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The Care and Training of the Mature Voice

Just as we go to the gym to firm up the rest of our aging bodies, we can do many
things to help our voices remain limber and lovely well into retirement age.

Barbara Peters

Aging presents challenges to everyone, and particular physical and vocal challenges
to avocational and professional singers.

Being a singer of a certain age myself, I am quite aware of changes in my voice. But I
do not believe that the aging process has to deprive any of us of the thing we most
love. Just as we go to the gym to firm up the rest of our aging bodies, we can do
many things to help our voices remain limber and lovely well into retirement age.

What Can We Do?

Take care of your bodies. Monitor what, how much, and when you eat. Minimize
salt and sugar intake. Alcohol, caffeine, and smoking are deterrents to healthy
vocal function. Late meals can cause digestive tracts to release gastric
hydrochloric acid into the esophagus and laryngeal areas (acid reflux).
Physical exercise, particularly aerobic exercise, enhances blood flow to the brain.
Increased water intake maintains healthy vocal fold lubrication. Maintain a 40-
to 50-percent level of humidity in your homes. Wash your hands often; colds are
transmitted more successfully by hands rather than by germs in the air or
radical changes in temperatures.
Find ways to reduce tension and stress in your life, in your body, and in your
sound.
Monitor your speaking voice by speaking in a comfortable pitch range and at
comfortable volumes. Avoid environments with overpowering ambient noise.
Take voice lessons, if possible. It's never too late. If you are having vocal
difficulties, get professional help. Professional training can make you more
resistant to the effects of aging on the voice.
Know your vocal limitations. Sing in moderation. Listen to the voice, outwardly
and inwardly. Vocal endurance varies considerably between individuals. The
more one uses one's voice, the more wisely and economically it must be used.
Sing in the appropriate range.
Warm up the voice and activate singer's breathing before strenuous singing. This
focuses the brain, engages the muscles with which we produce sound, enhances
blood flow to the folds, and maintains consistent efficient vocal cord function.
Rest your voice after strenuous singing (NO talking, e.g.). Singing is athletic:
regular practice produces positive results.

Some Tools of the Trade

Singer's Posture: Using a mirror, stand with weight forward on balls of feet, knees
loose, lower torso tucked under (pelvis tilted forward), sternum lifted, shoulders
back and down, head up, back of the neck long, eyes at eye level.

Breathing exercises: In singer's posture, place right hand over waist, spreading
fingers so that they cover your belly button and your lower abdominal area, with
your thumb in your upper abdominal area. Take air in through mouth with your
nose open. Consider a surprise' breath without the noisy gasp. This lowers the
larynx, opens the mouth and activates your abdominals. Breathe into your hand,
expanding your belly button outward, along with your upper and lower abs. Then
hiss out slowly, steadily maintaining the inhalation posture, while slowly
contracting your lower abs inwardly. Try using the consonants [f], [z] in the same
way.

Pant like a dog. Work for quick lateral pulses in and out at the center of your body as
you pant.

Use a mirror as you practice. Shallow breathing is a very definite high, up/down,
vertical process. Singer's breathing is a low, lateral process. Rib cage expands three
ways: up and down; front to back; side to side.

Six Areas of Relaxation:
1. Facial muscles. Give yourself a facial massage starting at the hairline, working
your fingers down over your temples, jaw hinge and chin. Spend a moment on your
brow. Let your face remain slack.
2. Jaw/Mandible. Take hold of your jaw with your hands. Gently surrender the jaw
to them. Let your hands move your jaw up and down, as freely as you can. No need
to open the jaw beyond the hinge. Be patient and persevere.
3. Tongue and jaw muscles just inside the jaw bone. Using both hands, massage the
tissues just inside the jaw line to release tension in the tongue and the muscles that
connect the tongue to the jaw.
4. Tongue. Extend your tongue firmly outside your mouth....hold. Release the hold on
the tongue, letting it hang out of your mouth. Then let it slink back inside. Take your
forefingers and make a point. Place them just inside your chin bone into the soft
tissue area, and massage up and down. If you swallow while doing this, you'll feel
the mighty tongue at work. In singing, we want as little tension here as possible.
5. Larynx. With both hands on either side of your larynx, gently move it from side to
side. If there is any "clicking," keep working to release it. This clicking is cartilage
that is inflexible and is holding. Ideally, singers want a suspended larynx, free of
tension.
6. Head/Neck Rolls. Starting with your head forward on your chest, roll it gently and
slowly to one side and all the way back, with your mouth open, then forward. Be
sure to lead with your ear so that each side of your neck gets a stretch. Do this twice
in each direction.

