Am I Too Loud ?

Another freezing cold day in Paradise. I think it seems set for awhile, so everyone is 'coorieing in'. I have no idea how to spell that word, but it is used regularly by one of my lady students, and it's meaning is somewhere between, snuggling and battening down, as far as I can tell!

The miracle of technology and video calling means that I can Skype my grandchildren, who are 7 and 4 and much too their utter delight school is closed for the next few days. They live in the soft South of England which at the moment has about 4 times as much of the white peril as we have here.

I think our temperatures are considerably lower, but at least we can walk about, drive and move around quite easily so far! When the Skype page came up I sang 'Helloooo' in a sing songy way, high to low, and the 4 year old chappie looked completely disgusted, said a definite - 'Don't do that, it hurts my ears' !! I felt like saying that people used to pay good money for that sound young man - but I resisted, and made the assumption that the internet connection distorts the rich and round and rosy tone quality of my voice! Perhaps I should have asked myself the immortal question, which is the title of the wonderful biography of world famous accompanist Gerald Moore, 'Am I Too Loud ?'

Actually, the aging process for a female singer is an interesting journey. As we cross the 50 year old barrier, a professional singer, who has used a voice well, and technically correctly since their youth, finds that their range falls a semi tone a yearish until about 60. I can only assume this is beacause one's voice was already developed to it's fullest degree, so changes are very apparent. My lady pupils of a certain age who have started singing post 50, have a huge surge of development with their previously unused vocal range, so the 'drop' goes by unnoticed! Infact the miracle is that a natural soprano over 50 will still develop a large number of high notes, all very usable and intact.

I, on the other hand have lost about a 5th on the top of my well oiled, well used and never abused voice, and have gained alto notes which give me a new angle on singing and a little frisson of excitement!

Nature is a miracle, and voices are a mysterious miracle.