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Chorus America: As singers age, what kinds of changes might they begin to notice?
Leda Scearce: There may be changes in agility. Florid passages that were previously pretty easy are now quite strenuous and less precise. You may notice breaks that were not there before or that you had previously been able to smooth over skillfully with technique. There may be changes in breath support—the duration you are able to hold out a note is less. Breath support, in general, may feel more effortful.
There are hormonal changes for women that can affect the voice. When we go through menopause, we lose estrogen and that can cause the vocal folds to become heavier. Women may experience a loss of high pitch range and possibly some gain in the low end of the range. Also, difficulty negotiating registers is something I see a lot. The register breaks become more glaring and hard to control.
Vibrato becomes an issue for some because that whole system of agility and fast muscle response to the nerve impulse becomes less fast and less precise. So the voice may become a bit wobbly and unstable.
Of course, nobody wants to have this kind of thing happen. So when it does, singers start compensating for it, and sometimes the compensation makes the problem worse. If you try to steady a wobble, for example, you may tense up, and now you have a layer of muscle tension that wasn't there before. It can snowball from there.
This sounds depressing. Tell us some good news.
There is good news! The good news is that singing is great exercise for the voice. In fact, I understand that anyone who comes in for voice therapy at Robert Sataloff’s office in Philadelphia is prescribed singing therapy because it is such an excellent exercise for the voice.
So continuing to sing is really important, and persisting to overcome the problems is really important. Also, knowing that singing is a good exercise, if you anticipate that these changes may be coming and take action to prepare for them, you can ward off a lot of these age-related voice problems.
One key is regular exercise for the voice. The other key is adjusting your technique, because you are essentially working with a different instrument than you had when you were in your 20s or 30s. The same technique you used back then might not meet the changing needs of the instrument. So you would want to work with a voice teacher who has experience and knowledge about these age-related changes.
What kinds of things might you focus on with a singer who has age-related voice changes?
I would focus first on foundational technique elements that we may have covered way back when we first began to sing. We might focus on register stabilization. There is a great exercise for that: phonating through a little coffee stirrer sized straw. Do one note at a time, holding it as long and as softly as you can, making sure all the air is coming out through the straw and not leaking out through the nose.
At first it may feel chaotic. The task demands that you perfectly balance air pressure above and below the vocal folds and perfectly coordinate airflow (the vibrations of the vocal folds), and the shape of the vocal track—the resonator. It can take a few tries to get it to work but once you get it, you develop a new muscle memory that is more efficient and gives you a more stable tone.
Once someone is more stable with their tone, I might have them do some dynamic range exercises—a messa di voce, or crescendo and decrescendo, over a single note. Then we would work through as much of the range as possible. It is very tedious work, but it is incredibly effective. I have seen vibrato problems and register problems go away from these exercises.
The straw exercise sounds similar to lip trills.
It is the same principle in that something is occluding the airflow on the vocal track. For someone who is really struggling, you could start with a lip trill or tongue trill or phonating on a voiced “v” and then work up to doing the more challenging straw exercise. Working through the register shifts and working with the dynamic range as well as pitch range is important. A lot of times the dynamic range work is ignored and people operate at one loudness level. It takes exquisite control to make dynamic changes on one sustained note.
Physical fitness in general is a great help. Being in better condition will affect every part of the body including the voice. Staying active and staying healthy are important for vocal health.
You mentioned the impact of hormone changes on women’s voices. Is there anything to be done to counter that?
I encourage anyone for whom singing is very important to have a conversation with her doctor or gynecologist. I have worked with a number of singers who have made an educated decision to pursue hormone therapy, knowing the potential risks, and have worked out with their doctor how to do that safely. The aging-related changes that happen for women can be so dramatic and really discouraging. So it’s important to explore all the options.
What kinds of physical exercise can singers do to help their voice? I have found yoga and Feldenkrais to be helpful and I think it has to do with alignment and releasing tension.
Yes, and building core strength. You just ticked off several of the areas that are affected by the aging process—spinal column changes, lung capacity changes, alignment changes. The programs you are working with are going to help with that.
Physical fitness in general is a great help. Being in better condition will affect every part of the body including the voice. Staying active and staying healthy are important for vocal health.
I hear many older singers lament their lack of breath support. But I wonder if that has less to do with changes related to aging and more to do with misconceptions about how to breathe easily and efficiently.
Yes, we talk endlessly about support, support, support. And yet I’m not sure people are clear what that coordination means. Sometimes, if we are having any kind of problem with our voices, we assume it is because of breath support and we start clenching our abdomens even more. That radiates tension through the whole system and ultimately compounds the problem rather than solving it. So figuring out how to balance airflow and air pressure is key.
Another thing to consider, in addition to getting voice lessons again, or for the first time: You may also need to adapt the kind of singing you do. You might not be the same voice part as you were at a younger age. Or you might be a different voice type—rather than a high coloratura soprano you may now be more of a lyric voice. That may mean opportunities for doing other kinds of repertoire, which can be very exciting and rejuvenating.
Can community chorus singers really make these kinds of changes to their voices?
Yes. In some cases, lifelong choral singers may not have gotten a lot of foundational training for their voices. They may be skillful singers and have had opportunities to learn a lot about vocal technique in the context of a choir with an excellent choral director. I think a lot of people get by for years with those basic skills but they don’t have the technical advancement to carry them through those changes in their voices.
There is just no substitute for one-on-one training with somebody on your voice and your technical needs. Whenever you start working on your voice, you are going to get a benefit from voice training. Your voice is going to get better.
So the bottom line is, singers should keep singing, no matter what age they are?
Absolutely. I can’t tell you how many times singers have come to me having given up because of voice problems. They have this huge sense of loss. Singing had not been just an enjoyable activity for them but part of their identity, their self-image, their social interactions, their spiritual life and religious experience. To be cut off from that is an enormous loss of quality of life and it is not necessary to give it up.
I’ve worked with singers in their 70s and 80s with great results. Being able to get back something that is so meaningful to you affects your whole outlook. Some of the depression in older age is caused by the things we have lost in our lives. Singing in itself can be a powerful medicine.
Resources
Vocal excercises from the Duke Voice Care Center [PDF]
