Vocal Technique (Davids/LaTour) - Chapter 13, Teaching Singing (Williams) - Chapter 4

Three A-Ha moments I took away from the readings were:

1) My first A-Ha moment was early on in chapter 13 of the Davids book. I always knew that there had to be a physical change that happened in a male’s body when going through puberty, and that is why the males voice deepens, but I had no idea what caused it. Davids explains that the “vocal fold length[ens]… and is associated with the development of the 'Adam’s apple'” (pg. 201). Davids goes on to explain some other changes during adolescence: the vocal tract gets longer, the lung capacity increases, and the larynx, pharynx and mouth increases in size (pg. 201). These things happen in the female body as well, it is just more obvious in males because of the obvious deepening of the voice.

2) When I first read that teenagers listen to 2.5 hours of music a day (Williams 55) I felt shocked; it sounded like a lot. But then I thought back to how often I listened to music as a teenager and became surprised. I would have guessed a higher number...

3) The reasons Williams listed for possible early onset of puberty are quite interesting. (Improved diet, warmer climate, hormones in water/beauty supplies, increased psychosexual stimulation and increased exposure to light.)

Two questions I decided upon were:

1) On page 203, Davids explains a study that shows that these physical voice changes/vocal development (referring to A-Ha moment #1) are now happening 2 years earlier (the late 1990s), than in the late 1970s. Will this continue to happen?

2) Williams mentions in her book “the onset of puberty may be slightly earlier than it was 50 years ago. There is no conclusive evidence to show why this may be so” (pg. 76). This is very interesting to me. Other than the possible reasoning I found in the Vocal Technique book, has anyone done more research on this? Has anyone come up with a more concrete reason since these books were published?

Works Cited

Davids, Julia, and Stephen A. LaTour. Vocal Technique: A Guide for Conductors, Teachers, and Singers. Long Grove: Waveland, 2012. Print.

Williams, Jenevora. Teaching Singing to Children and Young Adults. Oxford: Compton Pub., 2013. Print.