Training the Female Adolescent Voice

While a reasonable body of research exists investigating vocal mutation in the adolescent
male, until quite recently, little research was available on the vocal adjustment experienced
by female adolescents. Certainly, the change is less dramatic in girls than in boys, but
girls do undergo certain adjustments, and many of the problems they experience can be
corrected with proper vocal technique.

When I began teaching young girls more than twenty years ago, I was advised by more
experienced teachers that the voices were really too immature to learn technique, and that
I should simply focus on teaching song repertoire. This is an attitude that I have found
persists among the teaching profession - notably among teachers who have specialised in
teaching adults.

My own experiences as a teacher suggested that this was not the case - that teen-aged
girls have a healthy appetite for vocal technique and can verify for themselves whether
various techniques would assist them with the problems they were encountering with their
changing voices. In almost every case, the voice has responded well to vocal technique,
and some students who presented rather unpromising voices at a first audition have gone
on to become fine performers.

The prevailing attitude among some vocal teachers is that voice training should be delayed
until the voice has matured (ie, after puberty has completed), lest there be any damage to
the young voice. Kenneth L. Phillips, in his book “Teaching Kids to Sing” claims that there
is no empirical evidence to suggest such a belief. In fact, it may be harmful to omit such
training altogether, particularly in a culture where young singers attempt to emulate the
popular “belt” style without training in the proper techniques needed to use this style
without harming the voice. Similar damage can be caused by untrained choral directors or
classroom teachers insisting a loud sound from young voices which may not have
developed full resonance, or simply by raucous use of the voice on the sports field.

The challenge for the vocal teacher with adolescent students is to understand and educate
the student on the physical changes of the female adolescent voice, its abilities and
limitations, and to apply vocal technique only when it can be used to usefully address
problems.

Physical Changes of the Female voice during adolescence

During adolescence, the female larynx lowers from the high position of young children to a
lower position at approximately the fourth, fifth or sixth vertebrae. The larynx and vocal
tract begins to grow in length and circumference, albeit at a slower rate than that of the
male. The thoracic cage and lungs increase in size and the vocal folds develop to produce
a more mature sound.
 Female voice mutation may happen at any time between the ages of eight and fifteen, and
typically takes one and a half to three years. One study1 notes that the age of puberty is
falling quite rapidly at present, up to a year earlier than was observed forty years ago, and
that adolescents are also passing through the phases of development at a faster pace.

Gackle notes the following characteristic symptoms of the female voice in mutation2:

• increased huskiness/breathiness of tone;

• lowering of speaking voice
• decreased and inconsistent range (tessiturae tend to fluctuate)
• noticeable changes in timbre (tone quality)
• voice “breaks”/cracking
• obvious transition notes or register breaks
• insecurity of pitch
• difficulty initiating phonation

The huskiness/breathiness of tone can be partially attributed to the “mutational chink” - a

gap between the arytenoids representing a weakness of the interarytenoid muscles.
However, in a study by Williams3, less than half of the girls examined presented incomplete
closure of the posterior vocal folds, suggesting that problems of breathiness in adolescent
voices are just as likely to be the result of poor technique, and that this should be
investigated before assuming that the problem is a physical one.

The adolescent voice typically lowers in pitch by about a third, and is also likely to lose
some top notes although these will be recovered and extended by the end of adolescence.
While the voice is in mutation, fluctuations in comfortable singing tessiturae may be
observed.

Gackle suggests the following four phases of maturation:

Stage 1: Prepubertal: Ages 8-10(11)

At this stage, the singing voice has a light flutelike quality; no apparent register breaks and
a soprano quality.

Stage 2A: Pubescence/Pre-Menarcheal: Ages 11-12(13)

This coincides with the first signs of physical maturation. The vocal mutation is evidenced
by breathiness in the tone; register breaks appearing between G4 and B4 and an apparent
loss of the lower range where the girl is not using chest voice. The girls may have difficulty
in achieving volume and an obvious “flip” into the weaker head voice can be observed.

