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To: "VOCALIST" <vocalist>
Subject: The common vocal phenomenon of "The Hangover"
Date sent: Fri, 17 Dec 1999 22:31:44 +0300
Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>

Dear enlightened people,

I have a question, which has been swimming about my head for some time. I'm
sure somebody here will have an answer, and equally sure that almost
everyone here will know what I'm talking about...

The morning after a heavy drinking session (not a frequent occurrence, but I
am both a student and a singer - a bass, at that - so it naturally happens
once in a while...) my voice does funny things. I know I'm not alone in
this, of course. My lower range drops sometimes by as much as a perfect 5th
(from a resonant bottom G/audible E, usually, to a C). I find that, firstly,
it doesn't hurt to sing down there; secondly, the sound is very resonant;
thirdly, the sound is very focussed; fourthly, I have control of those
notes.

My upper range is hardly affected, and is certainly fine after a few
exercises. The affects have usually disappeared by lunchtime, and my voice
is back to normal, with no lingering consequences.

There are several parts to my question:

1. What physically causes this phenomenon? How does it become reversed so
soon?

2. Do female singers experience the same? (I could ask one of my
female-singer friends, I know, but I'm interested in the physiological
reasons why they do or don't)

3. If I have such a strong, resonant lower register when hung-over, notes
that I cannot even grumble ordinarily, should I therefore be able to recover
those notes properly on an ordinary day? In theory, does a bottom C "The
Morning After" mean that I've got a
hidden basso-profundo inside me itching to get out?

I'm not talking here about a particularly fierce hangover, which feels like
death, but just about the morning after a few drinks - after an evening
where I haven't been straining my voice. I don't smoke, and never have.

So, please enlighten me. I think this is one of those natural phenomena for
which we should all know the reasons. But don't.

Thanks in advance for any edification (and please, don't try to persuade me
to become teetotal - of course, as singers, you're unlikely to do so...!) .

Daniel Sumner
Bass-Baritone (Currently working in Moscow but really much happier in
England, either in his Home City of St Albans or University Town of
Cambridge)



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