How to Use alto in a Sentence

alto

1 of 2 noun
  • She sang in her school choir as an alto.
  • The pages turned out to be the alto sax parts.
    — Literary Hub, 13 Feb. 2026
  • Agnes had the most beautiful alto voice.
    — Bea L. Hines, Miami Herald, 31 Oct. 2025
  • Emily played trombone in the marching band and sang alto in the choir.
    — Beth Mlady, cleveland, 7 May 2020
  • The alto hung in with the grim passion that only mezzos can aspire to.
    — Kevin Fisher-Paulson, SFChronicle.com, 16 June 2020
  • His brother Alan played trumpet and alto alongside him in the school band.
    — Chris Morris, Variety, 2 Mar. 2023
  • The soprano loves the tenor, who loves the bass, who loves the alto, who loves the soprano.
    — Helen Shaw, Vulture, 8 Dec. 2021
  • The band agreed, and Wilson joined them on alto saxophone.
    — Charles Moss, SPIN, 18 May 2026
  • Williamson speaks in a husky alto with a cadence that is part meditation guide and part preacher.
    — Robin Givhan, Washington Post, 27 June 2019
  • Mikell, an alto, is staying with family in Philly during the run.
    — John Timpane, Philly.com, 21 May 2018
  • Liz Gillies, a longtime friend, plays the husky alto to Grande’s breathy soprano.
    — Richard S. He, Billboard, 27 Apr. 2018
  • Debbie Amos, another alto, had learned how subtle changes to the shape of her mouth shaded her tone.
    — New York Times, 8 Apr. 2021
  • The sopranos would be two women dancers; altos, a woman and a man; tenors, a man and a woman; and basses, two men.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 18 Oct. 2019
  • The Skokie resident, who is an alto, is in her 20th year as a member of the choir.
    — Myrna Petlicki, Chicago Tribune, 1 Sep. 2025
  • Even choral groups’ alto and bass sections have had problems projecting at The Schnitz.
    — oregonlive, 27 Sep. 2021
  • Escobedo played the alto, tenor and soprano saxophones and also sang as part of the band.
    — Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 11 Nov. 2025
  • Wisniewski, an alto sang with the Cantus at the three performances.
    — Sam Boyer, cleveland, 27 Dec. 2021
  • By the second verse, pockets of harmony were heard as some voices broke into alto and tenor, bass and soprano.
    — Kim Ode, idahostatesman, 28 July 2017
  • Girlfriend runs on Ives’ ragged and muscular alto, which has the timbre of a lounge singer and the texture of kintsugi.
    — Hattie Lindert, Pitchfork, 20 Mar. 2026
  • My concept for playing the guitar came from the alto saxophone, trumpet and keyboard.
    — George Varga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 9 June 2026
  • So did Carole Rae Woodmansee, an alto who was a few years younger and had sung with the chorale for more than a decade.
    — New York Times, 8 Apr. 2021
  • His voice is a rich alto rather than a vertiginous soprano, with a resonant warmth and an absence of shrillness.
    — Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker, 15 July 2019
  • She was known for her powerful alto voice and often was called upon to help a section by playing a note or two on the piano for pitch purposes.
    — Frederick N. Rasmussen, baltimoresun.com, 8 Aug. 2021
  • Countertenors, males of the species who sing in the range of a female alto, continue to be the growth industry in classical music.
    — John Von Rhein, chicagotribune.com, 17 Apr. 2018
  • Quigley chose to mix his singers up, rather than segregate them by soprano, alto, tenor and bass sections, which resulted in a smoother blend of voices.
    — Zachary Lewis, cleveland.com, 21 Aug. 2017
  • On his right sat the Hoffman twins, Lorraine on alto clarinet and Florraine on the bassoon.
    — Star Tribune, 3 July 2021
  • The alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins is in pursuit of epiphany.
    — Sheldon Pearce, The New Yorker, 1 Feb. 2022
  • Linney’s got an assertive alto, while Hecht’s timbre is reedier and more winding, a viola and oboe.
    — Vulture, 25 Apr. 2023
  • The alto cirrus indicate a change in weather, the mare’s tail mean high-altitude winds, the cumulus means building moisture.
    — Tom Stienstra, San Francisco Chronicle, 28 May 2018
  • Escobedo played the alto, tenor and soprano saxophones and also sang as part of the Cleto and the Cletones house band.
    — Michael Schneider, Variety, 17 Nov. 2025

