Vocal Mutation in the Adolescent Male:Assisting boys through vocal change

Many vocal teachers have experienced the delight of teaching boy singers and bringing them to a level of competence which brings the young treble much satisfaction and possi-bly some acclaim. Equally devastating, then, is the loss of their treble voice which occurs during the adolescent years. For many young boys, this may be the end of their singing career. They cease vocal lessons, leave the boy choir to which they may have belonged, and take up other interests. By the time their new voices have settled, they have fre-quently moved on to pursue other pastimes, and may never return to any formal singing context.

Certainly, vocal mutation in young male voices is a challenging time for the singer and the teacher. The adolescent voice may be unpredictable in pitch, uneven in tone, and very limited in range. Singing in choirs, the boys may be unable to stay on pitch, swapping up and down octaves and fifths to produce a quasi-organum sound most choral directors will consider very undesirable. Often, the young singers are encouraged to drop out of choir or voice lessons during this time of change, leaving them to cope with feelings of rejection and frustration at a vulnerable point in their development.

This paper investigates the phenomenon of vocal mutation with particular regard to the trained boy soloist. Much of the literature on this subject deals with the changing voice in the context of a school or boy choir, where there will typically be a large number of chang-ing voices who may be taken into a class by themselves and given repertoire particularly geared towards the changing voice. With the aid of a trained teacher, they may be en-couraged to keep singing in a way that protects the voice and avoids the “break” in the voice through a system of encouraging the gradual lowering of the voice.

However, for a previously trained boy treble, it may be more advantageous to seek an-other approach. These young musicians may have attained a high standard of vocal abil-ity and technique, and often retain the motivation and enthusiasm to continue to sing dur-ing the time of vocal change. Their previous training gives them an advantage over their untrained peers, in that the change may be smoother and their interest more easily stimu-lated in search of the emerging mature voice.

Individual singing lessons can provide an ideal context in which to do this - without the negative pressure of peer judgement, and with a sympathetic teacher who can tailor exer-cises and repertoire to meet the very individual requirements of each changing voice.

Physical aspects of voice mutation

During adolescence, the most obvious sign of change in the boy’s voice is the lowering of pitch and the increase in vocal power. This is initially apparent in the speaking voice, after which the singing voice tends to also lower. These audible changes are the result of sev-eral physical mutations during adolescence:

1. The vocal folds lengthen under the influence of testosterone, from a pre-adolescent length of approximately 17mm to an average of 29mm in the adult male.

2. The folds thicken due to the accumulation of collagenous and elastic tissue.

3. The “Adam’s apple” becomes visible, as a result of the lengthening and tilting of the thyroid cartilage, which lengthens to more than three times that of an adult female.

4. There is a two to three times greater increase in the weight of the thyroid, cricoid and arytenoid cartileges.

5. As part of a general growth spurt, the pharyx, oral cavity, skull sinuses and thoracic cavity all expand, increasing the resonance and power of the adult voice compared with that of a child.

Vocal growth is not necessarily gradual - change may be rapid and inconstant through the adolescent years. Additionally, while certain changes are common to all boys, they may happen in a way that is highly individualistic.

Characteristics of the voice in mutation

While each boy’s voice may change in a unique way and at a unique pace, there are typi-cally a number of identifiable stages that most boys’ voice pass through. Different re-searchers have used different nomenclature for these phases, but most seem to agree on the general characteristics of each stage - I have chosen the nomenclature which I believe to be the most descriptive.

Stage 1: Mature trebleJust before adolescence sets in, a trained boy’s voice may take on a particularly beautiful quality, richer and fuller than that of younger boys, with the highest notes having a bril-liancy only heard in an older boy soprano voice. This is an indication that the voice has peaked and may shortly change. The speaking voice changes first - there will be a change in tone quality - it becomes fuller and deeper and may sound husky.

Stage 2: CambiataThe boy may find the higher notes become more difficult to sing, while additional notes are added at the lower register. Eventually, the boy will begin to lose the higher notes. This gradual lowering of the voice continues throughout adolescence. The voice may initially approximate that of a female alto, although without the depth of the contralto voice. An un-trained voice may sound raucous during this time, and the boy may have difficulty pitching notes as he finds his way around this new, lower voice.

Stage 3: Young BaritoneThe early adult voice begins to appear - usually in some form of baritone range, but with-out the full, confident baritone resonance. A voice destined to be a bass is likely to lower rapidly, and for these boys, the priority will be to develop the lower range while adjusting to the new clef and radically changing pitch. True tenors are rare during the adolescent pe-riod - typically this voice will not appear until mid- to late-20s, as the tenor voice tends to mutate more slowly and takes longer to settle.

