When training teen singers, I don’t encourage a specialization in repertoire. If they are going to audition for music degrees, they often have to prepare repertoire from classical, musical theatre, and popular styles. Having a generally tension-free voice with two octaves of usable range and a clear connection to the text and a well-prepared audition […]
Tag: teens
Boys’ voices don’t “break”!
Please stop using the term “break” right now. It’s discouraging and inaccurate. A boy with a nice treble voice will find that his voice changes with puberty. The voice may become very unstable as the larger larynx begins to make lower and louder pitches. The relationship between the lower and upper registers changes, and the […]
Is my child old enough for voice lessons?
Generally I do not like to teach voice lessons to students under the age of 12. However, if a child is already doing a lot of performing, I occasionally have made an exception. For those rare exceptions, I split the lesson time between singing and learning the piano keyboard so that they can become more […]
Picking appropriate repertoire
The prof Kurt met with at Throatwreck University wants him to get rid of the Quilter and do Every Valley from the Handel Requiem. Do you have that music for you and Kurt to look at this week? It seems a little ridiculous for a high schooler, but the prof said that the competition will […]
Female Voice Teachers and Men’s Voices – Big Mystery?
My studio is a little over half male, and always has been. I have worked with prepubescent boys, adolescents, and many adults up to the senior years. I see many questions online from female voice teachers about teaching male voices. I also get lots of direct questions from them about what to do. Sometimes other […]
GOOD songs for beginning classical voice students?
I was asked about this recently in an online forum where I was expressing my opinion that most voice teachers, especially at university level, are not familiar enough with easy repertoire that better suits a singer who is just beginning to study singing technique. There is a lot of good material in the anthologies by […]
Observations on “Voice Change” in Females
I am not a voice scientist, but I am very interested in the subject, and try to find ways to bring scientific knowledge into the teaching studio. What follows is more anecdotal and general than precise and scientific. The pubertal voice change that the typical boy goes through is well-known. As normal as it is, […]
Are Male and Female Voices Really That Different?
The short answer is “no”. There are cultural differences, and differences of size of the larynx and vocal folds, but functionally all voices have the same scientific registers available to them – fry/Mode 0, chest/Mode 1, head/Mode 2, and whistle/mode 3. All voices need to be trained to use their full pitch potential in chest […]
Young men’s voices – one step back, two steps forward
It is not uncommon for a young male’s voice to change more than once! Voices rarely mature at an even rate. The larynx continues to develop beyond adolescence, and the voice can change significantly well into the 20’s, and then usually more slowly thereafter. During puberty, the falsetto* will be a bit wild and rough, […]
Selecting a High School Musical
‘Tis the season for high school musicals here in the suburban Washington DC area. I have students right now rehearsing or performing in “The Drowsy Chaperone”, “Cabaret”, “Les Miserables (School Edition)”, “Cinderella”, “Into the Woods”, and “Legally Blonde”. The schools and private theatre programs around here aim big – often too big. Tonight I had […]
Recently changed voices and the missing octave
When a boy’s voice changes, the larynx’s sudden growth brings in new low notes and upsets the vocal coordination that may have existed previously. It is not uncommon for a good treble singer to become discouraged at the loss of control and function that occurs during and after this time. Although the transitioning voice is […]
Helping Students to Pick Repertoire
As a teacher of teens I have to work somewhat cooperatively with the students’ choral directors, musical theatre directors, and various other coaches. I had a situation today that got me thinking about how important we are to young people as repertoire consultants. They cannot possibly know yet about all the possibilities of things that […]