A strange question

shw112

This might sound like a really odd question, but I have been singing since I was really young and have lost around 40 pounds over the last 18 months (in a bit of a plateau currently but anyway) and I have noticed that my singing voice has massively changed? It has improved a huge amount, and although I know some of this could be down to practice, I haven’t had any lessons or done anything to improve my technique (I don’t think) but my voice just seems to have this completely different tone to it now. It’s sort of higher sounding almost, and much clearer and I find it 100x easier to support long notes without going out of tune. So I was wondering if there are any other singers who have lost weight and experienced this? Can weight loss effect the voice? I might be way off the mark here, but I’m curious 😌

cmriverside

You can tell the difference between a violin and a cello, right? I would think there is a similar effect happening here. Fat around the neck has to change the way the voice-box functions.

Aren't the tenors usually large guys? Now I'm talking out of my backside. I have no idea. Sounds legit, though.

shaf238

As a non-expert, I can't see how significant weight loss COULDN'T affect your voice?

DoubleUbea

Are you listening to a recording of your self or just singing and hearing yourself? Listening to a recording is how you would tell the difference. You hear your own voice/singing voice through the bones, muscle and fat as it travels from your vocal cords in your throat to your ears. That is different from hearing it only from your ears. Think how people always say "That doesn't sound like me!" when they hear a recording of themselves. It might sound different to you because of fat loss but not sound different to anyone else.

I don't know about big guys having a low voice, Brad Roberts of Crash Test Dummies sings in the bass-baritone range and is not large.

livingleanlivingclean

You're probably fitter. Less weight around your diaphragm. Better posture. More confident?

shw112

DoubleUbea wrote: »

Are you listening to a recording of your self or just singing and hearing yourself?

yeah, i have tonnes of recordings from a couple of years ago that I have been comparing to recordings of myself singing the same songs recently

i thought that it could be just higher levels of fitness and therefore better breath control but there are loads of very good singers who are larger so there doesn't seem to be a very clear correlation? anyway i guess it must just depend on the person

DoubleUbea

I guess the only way to really tell is to hook a scope/meter up to the recording of your old voice and new voice and see.