Voice development over the lifespan - Sing Up

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How the voice ages throughout the lifespan 2. HOW THE VOICE CHAPTER WORKS 4 Voices age in a similar way to our bodies. Our voices spend the first twenty or so years making the transition from birth to adulthood. There is then a slow increase in strength and stamina until our forties or fifties, before our vocal capabilities are gradually reduced. Knowing how the voice changes throughout the lifespan enables us to understand both our own and others’ voices. Understanding the limitations at each stage can help us choose appropriate repertoire and exercises. The most important point to appreciate is that the child’s voice is not just an adult’s voice in miniature. As the larynx and respiratory muscles develop, they change in both ability and in function (see Diagram 1). Early voice use - 0-6 years The first vocalising a baby does is crying. This contains all the elements of singing: pitch contour, varied rhythmic intensity, loudness and softness, and most importantly, emotional communication. After a few weeks, the child begins to coo and then babble. Parents instinctively speak to their babies in a higher pitch range, with extended vowels and a greater pitch variation. This is known as ‘motherese’ and contains all the musical elements of song. All cultures have infant-specific songs for both calming and stimulating the baby. Singing is nearly always accompanied by physical movement, such as rocking or jiggling movements. This intuitive behaviour between adult and child will develop musical activity as an integral part of the child’s environment. The vocal structure of the infant The baby’s vocal instrument is based on the survival requirements for crying and sucking. The infant’s set-up is much better than the adult at: • z Valving the airway: providing extra protection against foreign bodies entering the windpipe. • z Helping the feeding process: the close proximity of parts of the pharynx allows both suckling and breathing to happen simultaneously. • z Making attention-grabbing noises: the child possesses a potentially life-saving ability to cry with great stamina! It is tempting to use this as a model of efficient sound production for the adult voice. However, a baby’s vocal structure has evolved to be good at producing loud noises in short bursts over a long period of time, with only limited variation in the sounds. To cope with the subtleties of communication through language, the voice has to change a great deal. Diagram 1: Infant versus adult larynx Infant larynx (enlarged) Adult larynx The infant’s larynx is not just an adult larynx in miniature. The infant’s needs are those related to immediate survival, so the muscles used for crying and stopping food entering the larynx are proportionally larger than those in adults’ larynxes. INSIDE THE VOICE www.singup.org 4
CHAPTER 4 The vocal structure of the young child As infants grow into young children, their vocal set-up develops, giving their voices certain qualities and limitations. Helping the development of language, the larynx moves lower in the throat, the cartilages become more firm and mobile, and lung volume increases. This is a gradual process and continues through puberty and beyond. Young children’s lungs are still relatively small and do not permit extended sung phrases. The cartilages are still relatively soft and movement between them lacks control, resulting in a small dynamic range and making pitch changes more difficult than in adults. Furthermore, as their voices get louder, children find it difficult to maintain a consistent pitch. Diagram 2: How the vocal tract changes shape during childhood Nasal cavity Oral cavity Tongue Epiglottis Larynx Newborn baby Seven year old As Diagram 2 shows, a baby’s epiglottis is so high that it can close off the oral cavity, allowing the baby to suckle whilst breathing. As the child grows up, this ability is lost with the growth of the tongue and airways. The length of the tube between the lips and the larynx also grows, changing the tube’s characteristic resonance (or ‘formant’ – see ‘Filter: the upper vocal tract’ in Chapter 2 to find out more), giving the child’s voice a different sound quality. This change in sound quality, along with a change in pitch caused by the growth of the larynx, means that we can often identify the age of a child just by the sound of his or her voice. To summarise, the young child is less able to sing long, high or loud notes, or make frequent changes of pitch. Singing technique for children aged 2-6 • z Posture: standing whilst singing is the best posture, even though the children may get fidgety after a while. If they sit on chairs, encourage them to sit up on the front of the chair with feet flat on the floor. If you ask them to hold their heads up, they may well misunderstand and put their chins into the air. This is a particular problem of sitting on the floor. Instead, ask them to imagine being pulled up by a piece of string attached to the crown of their heads. • z Movement: a really good way to ensure good body use during singing is to incorporate movement. Most children’s songs for this age group are action songs. This is helpful for memorisation as well as effective and balanced body use. • z Breathing: this will mostly be an instinctive action at this stage. If children are asked to take a big breath, they may lift and tense their chest and shoulders, which is contrary to good singing. If they are standing or sitting well, their breathing will probably be fine. INSIDE THE VOICE www.singup.org 5
Page 1 and 2: Song Ban More online Get in touch S
Page 3: Inside the voice Chapter 4: Voice d
Page 7 and 8: CHAPTER 4 Adolescent voices - 12-18
Page 9 and 10: CHAPTER 4 Diagram 5: Phases of boys
Page 11: CHAPTER 4 1. Welch, G.F., Himonides

Voice development over the lifespan - Sing Up

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