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I experienced that men and women have some difference in pitch.

Suppose, normal men can sing a song around middle C comfortably, women will have some difficulty, either its a little low or a little high. Due to this , an average pitch is always required to be searched, maybe lower or higher.

Why is it like this?

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  • I think why is not answerable but how is. It depends on many anatomical details. I don't know much about hormonal effects etc. but Farinelli is a good movie ;)
    – user1306
    Feb 25, 2013 at 17:41
  • I don't know anyone who sings chords, so edited the question a little :-)
    – Doktor Mayhem
    Feb 25, 2013 at 17:56

2 Answers 2

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The/a reason is that the difference in vocal ranges is usually not a multiple of an octave. So, suppose a woman can sing A3-A5, where A3 is the A below middle C, and a man can sing E2-E4. Let's say the song has a range of 1,5 octaves, originally written from C4 to G5. Now the woman can sing it but the man can't, since when you transpose the song by an octave or two, it will contain either too high or too low notes for the man (one octave down and the G4 is too high, two octaves down and the C2 is too low). The only way is actually to write the song so it goes from A3 to E5. Then the woman can sing it as written and the man by transposing down one octave.

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Purely anatomical. Women have smaller vocal folds(aka vocals cords) in the glottis. It's simply one of the secondary sexual characteristics of humans, such as facial hair.

The size of the vocal folds and to some extend their spacing determines the range of possible excitation frequencies. Smaller folds -> higher pitch.

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