Challenges of the mutating voice

Boys in the “cambiata”1 stage of change may experience the most difficulty as their voice may be changing from week to week, particularly if they are destined to be basses. This will make it difficult for any choir master to be able to properly accommodate them within a choir, as the tessitura of their voice may be lowering faster than they can be assigned to new parts in the choir.

Additionally, as the voice lowers, the former treble register becomes the “falsetto” register, while a gap may develop between this upper, changing register, and the full modal voice of the future tenor, baritone, or bass. It is quite normal that a cambiata voice may be unable to pitch certain notes around middle C. This may be very disheartening to a young singer who is used to contributing, and possibly leading, a section in a choir, and may also lead to vocal damage where they strain to achieve these notes in a choral context.

Most choral literature for SATB or SSA voices contains no part which the cambiata voice can easily sing - the tessitura of the Alto line is typically too high and the Tenor too low - while no accommodation is made for the missing notes in the middle. The comfortable voice range for the cambiata voice may be as little as a fifth - and often will not extend be-yond an octave. The particular octave within which a cambiata singer is comfortable one week may not be the same one the following week.

The limited range of the cambiata singer often causes pitching problems as the singer at-tempts to locate the correct pitch, sometimes having to swap back and forth between oc-taves as they do so. This problem can be exacerbated by the muscles of the larynx, which may not yet have developed sufficiently to control the voice. For a previously trained tre-ble, this may be less problematic and they can be reassured that these difficulties are only temporary.

Finally, for boy choristers and soloists who may have been singing challenging choral mu-sic prior to mutation, there will be a considerable “dumbing-down” in the repertoire they are able to handle. Their voices will not be as flexible with melismatic phrases, or as nimble where leaps in pitch are needed. Repertoire must be carefully chosen to allow the voice to move smoothly within its comfortable range. At the same time, the boys may be learning to deal with reading music from new and unfamiliar clefs, while all the time familiarising themselves with their new voice.

Psychological considerations of the changing voice

The psychological aspects of voice mutation should not be under-estimated. The boys, particularly those who have previously received a lot of attention for their singing, may be feeling rejected and confused at having suddenly lost a skill at which they so recently ex-celled. They may also be feeling some peer pressure that singing is for girls and is not tenable with the more “macho” image now required of them.

While this is a social pressure not likely to be addressed by any single teacher, giving the student a knowledge of the physiological changes happening in their voice may help to ad-

1 Term coined by Irvin Cooper, who worked with and classified over 114,000 adolescent voices in his life-time. His work is extensively cited by Don L. Collins in his books The Cambiata Concept and Teaching Choral Music. (cf. Bibliography)

dress both insecurities. Many boys are fascinated by science, and understanding some-thing of laryngeal development will reassure them that the changes in their voice are com-pletely normal, and even desirable in their new quest for the mature male voice categories of tenor, baritone and bass.

Good role models of adult male singers can be invaluable in this regard, and teachers should keep in mind that this may well be some popular singer that commands the respect of the teenage population, rather than a classical singer who may seem more remote. However, where the boys are or have been choristers, there may be role models within that sphere that can serve as ideal mentors. Internet sites such as Youtube and iTunes can also be exploited to find examples of music that stimulates the interest of young singers - possible even from among their own age group - for example, Jean Baptiste Maunier of “Les Choristes” fame is a young singer/actor who stayed in the public spotlight right through his changing-voice years, and is now performing as a young tenor.

The changing voice in the vocal studio

From the above, it can be understood that the boy’s voice during mutation will offer many challenges within the context of individual lessons, and that teachers who wish to assist boys during this time of change will need to be thoroughly familiar with the physical as-pects of the changing voice. But the private voice studio also offers the ideal environment to adjust to the often rapid pace of change and to offer the individual attention needed.

The teacher will first need to understand the adolescent boy’s “comfortable range”, and it may be useful to chart this on a week-by-week basis, particularly when the voice is chang-ing rapidly. Frederick Swanson, in his book The male singing voice ages Eight to Eigh-teen2 describes a method of graphing the comfortable range using “Voice graphs” which uses columns across double staves to indicate comfortable voice range. He emphasizes the importance of graphing both the emerging modal voice and notes that remain in the treble/falsetto range. The graph also indicates any missing notes in the middle.

