Singing is the act of producing
musical sounds with the
voice, and augments regular
speech by the use of
tonality,
rhythm, the use of sustained tones and a variety of vocal techniques. A person who sings is called a
singer or
vocalist. Singers perform
music (
arias,
recitatives,
songs, etc.) that can be sung
without accompaniment or with
accompaniment by
musical instruments. Singing is often done in a group of other musicians, such as in a
choir of singers with different voice ranges, or in an ensemble with instrumentalists, such as a
rock group or
baroque ensemble. Singers may also perform as soloist with accompaniment from a piano (as in
art song and in some
jazz styles) or with a
symphony orchestra or
big band. There are a range of different singing styles, including
art music styles such as
opera and
Chinese opera,
religious music styles such as
Gospel,
traditional music styles,
world music,
jazz,
blues and popular music styles such as
pop and
rock.