Improved vocal range

I noticved something today as I was singing for church. I am a baritone and a transplanted tenor and I noticed that I was not reaching as much for the high notes as I have been in the past. I have been losing weight, although I have not had wls yet. Interestingly enough, although I sang for Christmas, I sang bass and haven't done tenor since early to mid-December. I wonder if the loss of weight (maybe 20 lbs or so) had something to do with this. Any opinions?

Greetings, We sound like we have the same voice and singing situation. I also am a baritone who sings either base or tenor depending on the need. A couple of years ago,after singing in church choirs for thirty years, I decided to "just" sing base or baritone. My range has dropped about a third of an octave. When I do sing higher if I take my baritone voice up it is easier and more open sounding. About five years ago when I started taking voice lessons, my teacher told me I had developed "two" voices - a baritone and a tenor. I would use both voices in the same song!! The tenor was a very tight and controlled sound and the baritone was a nice mellow sound with a good vibrato. I am very gradually working my baritone range back up into the tenor range. I have lost 111 pounds in the last 15 months and I can not tell if my voice is changing because of my surgery/weightloss or my changing my voice through what I described above. Either way it has been interesting going through a voice change at 50!!!!!!!!!!!!! Terry

John, Are you excercizing to loose weight? Any work you are doing on your abdominal muscles would also strengthen your diaphram. A stronger diaphram brings increased vocal support. You wouldn't need to use your "tenor" sound, which is probably controlled more in your throat and neck tension than with your diaphram. Keep Going! The average church choir is a rare place to find men *****ally know how to "support" their music. Catherine

Hey this is a great post for me. I trained as a music major in college and was a contralto. In the past 10 years I have sang everything but as I no longer have the range that I once had. I have been blaming it on the hyatle hernia. I have already mentioned to my friends that I am hoping that having the wls surgery sometime in March will make a differnce and help me get my range back. I miss singing the solo's and sometimes get embarrassed because I just cannot hit the notes I once did. Because of that I have not sang in choirs or done much solo work lately. Maybe between loosing the weight and the exercise we can all get our voices back.

That is definitely my prayer also!

Wow.... you wrote this a year ago. I was wondering how you are doing.. if you had the WLS?? and how your voice is now that the weight is off?? Julia

HI there, At the time I wrote this I thought I would have surgery about Feb 2004, but my insurance caused me to jump through too many hoops so I am just now getting ready to talk to a surgeon. In fact, I am going to get an ultrasound in a little over an hour. This is the last test to take before I am scheduled to talk to the surgeon. I have lost some weight since then but it is not such a significant amount so there is not really a difference in my voice right now. I look forward to a year from now when I will have had (I hope) 9 months to lose weight after surgery. I see your date is next week, so good luck.

Hi John, Thanks for writing me back...and for the well wishes. I hope your ultrasound went well. Who is your surgeon?? Keep us posted on your progress!!! Julia