While this technique is recommended for cambiata voices in a choral context, it will also provide a visual representation of the changing voice for a young soloist interested in how his voice is changing from week to week.

This graph should then inform the range chosen for technical exercises. These should not be extensive during this time and the teacher should avoid any activity likely to tire or strain the voice. Generally speaking, the voice should be encouraged in its downward de-scent. Descending half-scales (sol-fa-mi-re-doh) will assist the development of the emerg-ing lower tones. Beginning in the treble voice and using descending scales through the of-ten-problematic passagio range will assist the boy in closing the gap between the falsetto and modal voice ranges. 3

All vocalises should encourage smooth movement from note to note, avoiding leaps and rapid rhythmical passages requiring the flexibility of a more settled voice. Keeping the stu-dent within his comfortable voice range while gently attempting to extend it will avoid prob-lems with pitching. These problems regularly noted in classroom situations are often caused by an inability to sing notes at the particular pitch requested.

2 Frederick J. Swanson, The Male Singing Voice Ages Eight to Eighteen. Cedar Rapids, Iowa: Laurance Press, 1977, pp 84-943 Kenneth H. Phillips, Teaching Kids to Sing. New York: Schirmir, 1992. This book contains over 90 vocal exercises for use throughout childhood and adolescence.

Choice of repertoire

The teacher undertaking to teach a boy singer through the years of vocal mutation will need to research appropriate repertoire that keeps the voice within a comfortable voice range. At its most restricted, this may be as little as the range of a fifth or a sixth, and the teacher may need to be able to transpose these simple melodies from key to key depend-ing on where the voice is sitting on any one day.

Swanson argues that repertoire meeting these requirements can be found with a little re-search - hymn tunes, folk tunes and spirituals will often meet the criteria. For a boy so-prano who has previously received a lot of vocal training, these tunes may not seem to of-fer much challenge, so the teacher will need to be imaginative in focussing the attention of the student on mastering his new vocal apparatus, and learning to read from the new clefs - the bass clef, or the treble clef transposed down an octave. It can also be an opportunity to train would-be choristers in reading music in short score or to help improve their facility in reading from gregorian chant.

As the comfortable range extends, so will the options for exploring more vocal repertoire. It may be helpful to use a digital keyboard with a transposing function which allows the teacher and student to explore music written for other voices in a key suited to his individ-ual requirements. Often, slow airs will be more suited to this voice than songs requiring any degree of vocal flexibility.

To retain interest in any subject, goals must be set and achieved, but careful consideration should be given to goal-setting for the young boy during this time. Previous goals may have included recital performances, church solos, or vocal examinations, but such ambi-tions may need to be put aside for the duration of vocal mutation.

Setting goals more closely related to the intellectual understanding of the vocal apparatus; fluency in reading music; aural exploration of song repertoire or introduction to the major foreign languages may be more successful in giving the student a feeling of progression and achievement. Researching of the many different genres of song may be particularly rewarding to ex-choristers who may not have much experience of secular music or music from other cultures. While written work may not previously have had a place in the vocal studio, it may be advantageous now to set exercises aimed at increasing the student’s knowledge of the world of song.

Conclusions

With careful consideration of the boy’s abilities at each stage of vocal mutation, young boy singers can continue vocal lessons without harm to their voice right through the changing years. The teacher must be aware of and sensitive to the physical limitations of the voice at all stages, and will need a stock repertoire of simple but interesting songs to use during this time. Vocalises and repertoire should be restricted to the boy’s comfortable range, and this range should be consistently monitored during all stages of development. The boy’s intellectual interest should be stimulated through study of the vocal apparatus and

supportive studies such as sight-singing in new clefs, and research of different genres of song.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brunssen, Karen. “The Evolving Voice: Profound At Every Age” Choral Journal 51, no.1 (August 2010): 45-51

Collins, Don L. Teaching Choral Music, 2nd ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1999

Collins, Don L. The Cambiata Concept. Conway, AR: Cambiata Press, 1981

Kay Friar, Kendra. “Changing Voices, Changing Times” Music Educator’s Journal 86, no.3 (November 1999): 26-29

McKenzie, Duncan Training the Boy’s Changing Voice. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1956

Phillips, Kenneth H. Teaching Kids to Sing. New York: Schirmer Books, 1992.

Swanson, Frederick J. The Male Singing Voice Ages Eight to Eighteen. Cedar Rapids, IA: Laurance Press, 1977