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Stick Time: Understanding the Changing Voice

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       When preparing to teach choral music at the secondary level, the conductor must be equipped to help these singers manage their developing voices. Therefore, one of the first steps toward successfully working with adolescents in a choral rehearsal is for the teacher to obtain a thorough understanding of the changing voice.1 With respect to male adolescents, Henry Leck states that the teacher must “understand vocal production for the boy’s changing voice, what voice part to have them sing, and how to avoid problems and vocal strain.”2 Not only should the choral teacher be aware of the physical changes associated with adolescent male vocal development, but he or she should also understand the emotional dimensions associated with vocal change. Even though every adolescent boy’s physical and emotional development path will be unique, having knowledge of typical male adolescent behaviors may enable the choral director to plan and facilitate effective rehearsals.
       In order to adequately plan rehearsals and set goals for the choral program, it will be necessary to test each individual voice. Given that boys at the middle and high school levels are often self-conscious about their bodies during adolescence, it is important for the choral director to be sensitive and creative when attempting to assess these voices. Even the type of terminology used for the assessment process can affect the comfort level of the singer and in turn impact the overall recruitment effort. David Friddle, for example, offers the term “voice check” as a way of alleviating the anxiety that is often associated with the term “audition.” An accurate assessment of the each boy’s voice is absolutely necessary so he can be placed in the proper section and provided with musical challenges that fit his current vocal abilities.
 
(From “Working with Adolescent Male Voices in the Choral Rehearsal,” by Rollo Dilworth.  Read the entire article in next month’s Choral Journal)
 

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  1. Although I would agree with most everything that Rollo Dilworth says here, I do not completely agree that “it will be necessary to test each individual voice.”  As he notes, boys at this age are very self-conscious.  For that reason alone I rarely do individual voice tests.  Indeed, the group voice test as popularized by Irving Cooper is actually a more efficient and accurate way of testing middle school male voices.  Like Judy Bowers, I replace Cooper’s song with “Jingle Bells,” and then follow his directions pretty closely.  Eliminating the lower, more changed voices, encourages boys to keep in their upper voices as long as possible.  I have gone back later and tested the boys individually and have found that this is accurate in most cases.  A few boys do try to force their voices down too low, and I reassign them to their appropraite voice part.  I look forward to reading the rest of this article as I respect Rollo Dillworth’s work!

  2. One of the concerns I have with this type of article, though worthy, is that it continues to emphasize an area of concern which, i agree, if not properly addressed, can be detrimental in both the short and long term – but which is only half of the challenge.  I mean that the basic motivation for addressing these concerns falls into two categories:  an OVER-concern with adolescent male vocal development (along with his other physical and emotional developments) or a concern that we are INSUFFICIENTLY addressing it (sort of the reverse of the coin with our concern about developing math and science skills among girls).  The truth of the matter is that male vocal development during puberty is a pretty obvious challenge.  I am concerned, however, that there is an insufficient interest in or even recognition of the vocal developmental changes occurring during FEMALE puberty, and because the preponderance of adult singers at levels other than the professional seems heavily weighted towards women, those of us who are dealing with volunteer choirs made up of a majority of women long after their puberty confront a series of challenges which makes vocal production a real problem.  What, if anything, is being done to address this side of the issue?

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