# At what age should singers develop their voices operatically?



## kappablanca (9 mo ago)

Basically, the title.

At what age do you think singers are mature and developed enough in order to start to develop a voice with all the general operatic requirements (low larynx, open pharyngeal space, whatever), at what age should singers start to venture into singing arias, and at what age should singers make their debuts in full roles? In his autobiography, if I recall correctly, Titta Ruffo describes being turned away from a conservatory at 18, being told to wait another year without any singing for his voice to develop.

And is there any age that’s too late? In any case, the baritone Matteo Manuguerra started studying voice at 35…


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

You can learn breath support at a young age and singing under the guidance of a good teacher in your teens is not damaging. My sister had a very talented young singer in her teens she worked with but the student kept singing material in public that was too advanced for her age. My sister stopped teaching her and she later had vocal problems. Caballe started young at the academy, but the first year they only worked on yogic breathing techniques. Lyric singers have voices that mature early and can start undertaking roles in their early 20's. Bigger voices take longer. No one knows what happened to Callas's voice, but I am convinced that singing big big roles very early couldn't have helped her voice. How Ponselle could start at 22 with the big Verdi roles and not suffer damage is a mystery. Jane Eaglen's teacher insisted she was a dramatic soprano but at 28 she still did not have a high A. He said be patient and at that age her upper register finally took off. You might be able to work on the role of Isolde early on but one should never sing such a big role till the voice had matured sufficiently.


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## marlow (11 mo ago)

The received wisdom of course is that singers start with small roles which are not too heavy on the voice. Of course there are always exceptions, Like Anja Silja, who at the age of 18 sang an audition with Solti which included Pamina, Queen of Night and Isolde. And she was still singing well into her 60s


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

As a consumer, I want the young attractive characters played by young attractive singers. It always spoils my mood, when I see the example that "fits", and people subsequently start commenting how he or she should not do it, because they'll ruin their voice:


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## ColdGenius (9 mo ago)

As a person far from music by occupation I'm very interested in the question. 
From the physiological point of view the growth and the puberty are long lasting processes. Their beginning and ending times are variable and depend on many factors, though there are average borders. It can last until mid twenties, but some mature earlier. The voice as a part of body shape is supposed to form a bit later than some other functions. 
On the other hand we have many historical examples of early beginning of carrier. In previous centuries it was not a whim, but inevitable necessity to gain money. Young singers actively worked because they had no choice. 
For example, first Suzanna Nancy Storace began professionally singing at about 15-16 years old and had serious trouble with her voice no later than in early twenties. Mozart had even corrected some parts of the score of Le Nozze for her. 
For the most of castrati it's even more evident. They worked hard since the childhood and those who survived as adult singers rarely had a long carrier. 
Another example is Henriette Sonntag. At barely twenty she sang at full swing, was first performer of soprano part in Beethoven's Nineth Symphony and, with as young mezzo Caroline Unger, in Fidelio. Her carrier was interrupted by a marriage and several childbirths, but she didn't stop singing at all. After she widowed in her early forties, she renewed her recital carrier. I didn't find notes about her vocal decline in that period.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

The big issue I notice is that modern teachers are terrified of singers using any chest voice during their formative years. Implying it leads to "pushing" and "strain"....nothing could be further from the truth. It actually does the opposite and opens up everything that might otherwise clench up and produce tension.

For example, yodeling is a great way for beginners singers to get in touch with both the chest and the head voice. The only major difference is that, in opera, we trend to transition more gradually from mostly-chest voice low register to mostly-head voice upper register. Imo, working on this sewing together of the registers can come a bit later. Try to blend them too early and they become cloudy, undistinguished, lacking focus and core.

The singer here is like 13. Zero signs of strain whatsoever and already has better voce di petto than most current opera singers.






Think that "yodeling doesn't belong in classical music"? Think again. It was used by a number of singers at certain times, especially for passages with relatively wide leaps.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> The big issue I notice is that modern teachers are terrified of singers using any chest voice during their formative years. Implying it leads to "pushing" and "strain"....nothing could be further from the truth. It actually does the opposite and opens up everything that might otherwise clench up and produce tension.
> 
> For example, yodeling is a great way for beginners singers to get in touch with both the chest and the head voice. The only major difference is that, in opera, we trend to transition more gradually from mostly-chest voice low register to mostly-head voice upper register. Imo, working on this sewing together of the registers can come a bit later. Try to blend them too early and they become cloudy, undistinguished, lacking focus and core.
> 
> The singer here is like 13. Zero signs of strain whatsoever and already has better voce di petto than most current opera singers.


Her pitch is amazingly accurate.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I LOVE yodeling both country/western and European, but my sister the opera singer could never yodel as she was trained to have a seamless vocal production throughout her range all blended together so the break heard in yodeling was counter to her technique.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> Think that "yodeling doesn't belong in classical music"? Think again.


Interesting. TwoFlutesOneTrumpet, who singles out


TwoFlutesOneTrumpet said:


> Opera and yodelling.


as "things that don't go together", should see this thread.


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## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet (Aug 31, 2011)

hammeredklavier said:


> Interesting. TwoFlutesOneTrumpet, who singles out
> 
> as "things that don't go together", should see this thread.


I stand by my comment. Yodelling should go the way of the Dodo.


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

Sorry, I just feel the need to post this aria somewhere 
A pretty crazy combination of highs and lows. A rollercoaster. It made me remember this yodelling debate.


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