The Sistine Chapel Choir was made up into four parts with 24 male singers. The first part of the choir are the sopranos which was made up of six of the 24 singers of the choir. A soprano in choral music refers to a vocal part or line and not a voice type these men are technically known as “trebles”. The second part of the choir are the altos which is also made up of six singers. A alto refers to the second highest part of a contrapuntal musical texture and is also applied to its associated vocal range, especially in choral music. The third part of the choir are the tenors which is made up of six singers as well. A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range is one of the highest of the the male voice types. The tenor,s vocal range in choral music lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C and A4, The A above middle C. The fourth and final part of the choir is the bass that is made up of the last six of the 24 male singers. A bass is a type of classical male singing voice and has the lowest vocal range of all the voice types. A bass is classified as having a vocal range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C. These are the four parts of the choir in the Sistine Chapel.

The ideal music according to the Catholic liturgical tradition is plainchant also known as Gregorian chant. Plainchant is believed to originate from the 3rd century A.D. Gregorian chant is a variety of plainsong named after Pope Gregory 1 , although Gregory himself did not invent the chant. The tradition linking Gregory the first to the development of the chant seems to rest on a possibly mistaken identification of “Gregorius.” Examples of plainchant are as follows Prayer, Reading or Section, Psalm, Canticle, Hymn, Prose, Antiphon, Responsory, Introit, Gradual, Tract, Alleluia, Sequence, Offertory, and Communion.

The two great composers that were associated with the Sistine Chapel Choir were Josquin Desprez and Giovanni Palestrina. Josquin Desprez is widely regarded as one of the finest and most influential composers in the historey of western music. The stylistic traits of his music, both in contrapuntal technique and in text-setting, gave the defining direction to the High Renaissance and with it the course of music history as a whole. Giovanni Palestrina left hundreds of compositions, including 105 masses, 68 offertories, at least 140 madrigals and more than 300 motets. The flow of his music is dynamic, not rigid or static. The Melodies contain few leaps between notes.

The reaction that I get from this music is a very sweet serenity sound and comforting feeling when listening to the masses. The music makes me feel like I am communicating with the individual who composed it. I would like to hear more of this music because it makes me feel very comfortable and relaxed. The musical pieces that I listened to as well as others that I searched for are very prestigious. The reason I would like to hear more of these in the future are the help me concentrate.

This music is different for me cause we use Hymns that are not as extensive in spirituality and proceeded as much. They are more like a normal everyday song instead of a composed masterpiece . The Hymns that we sing in church are more simple instead of elaborate works of art.