Voice changing?

[Night Elf]

Does your voice change as you age? I can swear I used to sing better. I can't hit certain notes anymore like on lullabyes I definitely sang to the children. Or maybe I'm just sick?

[Catwoman]

I think your voice does change, but especially when you haven't continued to train it.

 

It's sort of like when you hear a famous older singer and he hasn't sung professionally in years -- and you can tell right away because he doesn't sound the same and his range is very limited. But then you hear another older singer who never stopped performing and maintaining his voice; he might sound a bit different, but his voice is still very good.

[redsquirrel]

Our voices lose range and change as we age.  I have some friends who are singing professionals and it is something they fight against constantly.  Our speaking voices change as well. Most of us, men and women,will  have lower voices at 45 or 50 than we did at 25.

[plansrme]

Reflux, even silent reflux, can change your voice.  

[OhanaBee]

As a singer it is also possible to overuse your voice.  We have seen this happen to semi-professional singers in my choir and it's not always pretty.  But yeah - your voice does tend to drop as you get older.

[wintermom]

Aren't operas often designed on the principle that lower voices (both male and female) are the older characters? Typically the soprano and tenors are the younger characters, with the alto and baritones being the mothers, aunts, fathers, etc.

 

Our voices just naturally tend toward this. Of course, there are the male and female singers who have lower voices to begin with, but even those deepen with age.

[Jen in NY]

Yeah. :( I can't sing some of my own songs that I wrote only like 5 years ago. :glare:

[Ravin]

Well, my voice is changing, but it's due to testosterone. However, while I indeed cannot sing now, I couldn't sing before, either, so it's no loss.

[idnib]

I agree with the above, but it might also be a good idea to have a doctor check it out. Low thyroid can lead to voice changes. Not to scare you, but a relative of mine discovered his throat cancer when someone he hadn't seen in a while noticed his voice had changed.

[dirty ethel rackham]

I noticed that mine is changing.  I need a longer warm up to get rid of the "old lady warble."  I remember my parents commenting about many of their favorite entertainers and how their voices just weren't all that special any more.  One in particular was Andy Williams.  We had an older Christmas recording and my mom purchased a new, later recording.  The difference in his voice was quite noticeable.  The new one was practically unlistenable.  (is that a word?)

[redsquirrel]

I noticed that mine is changing.  I need a longer warm up to get rid of the "old lady warble."  I remember my parents commenting about many of their favorite entertainers and how their voices just weren't all that special any more.  One in particular was Andy Williams.  We had an older Christmas recording and my mom purchased a new, later recording.  The difference in his voice was quite noticeable.  The new one was practically unlistenable.  (is that a word?)

 

Some older professional singers, their voices just get shot from years of singing. A stroke, even a mild one, or medication can cause changes in breathing or cause dry mouth etc. Pete Seeger couldn't sing much towards the end of his life. His voice had become so reedy and shaky from so much singing that it couldn't recover. If you went to a Pete Seeger concert in the late 90s they were often billed as 'sing alongs' because his voice was getting weak.