singing#ref284641">Mid-19th century departure from bel canto style</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref284642"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><div class="ml-25"></div><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/singing#ref284642">Singing since the turn of the 20th century</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li></ul> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="https://www.britannica.com/art/singing/additional-info">References & Edit History</a> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="/facts/singing">Related Topics</a> </div> <div class="tlr-media-slider pb-10 mb-30"> <a class="section-header link-gray-900 font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mb-10 mx-10" href="https://www.britannica.com/art/singing/images-videos">Videos</a> <div class="slider js-slider position-relative d-inline-flex align-items-center mw-100 "> <div class="slider-container js-slider-container overflow-hidden d-flex overflow-hidden text-nowrap ml-15"> <a href="/video/overview-twins-study-Australian-talent-inheritability/204804" data-href="/media/1/545880/204804" class="media-overlay-link d-inline-block mr-5"> <div class="position-relative --aspect-ratio: 16/9"> <img loading="lazy" 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In its physical aspect, singing has a well-defined technique that depends on the use of the lungs, which act as an air supply, or bellows; on the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/larynx" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">larynx</a>, which acts as a reed or vibrator; on the chest and head cavities, which have the function of an <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/amplifier" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">amplifier</a>, as the tube in a wind instrument; and on the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/tongue" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">tongue</a>, which together with the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/palate" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">palate</a>, teeth, and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/lips" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">lips</a> <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="articulate" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/articulate" data-type="MW">articulate</a> and impose consonants and vowels on the amplified <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/sound-physics" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">sound</a>. Though these four mechanisms function independently, they are nevertheless coordinated in the establishment of a vocal technique and are made to interact upon one another.</p><span class="marker MOD1 mod-inline"></span></section> <span class="marker h2"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref284638"> <h2 class="h1">Singing versus <span id="ref1075800"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/speech-language" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">speaking</a></h2> <span class="marker PREMOD2 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Singing is distinguished from speaking by the manner in which the breath is expended to vibrate the vocal cords. Singing requires more breath the louder, higher, and longer one sings. It also requires that the emission of breath be more firmly controlled. A pertinent <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="analogy" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/analogy" data-type="MW">analogy</a> is the function of the instrumentalist’s breath in playing a reed instrument—e.g., a clarinet, an oboe, or a saxophone. The technique of singing depends ultimately on the coordination of the various anatomical mechanisms in order to produce a propulsion of sound in a steady flow. A further distinction between singing and speaking is the control that is required, in singing, of the movement and reflexes of the larynx. As one sings higher, the larynx tends to rise sympathetically and at a certain point becomes an interference causing the voice to break, or crack. Not much movement of the larynx occurs within a singer’s normal range, which is usually about an octave and a third. Beyond that range, either above or below, an element of technical accomplishment sets the professional off from the unschooled amateur.</p><span class="marker MOD2 mod-inline"></span> </section> <span class="marker h3"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref284639"> <h2 class="h1">The character of <span id="ref1075801"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/Western-music" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Western</a> singing</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD3 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Western singing is distinguished above all by its <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/loudness" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">volume</a>. Singers of other <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="cultures" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cultures" data-type="MW">cultures</a> may have a wider range, particularly a greater upward extension; but it is doubtful that they have sung louder. Western singing is also distinguished by its concern with pure sound, with the <span id="ref254223"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/tone-sound" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">tone</a> quality, or <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/timbre" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">timbre</a>, and with colour, with what is felt to be the sheer beauty of the voice itself. Both singers and their listeners, in Western music more than any other, have tended to lose sight of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/song" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">song’s</a> roots in language and to think of singing as a purely instrumental production.</p><a class="link-module shadow-sm d-block qa-quiz-module" href="/quiz/sound-check-musical-vocabulary-quiz" data-link-module-iframe-link=""> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/30/254330-131-1B200240/young-girl-playing-trumpet.jpg" alt="Young girl wearing a demin jacket playing the trumpet (child, musical instruments, Asian ethnicity)" class="rounded-sm mr-15" width="70" /> <div class="line-clamp clamp-5"> <div class="module-title bg-green">Britannica Quiz</div> <div class="font-weight-semi-bold mt-5">Sound Check: Musical Vocabulary Quiz</div> </div> </a><span class="marker MOD3 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD4 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Modern Western styles of singing largely <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="derive" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/derive" data-type="EB">derive</a> from the Italian <span id="ref254224"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/bel-canto" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">bel canto</a>, which had its origin in a style associated with the polyphonic <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/music" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">music</a> of the 16th century. Because this music expressed the significance or the moods of the text, a great range of expression was required from the singers, who, in these polyphonic works, assumed something of the function of a vocal <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/orchestra-music" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">orchestra</a>. The art of singing accordingly evolved to allow the singers the maximum power and variety of expression. (<em>See also</em> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/bel-canto" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">bel canto</a>.)