alto

2 of 2 adjective
  • He plays the alto sax.
  • Marsalis took the lead on a trio of pieces, playing alto saxophone.
    — Matthew J. Palm, orlandosentinel.com, 29 Sep. 2019
  • Chris Hangan, a senior who plays alto saxophone, has performed on the beach for five years now.
    — Fred Swegles, Orange County Register, 15 May 2017
  • The Turtles Cyrus' strong alto range lent itself well to her melancholy take on this hit.
    — Allison Stubblebine, Billboard, 6 Oct. 2017
  • How should the musical issues in the alto parts of the choruses be resolved?
    — Ellen T. Harris, New York Times, 15 Dec. 2017
  • Sarah Gliko is especially marvelous, her flute and alto sax both lyrical and choked.
    — John Timpane, Philly.com, 2 Nov. 2017
  • Dexter took up the alto sax at 14, switching at 15 to the tenor that his mother bought him to fit his tall frame.
    — Clifford Thompson, WSJ, 1 Nov. 2018
  • Volunteers must be 18 or older, able to read music and able to play the oboe, clarinet, alto sax or tenor sax.
    — Megan Becka, cleveland.com, 14 Aug. 2017
  • But don’t go thinking that the alto saxophonist’s influence has waned.
    — Joe Klopus, kansascity, 17 Aug. 2017
  • Soprano sax, of all the instruments in the world ever probably, has fallen more out of fashion than even the alto sax.
    — Nick Williams, Billboard, 18 May 2017
  • Thomas Brill knew how to play the piano, organ, violin, flute and alto saxophone, his sister said.
    — Michael Williams, orlandosentinel.com, 3 June 2019
  • With alto saxophone and clarinets in tow, Noriega has been the man to call when the heavy guns of the new-jazz scene need extra firepower.
    — The New Yorker, 31 Mar. 2017
  • What Bird did with his alto saxophone Jordan still does with her voice — not as fast, of course, but with similar timelessness.
    — Howard Reich, chicagotribune.com, 21 Apr. 2018
  • At Poway High, Alexander plays alto sax in the jazz and concert bands and is the first student with autism to play all four years in the marching band.
    — Pam Kragen, sandiegouniontribune.com, 26 Jan. 2018
  • The women will sing in the alto section when the 150-member chorus tours New York City this week.
    — Jennifer Conn, Akron Reporter, cleveland.com, 23 Jan. 2018
  • Robinson, who plays the alto sax, said hopefully their concerts will encourage youngsters to pursue music themselves.
    — Forrest Sellers, Cincinnati.com, 3 Aug. 2017
  • The alto saxophone has played a significant role in the development of the classical, jazz, avant-garde, salsa, and punk-rock genres.
    — Colin Stetson, The New Yorker, 18 May 2017
  • David Caceres delighted the crowd with his vocal rendition of Dindi and his alto saxophone.
    — Ann Benoit, NOLA.com, 6 Feb. 2018
  • In his teens, Alexander began showing great proficiency playing jazz music on the alto saxophone.
    — Pam Kragen, sandiegouniontribune.com, 26 Jan. 2018
  • Fellow sophomore Emmanuel Fesili plays drums and alto saxophone, plus a little guitar and bass, Lui said.
    — Dave Southorn, idahostatesman, 1 Nov. 2017
  • Another trait that evokes Evans’ style is some use of unconventional – for a jazz big band – instrumentation, like accordion and alto clarinet.
    — Dan Emerson, Twin Cities, 17 Feb. 2017
  • The golden notes of Harjo’s alto saxophone fill the dark corners of a drab university auditorium as the audience breathes in her music.
    — Élan Young, Smithsonian, 13 Aug. 2019
  • At its heart was a delicate balance between Zenon’s famously translucent tone on alto saxophone and Aldana’s intrinsically beefier sound on tenor.
    — Howard Reich, chicagotribune.com, 2 Sep. 2019
  • With a searing alto tone that can flare from blue flame glow to bright orange grit within a phrase, Fuller has emerged as a formidable bandleader over the past decade, with four impressive albums on Mack Avenue Records.
    — Andrew Gilbert, The Mercury News, 5 June 2019
  • The alto saxophonist Mat Walerian seems to have a cooling effect on Matthew Shipp, an influential pianist whose free-form playing can be effusive to the point of pugnacious.
    — Jon Pareles, New York Times, 23 Feb. 2018
  • Shania has the robust alto twang of a country singer and the cadence of a woman from Ontario, while Celine’s powerful soprano voice has an incomparable range and delightful French-Canadian accent.
    — Lisa Ryan, The Cut, 20 June 2017
  • Eventually, Segal moved the celebration to August and expanded it to run the full month, a fitting tribute to the greatest alto saxophone virtuoso in jazz and a co-founder of the predominant jazz language of the 20th century.
    — Howard Reich, chicagotribune.com, 30 July 2019

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'alto.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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