Voice and age
Joyce
Pro Posts: 131
Hello to you all,
I think that as I'm getting older my voice is getting deeper, which is nice since I love to have some extra low notes. But on the other hand, I seem to have lost a semi high note? I also have been very tired recently and I have noticed that my voice is different depending of my level of fitness. Have you experienced similar thing? Also do our voices suffer during very hot weather?
Thanks in advance.
I think that as I'm getting older my voice is getting deeper, which is nice since I love to have some extra low notes. But on the other hand, I seem to have lost a semi high note? I also have been very tired recently and I have noticed that my voice is different depending of my level of fitness. Have you experienced similar thing? Also do our voices suffer during very hot weather?
Thanks in advance.
Comments
My voice keeps improving. The lows get lower, the highs get higher, and the mids get middier. My voice keeps getting stronger, but I can make it more gentle and soothing than ever before, depending on what I want. Even when early in the day I wonder how my voice will work that night on any given performance, it always surprises and delights me, even when I take chances and ask it to do more and more. I am feeling a lot of vocal freedom.
I'm not getting any younger.
Chances are that you may be using too much air and/or air pressure. That will wear you out physically, and wear your voice somewhat, as well. When you learn to economize and cut back the air pressure, it gets a lot easier to do a lot of singing, even at the extremes of your range. Oversinging is a lot of work.
Your top notes will vary somewhat from day-to-day, depending on how much you practice and whether you are using your air and support properly. Health issues, like allergies and mucus, can affect your clarity and range, as well.
When your voice is in good shape, it's like being a fit sprinter. You can run up and down your vocal "track" without getting "winded".
Time has an effect on our bodies, and our voice is part of our body. We can affect the fitness of our bodies as that happens, and we can also affect the fitness of our voice. Remaining fit is good.
We have to be a little more careful about remaining hydrated during hot months. The air can be very dry, environments can be dustier, fans or air conditioning can dry us out. If we get dehydrated, our voice will suffer. We don't want to drink cold drinks, either. Room-temperature water is going to be your best bet. Warming up our vocal cords and then drinking an icy drink defeats the purpose of warming up.
Your semi high note is probably still there, along with other ones you just don't know how to access yet with the proper relaxation.
Keep working out and keeping your voice fit. As time goes by, it will surprise and delight you.
Bob
There is a slight difference in pressure needed on every note, and at the same note at different volumes, and with different tones, and with different textures. The variations can seem almost infinite.
The first thing to learn is the "ballpark" or big differences, and then you can begin to break that down into more and more shades of air pressure and cord tension combinations. The human voice is an amazing instrument, and both simple and at the same time complex. At times, even though the instrument is within us, we can sometimes feel like a bystander, watching and listening in either horror or in raptured fascination.
The more familiar we become with the many feelings associated with regulating our air pressure through support and manipulation of the diaphragm and ribcage expansion as we work the instrument through melodic changes, the less complicated it will all seem. It actually becomes "second nature" and quite normal as we learn how the voice really works most efficiently. It's just that while we are still figuring out how to do all of this with our own bodies that we can sometimes feel awkward or uncertain exactly how to get from here to there vocally.
A bandmate of mine suggested a Roy Orbison song (You Got It) for me to sing yesterday. I told him it would be no problem, I would just need to listen to it and figure out how and when I would approach the high notes.
He wanted me to sing it in the key of G. I listened to it, and it's in the key of A. I'm going to try to persuade him to do it in A, because even though it's higher, it's not a problem for me to hit the notes in full voice. It sounds more dramatic in A, so that's where I want to do it. For me, it's just a matter of running through the song at the piano, slowly, and deciding, "oh, here I'm in my midvoice, here I go back to full chest, here I'll mix a little head voice with my mids... this part will take a ton of support" I like to brief myself on where the changes are, or I could get caught offguard if I don't approach the notes correctly. Going over the song helps me to familiarize myself with what will be required of me when I sing it live. I'm familiar enough with the workings of my own voice to be able to know by heart how much pressure any given note will take, without overpressurizing my cords. That just takes practice and experience (= time).
Keep doing your exercises and it will help to teach your voice how to get to all of the notes more efficiently.
A lot of the good kind of "aging" of your voice, like the aging of a fine wine, just takes time and care.
Bob
I listened to that song "You got it", it's GOOD, love it, you must have an operatic voice to sing stuff like that.!
As far as I am concerned, there is a limit in my chest voice range that I (for the moment) cannot extend, as flipping into mix/head is not appropriate for certain song. But you were right, my semi tone is still there! I have learned that I should do the exercises when I am well rested.
And I hear what you say, it takes time, practice, I learn everyday a little bit more.
There is definetly a huge improvement in my singing since I started the KTVA program, but I still have to know how my voice works.
Thank you for your precious pieces of advice!