</p><span class="marker MOD4 mod-inline"></span> </section> <span class="marker h4"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref284640"> <h2 class="h1">Bel canto from the 17th to the early 19th century</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD5 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Bel canto singing from the 17th through the early 19th century was built primarily on the recognition that the intensity of vocal tone on a single note may be increased or <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="diminished" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/diminished" data-type="EB">diminished</a>. The varying of this intensity was known as the <span id="ref1301894"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/messa-di-voce" class="md-crosslink ">messa di voce</a>. There is, however, a difference between variation in intensity and variation in volume of vocal tone. The style depended on the technique of intensity; that is, tone was varied by increasing or decreasing the air pressure on the glottal lips and not by enlarging the oral chamber, which merely resulted in a larger tonal volume. The style was also based on the principle that the <span id="ref254225"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/voice-type" class="md-crosslink ">voice</a> has two “tones,” a diapason tone produced when the larynx is in a relatively low position, and a flute tone when the larynx assumes a higher position. These distinctions, however, were largely <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="obliterated" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/obliterated" data-type="EB">obliterated</a> when a broader style of singing was introduced by <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Richard-Wagner-German-composer" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Richard Wagner</a> and later composers.</p><span class="marker MOD5 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD6 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Physical aspects of the technique of bel canto singing demanded a stance in which the chest was raised and the stomach drawn in; the raising of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/soft-palate" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">soft palate</a> together with a corresponding lowering of the larynx; and the drawing back of the chin with the effect of opening the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/pharynx" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">throat</a>. Correct <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/breathing" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">breathing</a> was above all essential, and the Italians went so far as to declare that “he who knows how to breathe can sing.” By a contraction of the upper abdominal muscles, control is achieved over the <span id="ref254226"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/diaphragm-anatomy" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">diaphragm</a>, which thus enables the flow of air pressure from the lungs to be kept steady. This principle, which was the basis of singing in the 18th century, was later adopted by the Spanish <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/tenor-vocal-range" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">tenor</a> <span id="ref254227"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Manuel-del-Popolo-Garcia" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Manuel García</a>, who declared that “the lungs are for tone emission, the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/glottis" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">glottis</a> is for <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/pitch-music" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">pitch</a>, the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/mouth-anatomy" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">oral cavity</a> is for <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/vowel" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">vowel</a> and <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="timbre" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/timbre" data-type="EB">timbre</a>, and the front of the mouth is for consonants.” The function of the diaphragm is to regulate the pressure of air, while the larynx, as a nozzle in a water spray, determines the nature of the flow.</p><span class="marker MOD6 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD7 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">With the muscles in appropriate position and the reserve of air under proper control, accented notes in singing are given their full value not as startling percussive notes but in the manner of an accented note produced by a violinist who prepares his effect by the proper placing of his bow. An exercise known as <em>vibrazione</em> enables the singer to control the voice at the larynx and, by attacking a note softly, to increase the volume by pressure of the larynx.</p><div class="module-spacing"> <DIV class="marketing-INLINE_SUBSCRIPTION marketing-content" data-marketing-id="INLINE_SUBSCRIPTION"><style> .student-promo-banner-wrapper { container-type: inline-size; margin-bottom: 15px; } @container (min-width: 475px) { .student-promo-banner { flex-direction: row; } .student-promo-banner-img-wrapper { margin-bottom: 0; margin-right: 10px; justify-content: flex-start; } .student-promo-banner-text-wrapper { text-align: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 10px; } .student-promo-banner-button-wrapper { margin-right: 0; } }</style> <div class="student-promo-banner-wrapper"> <div class="student-promo-banner d-flex flex-column align-items-center bg-blue rounded p-20"> <div class="student-promo-banner-img-wrapper mb-20 mr-0 d-flex justify-content-center"> <img class="rounded" style="max-width: 100px; min-width: 80px" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/marketing/BlueThistle.webp" /> </div> <div class="student-promo-banner-text-wrapper ml-0 mb-10 text-center text-white"> <div class="h2 mb-10">Get Unlimited Access</div> <div class="h4 font-weight-semi-bold">Try Britannica Premium for free and discover more.</div> </div> <div class="student-promo-banner-button-wrapper d-flex justify-content-center align-items-center ml-auto mr-auto"> <a class="btn btn-m btn-orange" href="https://premium.britannica.com/premium-membership/?utm_source=premium&utm_medium=inline-cta&utm_campaign=black-friday-2024">Subscribe</a> </div> </div> </div> </DIV></div><span class="marker MOD7 mod-inline"></span> </section> <span class="marker h5"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref284641"> <h2 class="h1">Mid-19th century departure from bel canto style</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD8 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Later schools of singing paid much attention to the <span id="ref254228"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/resonance-vibration" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">resonation</a> of the voice in the “mask,” that is, the cavities of the head, though this resonation did not affect the radiative power of the voice but only its volume. These singers, and also the still-later <span id="ref254229"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/parlando-music" class="md-crosslink ">parlando</a> singers, who effected a union of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/speech-language" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">speech</a> and singing, made a conscious use of resonation in this way and differed from the bel canto singers in that they exercised less control over physical mechanisms.