- I think we've all had a friendly chuckle
at ourselves and others when our voice, without warning,
suddenly breaks into a spoken kinda yodel.
And if you're currently going through puberty,
especially if you're male,
these funny little voice breaks can be all too common.
Why does your voice do that?
And is there anything you can do
to stop your voice from flipping out?
All good questions that have very good answers.
I hope you stick around to learn more.
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Hello everyone.
Welcome back to Voice Essentials where everyone sings.
My name is Dr. Dan
and I'm a contemporary singing voice specialist.
It's my job to help you realize the full potential
of your singing voice,
but always remember the information that I provide
is general in nature and is best followed up
with more personalized instruction
by a qualified singing voice professional.
Your voice, as you travel through life,
will move through many chapters.
Each separate developmental stage
has its own set of challenges and rewards.
Today we're going to focus on the pubescent voice,
or what some voice scientists sometimes label
as mutational voice.
But before we dive in, let's first briefly review
the five stages of physiological voice development.
Infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age.
Now the life cycle of your voice starts
at around the third month of fetal development.
By which time many of the anatomical structures are formed.
The structure of your larynx starts out soft.
The first part to harden is the hyoid bone,
and the rest of the structure
has completed this hardening process by your mid 60s.
When you're born, your larynx sits high in the neck
and as you age into your late teens,
the level of the larynx lowers
and then continues to lower throughout life.
This lowering of the mechanism contributes to, in part,
the lowering of your vocal pitch as you age.
The first audible cry made by newly born infants
generally sits at around about 500 hertz.
This fundamental frequency drops
at about an octave by the age of eight
and, until puberty, remains relatively similar
for both girls and boys.
During childhood our vocal range remains rather constant,
but as Robert Sataloff and Sue Ellen Linville suggest,
during childhood, physiologic frequency range,
the highest and lowest sounds the child can produce,
remains fairly constant.
However, musical frequency range increases.
That is, the child becomes able to produce
musically acceptable sounds
throughout an increasing percentage of his frequency range.
Sataloff and Linville go on to note
that the important changes in the voice,
between the ages of six and sixteen,
is not range,
which remains relatively stable
at about two and a half octaves,
but rather an improved, in control efficiency and quality.
I want you to take particular note of this fact
because many young singers in their teenage years
want to emulate their vocal idols who, for the most part,
might be in their 20s and 30s.
Anatomically, the younger voice is best focused
on the development of tone and timbre
as opposed to the extension of range.
I'm going to jump over adolescence
which I'll come back to in a minute
and move on to quickly discussing adulthood.
For most people the larynx has reached its full growth
by its early 20s.
The adult voice remains relatively stable structurally
but can be impacted by a range of issues including
the menstrual cycle and menopause.
Of course we must also note that our voice,
being so intimately tied to our identity and psyche,
can be affected significantly throughout adulthood
by emotional disruptions as well as health concerns
including asthma and reflux, just to mention a few.
As for the older voice,
well there are a number of significant things
that can happen to our anatomy as we age.
I have another whole video about the older voice
that I'll leave a link to in the description section below
if you'd like to learn more.
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So let's now talk about the adolescent voice.
This period can be a crazy time for young people.
The body changes in so many wonderful ways
as we enter adulthood and, of course,
one of those significant changes occurs in the voice.
Thurman and Klitzke go write that
the puberty on average begins in females at about 10 years
and extends to about 16 years.
In boy's it begins at about age 12 years
and extends to about 18 years.
During puberty the auditory system, that is your hearing,
and your respiratory system, that is your breathing,
undergo developmental changes that affect your singing.
In this video I want to focus on the growth of your larynx
and the impact that this change has on your voice.
On the following table found in Bodymind and Voice,
list the prepuberty to puberty vocal fold lengths.
Notice the percentage increase for the male voice.
66.69%.
Wow, that's a massive change in length.
Similar levels of change are also happening
throughout the laryngeal mechanism
and also in the vocal tract.
All of this growth can cause a lot of structural instability
and this, it would seem,
is what leads to those funny puberty voice flips.
And because the male voice undergoes
greater levels of growth than the female voice,
it is more susceptible to the classic voice break
we associate with teenage boys.
Now as we continue it is important for me to say
that while the modern day description
of the puberty voice flip is a voice break,
the fact is that the voice has not broken
in any way, shape, or form.
If you're a young male currently experiencing
the teenage yodel then rejoice.
You're growing up and body is doing all the things
that it needs to do in order for you to emerge
on the other side of puberty with an adult-sized voice.
