 From these derive both the modern terms "alto" (and contralto) and "bass".The contralto voice is a matter of vocal timbre and tessitura as well as range, and a classically trained solo contralto would usually have a range greater than that of a normal choral alto part in both the upper and lower ranges.However, the vocal tessitura of a classically trained contralto would still make these singers more comfortable singing in the lower part of the voice.