1 Tanner, james M. “Sequencing, Tempo and Individual Variation in Growth and Development of Boys and
Girls Aged Twelve to Sixteen.” ed J. Kagan & R. Coles. Twelve to sixteen: Early Adolescence. New York,
City: W.W. Norton, 1972
2 Gackle, Lynne “Finding Ophelia’s Voice: The Female Voice During Adolescence” Choral Journal 47:5
(November 2006) p 28-37
3 Williams, Bonnie Blu “An Investigation of Selected Female Singing- and Speaking-Voice Characteristics
Through Comparison of a Group of Pre-Menarcheal Girls to a Group of Post-Menarcheal Girls” Journal of
Singing - The Official Journal of the National Association of Teachers of Singing 52:3 (January-February
1996) P. 33-40
Stage 2B: Puberty/Post-Menarcheal: Ages 13-14(15)
This is a very critical time in the developing voice. Tessituras may become unreliable or
can narrow at either end. Register breaks are still apparent between G4 and B4 and also at
D5 to F-sharp5. Lower notes may be more comfortable but this does not necessarily
indicate an alto voice and singing in the upper register should still be encouraged but not
strained. A lack of clarity in the tone is also quite common.

Stage 3: Young Adult Female/Post-Menarcheal: Ages 14-15(16)

During this time, the overall range usually increases, and there is greater consistency
between registers. Voice breaks are more apparent at passaggio D5 to F-sharp5 which is
more typical of the adult voice. Breathiness decreases and tone becomes deeper and
richer. Vibrato may appear in the voice. Volume, resonance and vocal agility increase.

Challenges and risks

Both Collins and Cooper claim that adolescent girls are neither sopranos nor altos in the
adult sense of the word. While some may have a comfortable tessitura in one or other
register, all the major research suggests that this does not imply that they should sing
mainly within that register, rather, that the teacher’s focus should be to work on the entire
compass of the vocal range.

This includes the middle area - bringing the chest and head resonances together to get a
mix in the middle range. In this way, the sets of muscles that control the head and chest
areas are being exercised equally. Collins notes that achieving a smooth mix in the middle
register is something with which even adult singers may struggle, and he cautions against
too high expectations in this regard where adolescent voices are concerned.

Many adolescent girls voices are breathy in the head register, and the lower part of the
head register in particular may be weak and colourless. Still other singers may be unable
to make any sound in the head register at all. However, this CAN be improved through
regular exercise of the muscles controlling head resonance. Cooper suggests that girls
singing in choirs should not be labelled “soprano” or “alto”, but rather something neutral
such as “greens” and “blues” - swapping regularly between higher and lower ranges to
ensure that all muscles are being developed equally. This has the added advantage of
ensuring that all girls learned how to sing harmonizing lines as well as the melody.

There is a real danger today that girls are not getting the opportunity to develop their upper
register, particularly due to the prevalence of music requiring “belt” technique, which
requires young female singers to sing with a typical range of A3 to A4. As a result, many
young singers present themselves for audition at conservatories at the age of eighteen
with a completely undeveloped top register. Most popular music tends to lie in the chest
resonance area, and this can cause problems not just with vocal development but in good
vocal health generally.
While a properly supported belt voice is not harmful to the voice, many young singers
attempt this style with no knowledge of vocal technique, which requires considerably more
energy in the vocal musculature than classical singing. Burdick4 notes that

“Singers who are not trained correctly or who cannot maintain the energy needed for belt
often exhibit vocal pathology. [...] Doctors have observed polyps, cysts, or hemorrhages.
Lawrence [...] found that in the belters he treated, those with the least amount of vocal
pathology had the greatest amount of vocal training.”

Phillips5 notes that vocal abuse is a common occurrence among children and adolescents,
and that vocal music instructors must be able to communicate the need for proper vocal
hygiene for both singing and speaking voices. Towards this end, he suggests including an
overview of the physiology of the voice in vocal curricula, as well as a carefully thought out
vocal-technique curriculum, including sequential exercises through five areas of vocal
development: respiration, phonation, resonant tone production, diction and expression.

Conclusions

To assist with the proper development of the female adolescent voice, as well as to avoid
the real risk of vocal damage, it is important that choral directors and music theatre singing
teachers are fully cognizant of the real and supposed limitations of the developing voice.
The real limitations include a breathy tone in some cases, an inability to produce loud
volumes, and to belt without proper supporting techniques. In all attempts to force a
resolution to these problems, vocal damage may result. Supposed limitations include the
idea that the voice cannot be trained to produce a more mature resonance, or that a
student may not have the ability to pitch upper register notes or to achieve a good sound in
that range - in these cases, careful vocal training will yield results in perhaps as little as six
months.

4 Burdick, Barbara “Vocal Techniques for Music Theater: The High School and Undergraduate
Singer”