“Why can’t I sing as high as I used to?”
THIS is a question I get asked a lot. I’ve extensively covered the effects of aging on the voice in this article I previously wrote, but in this article I want to use some actual examples of voices that are golden voices in their own genres, but that have perhaps gone on to find their voices have gone downhill compared to their golden years. It’s also helpful to hear these to realise that EVERYONE has their issues. I’m not picking on the following singers because I think they are bad (far from it!) but merely to remind us that they are human, and we all have peaks and troughs over time and day to day.
In each of these cases however, I’d put this down to issues in their technique that maybe weren’t backbreaking at age 20, but at age 30, 40, 50 or older become back-breaking technical issues for each of them.
The Allure of Youth
Note: It’s always easier to sing high and sound fresh when you’re young. This isn’t the primary sign of vocal ability, it’s a hallmark of youth. The challenge lies in building one’s voice so it gets stronger and fuller as you get older rather than getting run into the ground through bad habits and poor technique.
This is especially problematic when singers acquire commercial acclaim based on an unsustainable sound. Let’s go through a few examples I think show this issue well:
Example 1: Casey Abrams
Here’s Casey Abrams auditioning for American Idol many years ago (he was about 19/20 – voice was young, fresh as a result). Great style and very cool. But listen to hear how much air is being forced through his voice. Maybe you can get away with that when younger (though many wouldn’t be able to, including myself at that age) but that approach is pretty unsustainable the older you get.
Here’s Casey Abrams doing a cover with Youtube band ‘Scary Pockets‘ relatively recently. Listen to how rough and ragged the voice has become, and it’s pitchy in quite a few places despite excellent production. What’s happened?
The style he sought to put on back in his early days of singing is – in my opinion – the very thing that has unpicked his voice as he’s aged. He does suffer from ulcerative colitis, so it wouldn’t surprise me if acid reflux has also played a role in this. Abrams has got a following and so is doing commercially quite well, but if someone like you or me were trying to catch a commercial break and sounded like this at around age 30, we wouldn’t be going far with our voices.
Example 2: Idina Menzel
Here’s Idina singing ‘Defying Gravity’ from the musical Wicked in her hey-day. She’s relatively young in this. Pay attention to the ‘try/tries’ and how she’s just a little wide on them. Those are where things will (in my opinion) become unstuck progressively as she gets older. If you find as many bootlegs and live performances as you can you’ll hear this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5V9KwppMfs&t=0m35s
Today: Here’s Idina blasting out ‘Let it go’ at a New Year event a few years ago. I’ve cut to about 2m48s so you can get the full extent of the issues going on. The same problems that seemed so minor when she was young are exactly what’s led her to this situation.
Just like Casey, no one thing was a problem at age 20, but as she’s become older, those issues (in my opinion) have slowly unpicked her ability to do them consistently in the first place.
Example 3: Steve Perry (Journey)
By now you should hopefully be seeing the pattern here. It’s not that these singers are doing anything heinously wrong in their youth, but the failing comes in not continually developing their voice as they age, so as to install themselves into the darker and thicker voice that comes with getting older.
Every issue in their later years can be traced backed to a seemingly insignificant issue in their technique when young that, when left unchecked, only grows until it starts to leave them unable to perform anything close to their former ability.
Here’s Steve Perry doing his classic ‘Don’t Stop Believin’ – again, listen to the slightly excessive width on the top-most climax notes. Barely worth noting when you’re 20-odd. It won’t really get in the way for most. But as you get older…
Here’s him singing with a band in 2014. This is live, and he’s not using auto-tune, which is more than can be said for most singers singing live these days. But it’s nowhere near what was going on in his early Journey days. If you check out this live material you can hear the difficulty he’s experiencing to make it back up there.
Conclusion
Singing high as you get older is a complicated topic. If you want to know more there’s some links at the bottom of this article. It requires not just good technique, but good technique relative to the voice you have, as well as taking account of the voice you are growing into as your voice continues to mature.
You can’t just run your voice into the ground using the same approach you had when you were 20. You’ve got to train the voice to work properly irrespective of age – if we rely on youth for our sound, we’re heading down a dead end.
Remember, there’s a reason opera singers and many great musical theatre performers don’t hit their full stride til mid-40s or later. It is the added thickness and darker sound of an older voice plus years of training leads to an enormous sound. It’s THIS sound that you simply cannot get close to reproducing when young.
Get your range back
For those older singers, or singers who are experiencing what I’ve described above: take heart. You can absolutely reclaim those high notes, and make them bigger and better than ever before (it’s a gift getting older gives you)… the thing is, it has to be done right.
Don’t just keep forcing your voice. Don’t try to recreate what you think was responsible for your higher range in your youth – just like the rest of your body, your instrument has changed a lot, and is no longer the same instrument as it was before. Any questions about experiencing this for yourself, get in touch.
Learn More: Related Articles
If you’d like to learn more about the voice and how it changes as it gets older, you may enjoy these related articles:
The perks of being an older singer
What actually happens to your voice as you get older
Vocal Tessitura
Maturing of Vocal Tone
How long does it take to train a voice?