</p><span class="marker MOD8 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD9 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The development of the orchestra by <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hector-Berlioz" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Hector Berlioz</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Giuseppe-Verdi" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Giuseppe Verdi</a>, and Wagner in the 19th century encouraged singers to seek means of amplifying their voices by methods of resonation unknown in the bel canto style, and a new method was established of “singing on resonance.” <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jean-de-Reszke" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Jean de Reszke</a>, who emphasized the function of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/nose" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">nose</a> in resonation, was the main exponent of this school. Apart from the facial mask and the nose, other resonators were held to be the hard palate and the teeth.</p><span class="marker MOD9 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD10 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Demands made on the voice by the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="Romantic" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Romantic" data-type="MW">Romantic</a> operatic composers transformed the principles of the style, largely because the human voice would have been submerged by the vast orchestral resources drawn upon by these composers. Especially in the later music dramas of Wagner, sheer weight of orchestral sound forced the singer to unprecedented vocal exertions. With Verdi it was the vehemence of dramatic utterance rather than the presumptions of the orchestra that called for louder and more emphatic singing than would have been thought seemly in the age of bel canto. Singers found it difficult, if not impossible, to be at once forceful and elegant. A strong reaction thus set in, especially in Germany, against vocal <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/improvisation-music" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">improvisation</a> and embellishment of any kind. What had seemed the ultimate in singing from the 17th to well into the 19th century was now anathematized as <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="presumptuous" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/presumptuous" data-type="MW">presumptuous</a> frippery.</p><span class="marker MOD10 mod-inline"></span> </section> <span class="marker h6"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref284642"> <h2 class="h1">Singing since the turn of the 20th century</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD11 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Florid song lived on into the 20th century in the surviving operas of the older <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="repertoire" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/repertoire" data-type="MW">repertoire</a>, but it tended to become <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="stereotyped" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stereotyped" data-type="MW">stereotyped</a> and the property of specialists. Whereas until about 1830 all singers were expected to be masters of the devices of bel canto, they were now categorized as dramatic, lyric, coloratura (specialist in florid song), and so on. The traditional range classifications of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/soprano" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">soprano</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/alto-vocal-range" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">alto</a>, tenor, and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/bass-vocal-range" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">bass</a> were also widened to admit the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/mezzo-soprano" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">mezzo-soprano</a>, the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/baritone-vocal-range" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">baritone</a>, and the bass-baritone.</p><div class="one-good-fact-module"> </div><span class="marker MOD11 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD12 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The second half of the 20th century produced a predictable reaction in favour of the singer, with a revival of public enthusiasm for nearly forgotten operas by <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gioachino-Rossini" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Gioachino Rossini</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gaetano-Donizetti" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Gaetano Donizetti</a>, and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vincenzo-Bellini" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Vincenzo Bellini</a>, and even of the true bel canto operas of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Frideric-Handel" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">George Frideric Handel</a>, and the emergence of singers capable of <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="acquiring" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/acquiring" data-type="EB">acquiring</a> the requisite technique imposed by music that left much to the singer’s invention and discretion. The popular singer, too, relieved by the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/microphone-electroacoustic-device" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">microphone</a> of the necessity of raising his voice, and exploiting the improvisatory conventions of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/jazz" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">jazz</a>, employed intuitively many ornaments and expressive devices nearly identical to those of bel canto. The vocal requirements of avant-garde music extended beyond those of traditional operatic singing to include wider flexibility of timbre, techniques such as <em>Sprechstimme</em> (musically pitched speech), and improvisational fantasy drawing on sounds formerly excluded from the trained singer’s vocal resources.</p><span class="marker MOD12 mod-inline"></span> </section> <span class="md-signature"><a href="/editor/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica/4419">The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</a></span><span class="md-signature">This article was most recently revised and updated by <a href="/editor/Adam-Augustyn/6394">Adam Augustyn</a>.</span><span class="marker end-of-content"></span><span class="marker after-article"></span></div> <div id="chatbot-root"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ai-dialog-placeholder"></div> </div> </div> <aside class="col-md-da-320"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article></div> </div></div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript> <script type="text/javascript" id="_informizely_script_tag"> var IzWidget = IzWidget || {}; (function (d) { var scriptElement = d.createElement('script'); scriptElement.type = 'text/javascript'; scriptElement.async = true; scriptElement.src = "https://insitez.blob.core.windows.net/site/f780f33e-a610-4ac2-af81-3eb184037547.js"; var node = d.getElementById('_informizely_script_tag'); node.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, node); } )(document); </script>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"Topic","templateName":"DESKTOP","pageNumber":1,"pagesTotal":1,"pageId":545880,"pageLength":1431,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.130.14"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/dist/topic-page.js?v=3.130.14' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"A","adLeg":"A","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"Topic","pageSubtype":null,"articleTemplateType":"LARGE","gisted":false,"pageNumber":1,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":false} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>

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Singing | Definition, History, Styles, & Facts | Britannica