Now You're Ready to Vocalize!
First some general tips:

Start in your middle range, working out in either direction from there. About 15
minutes is usually sufficient. Vary your vowels. Vary your dynamics. Vary the
exercises.
Keep your tongue loose and forward in your mouth, up against your bottom
teeth. As you move higher in range, open your mouth by dropping your jaw. Find
space inside your mouth by cultivating a "yawn" position which raises your soft
palate and lowers the back of your tongue. Keep your nasal passages open. Lips
can fan slightly forward away from your teeth. Avoid spreading or "smiling" with
your mouth. Strive for a balanced mix of brightness and richness.
Use a mirror and stand when practicing.

Vocalises
1. Me, may, mah, mo, mu. One pitch, one breath. Work for continuity of sound,
smooth transitions from vowel to vowel with a vibrant [m] to connect them. Work
slowly, aiming to use your entire supply of air. Move upwards and/or downwards
by half-steps.
2. Moo-ee, oo-ee, oo-ee, oo-ee, oo-ee. 5,4,3,2,1. Middle range. One breath. Sing both
vowels on each note, working for continuity of sound, and minimal shift in your lips
as you move from [u] to ee. Move up and down by half-steps.
3. "Viola" 1,3,5,4,3,2,1. One breath. Sing vi- on 1,3, -o- on 5,4,3,2 and -la on 1. Work
for consistency of tone, keeping the brightness of the "vi" on both the [o] and [a]
vowels. Work upwards by half-steps into your upper voice. Increase your energy as
you sing higher pitches.
4. Zee, ay, ah, oh, oo. 1,3,5,8,7,5,4,2,1. One breath. Each vowel is sung on two
consecutive pitches, with the "oo" on the last pitch in the pattern. Start low in your
voice and work upwards into your upper and high voice. Work for consistency of
tone, smooth vowel transitions, and more space in your sound at the top. Remember
to drop your jaw for more space.
5. Mee/oh; mee/ah. 5,4,3,2,1----9----1. Mee for 5,4,3,2,1; oh (or ah) for 1-9-1. One
breath. Work for a brisk tempo, with a slight accent on the first of every 4 notes. Aim
for clarity, flexibility, without aspirating in between notes. Legato, but pulsed. Start
low in your voice, and work your way up to the very top of your range.
6. All vowels. Triplet exercise. 1,3,5,8,10,12,11,9,7,5,4,2,1. One breath, legato, on the
vowel of your choice, vary them each time you use this exercise. Start low in your
range and work to the top and then back down. Move at a good pace.
7. Staccato. All vowels. 1,3,5,8,5,3,1. Triplet feel. Start low in range and move
upwards to upper and high range. Begin slowly until the pattern is established, then
gain some speed. Strive for accuracy and a resonant "ping" in each note. Actively
engage your breath mechanism on each and every sung pitch.


Adapted from Singing for a Lifetime: The Care and Training of the Mature
Voice: A Workshop for Choral Singers offered every summer at the Berkshire
Choral Festival in Sheffield, Massachusetts. The course is required for all festival
participants over the age of 70, and provides many tips for the care and training of
voices of all ages.

Soprano Barbara A. Peters is a founding faculty member of The Berkshire Choral
Festival and was Artist-in-Residence there for 25 years. She serves on the voice faculty
at University of North Carolina in Greensboro and is executive director of Greensboro
Opera. She is a certified McClosky voice therapist and is the district governor of the
North Carolina chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing.