Singing

Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice. Air is expelled with the diaphragm as with ordinary breathing, and the pitch is altered with the vocal cords. With the lips closed, this is called humming. A piece of music that is sung is called a song; someone who sings is called a singer.

Most singing involves shaping the mouth to form words, but types of mouth music which use open sounds or nonsense syllables ("vocables") also exist, for instance scat singing or yodeling. Solfege assigns certain syllables to notes in the scale.

Singing can be heard in many different places, since anyone who can speak can sing. It can be informal and just for pleasure (for example in the shower), or very formal, such as singing done professionally in a performance or in a recording studio.

Singing is often done in a group, such as a choir, and may be accompanied by musical instruments, a full orchestra, or a band.

Singing with no instrumental accompaniment is called a capella. However, the Choral Journal and other vocal-related publications actively discouage the use of this term and prefer the word "unaccompanied".