Now, I want to outline a range of things
about the teenage voice that I think will help
my younger viewers to understand and care
for their instrument a little better.
But before I do, please hit the thumbs up button
if you're learning something new from today's video.
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Allow me to state that
while I'm doing my best to present today's information
in an accessible and understandable way,
it is important to note that
voice change experience during puberty
is in fact a highly complex miracle of human development.
So everything I've said thus far
and everything I'm about to say
needs to be received as purposely generalized.
Now with this in mind,
the first generalized fact to understand is
we all grow at different rates.
Some young people will experience significant periods
of vocal instability during puberty
while others will only register months of noticeable change.
John Cooksey states that on average,
the most active period of voice change for males
occurs over about a 13-month period.
Cooksey also presents a theoretical framework
for voice mutational stages.
The five stages of male mutational voice classification
are Midvoice one, Midvoice two,
Midvoice two A, when the voice is most unstable,
New Baritone, and settling Baritone.
Cooksey voice classifications
are specifically applied to changing male voices.
But it is important to understand that the female voice
is also undergoing change.
Lynne Gackle lists the following noticeable changes
in the female adolescent voice.
Number one, increased breathy, husky,
or hoarse voice qualities in both speaking and singing.
Number two, occasional voice cracking in speech.
Three, lowering of main speaking fundamental frequency.
Four, increased pitch inaccuracy during singing.
Five, decreased and inconsistent
pitch range capabilities in singing.
Six, increased incidents of abrupt register transitions
or breaks in singing.
And seven, generally uncomfortable singing
or effortful phonation.
Ladies you also need to learn
to manage the new experience of your menstrual cycle.
Menstruation will noticeably affect the singing voice
in about one third of women.
So you might like to watch my video
about the menstrual cycle and singing.
I'll leave a link in the description section below.
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So now onto the big question,
should you sing during voice change?
Well, yes and no.
Allow me to explain.
Once upon a time, young people were instructed
to stop singing during puberty.
This is no longer the case.
However, it's still regarded as a time
when higher levels of care and caution
need to be applied to the singing voice.
Wendy Lebornge and Marci Rosenberg
list a number of helpful suggestions
for the pubescent singer in the Vocal Athlete.
Firstly, they recommend avoiding heavy voice use
during voice mutation.
When I work with a younger person during their teenage years
I always endorse not placing the voice
under strenuous performance loads.
Especially during the stages
of Midvoice two and Midvoice Two A
when the voice is most unstable.
Secondly, Lebornge and Rosenberg recognize
the lowered levels of endurance in the changing voice.
In my lessons we allow the young person's voice
to dictate how long a scheduled lesson might run.
For example, one week the changing voice might cope
for thirty minutes of singing
and the next week it might only travel 15 minutes
before fatigue sets in.
Always listen to your voice and your body.
If your voice says stop, then do so.
Thirdly, Lebornge and Rosenberg write,
all singing should be done in a comfortable mid-range
at a medium vocal intensity level.
This comfortable range may vary from week to week
or even day to day, especially in the male voice.
The key takeaway point here is, again,
listen to your body and your voice.
Don't force it.
Which brings me to my final point for today's video.
Young people, be patient.
When we're young our youth can cause us
to want everything to happen at lightning speed.
The thing about voice change is it can't be rushed.
You need to allow your body to do what it needs to do
when it wants to do it.
Personally I didn't experience
significant voice change until I was 15,
much later than many of my friends.
Regardless of when your voice change starts,
how long it takes, and when it finishes,
the ultimate aim is to have an adult voice
that has emerged healthy and ready for decades of singing.
The best advice I can offer you,
where possible, travel the journey of voice change
alongside a qualified singing teacher
who understands the unique changes
of mutational voice stages.
Of course, if you're new to my channel
then you might like to also subscribe
and receive access to free learn-to-sing instruction.
If you do decide to subscribe,
you should see my videos as simply complimenting
your private voice lessons as opposed to being
your sole source of singing instruction.
One final point before I close.
If you are a young person who identifies as LGBTIQ
then I highly recommend discussing your time of voice change
with a voice care professional who is knowledgeable
in the area of transgendered voice.
This video only deals with
the traditional physiological changes,
changes you may or may not feel comfortable with.
So please seek further advice about your voice change
if your gender identity doesn't align with the classic roles
of male, female.
I think that's enough for me today.
I hope to see you all again soon.
I'm Dr. Dan.
Sing well.