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From:  nicktenor@a...
nicktenor@a...
Date:  Wed Feb 7, 2001  7:46 pm
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] Re: boys changing voices


In a message dated 2/7/01 07:29:20 GMT Standard Time, lloyd.hanson@n...
writes:

<< Continuous changes in range are common and the voice teacher or choral
director must be ever vigilant to accommodate these range needs >>

That's what happened to me. I was a later developer, still happily singing
treble in the church choir until I was sixteen (you can bet I had a great
time at school while all my mates' voices changed to booming men's
voices..... but I digress).

My voice did change gradually, and my choirmaster put me to sing with the
tenors when the highest treble notes became difficult. The lowest notes I
needed in the tenor register weren't really a problem, and in time, I
gradually started to grow into the higher notes. At around 18 or 19, I
started having singing lessons.

My first teacher decreed that I should begin to train as a high/light
baritone rather than pushing the tenor register too soon. Around 3 years
later, my voice having been oh-so-slowly moving upwards in terms of
comfortable range, I started to concentrate more on the head voice and tenor
range. I sang with that teacher for 10 years, during which time, my
"comfortable" top end range continued to gradually become higher. The reason
for changing my teacher was that I moved away from the area. I've been with
my second teacher for just three years now, and in all honesty, my range is
still increasing - I didn't honestly think a couple of years ago that I would
be able to sing things with top Cs in, for instance, or the Cujus Animam from
Rossini's Stabat Mater with its notorious high D-flat.

All of which goes to show what? I dunno. That my voice broke around 15 or 16
years ago, and the process of development shows no signs of coming to an end.
Patience is a virtue. I'm happy to wait, keep working hard, and see where I
go.

Best wishes to all,

Nicktenor.
South Yorkshire, UK

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