[<3Wilson<3]

At what age does your voice become matured? I'm auditioning for a couple of musicals within the next few months and my voice tends to sound younger than I am, 18. I'm afarid that this will limit the parts I would be able to get. Is there anyway to sound older when sining? Singing in character could help, but not as much as I need. I hate having a younger sounding voice which goes with my younger looking face. I hate that people think I'm like 14 or 15.

[Jenem]

I'm in my mid-late twenties and have the same problem—people always say you sound so young! You look so young! So basically I've given up trying to change this, and accept that this is what makes me unique. It's actually become handy in getting roles normally suited to those younger than me, becuase I can offer maturity and experience while being able to evoke the innocence and naivete needed for the role. So I say, just work with it and go for roles that your natural demeanor is suited for.

[MaryMag]

Who cares when the voice matures, dearest Wilson! You must do what you can with what you have. Forcing it to sound "older" or different than it actually is probably won't do your voice much good - I fear it will just damage it.

You must learn to accept your voice quality, really! Do it now! I hated my voice type for a long time. I'm not one of those pretty, light sopranos. I'm a dark huge soprano that needs horns on her head and a spear in her hand. Good for Wagner, horrible for Handel! But my problem is that I'm 24 and look 16. So out of this petite frame comes this gi-normous, what-the-heck-is-that voice. I hated it. But I forced myself to think about the positives - dark, large sopranos are sort of a rare voice type, dramatic sopranos have some hella good roles, etc. So I'm quite excited about my voice type now.

So really, you have to sing like you sing. Trying to sing otherwise will make you sound crummy. Really. Force yourself to think of the positives of your voice type. Right now. Put up a post with 2 reasons as to why your young-sounding voice is beneficial. I'll give you one:
1) directors love to hire older actors that can act/sing young. Why is this? If you needed to cast a 16 year old character, would you rather have a mature 10 year old or a petite 20 year old playing it? The 20 year old of course, cuz she probably has more singing and acting traning, not too mention a better work ethic, more maturity, more experience, no stage mom, her own means of travel, etc...

Okay. Your turn. List 2 more reasons why your voice type is neat.

[broadway_baby416]

i totally agree with MaryMag. in musical theater, there are a lot of young girl parts, like in the fantasticks or west side story. directors usually dont look for 15-year-olds to play 15-year-old parts, because they are looking for someone who is professional and mature in personality. its fabulous to sound young--you can play the sixteen-year-old lead when you're in your twenties, maybe even thirties!

also, a lot of the big singing stars--i.e. christina aguilera--are known as the 'little singer with a big voice.' petite is in, and so are big voices.

good luck!

[Cake_in_Song]

Ha! I have the opposite problem. Because I'm classically trained, I sound a lot more "mature" than all the pop tarts trying for the same roles as me. However, I also have a very young face, so that makes it impossible for directors to cast me. What kind of roles are there for people who sound forty* and look fourteen**?

*exaggeration
** not an exaggeration

[LaurelDP]

I don't have a huge problem.

My voice sounds older and I look older.

So I guess it's balanced. But i've never been able to play a teenager.

[Jenko]

Men generally settle around 23-25

[_simplywicked]

um, it depends on what you mean by sounding young. obviously if you have a bright tone to your voice, you can change that by using pure round vowels. but if you its just your voice type then that's dope! Chances are at 18 you will still want to play some teen parts, and you still can!

[wickedxthroughxandxthroug]

[sunrae]

[MaryMag]

My issue with my weird voice type (dark voice, high range) has given me big problems in musical theater. When a musical calls for a soprano, it seems as if they don't so much need a soprano as a lyric (light, young, bright) voice and when it calls for an alto, they just seem to mean a darker, larger voice. The ranges in most musicals could be sung by either mezzos or sopranos (if they're well trained - classically trained mezzos are supposed to be able to hit a Aflat5 and many well trained mezzos can eactually reach a D6 which is virtually unheard of in musical theater).

So my problem is that I have a dark, mezzo-sounding voice but am most comfortable singing above the staff. So I'd get cast in alto roles because of my sound, but those low notes really made my vocal cords unhappy.

The answer? Opera. There's a role for every voice type there. Light, agile soprano or dark, booming soprano - there's a role for you. My new dream role is Violetta in Verdi's Traviata or Isolde in Wagner's T & I. So maybe Wilson needs to get some classical training and give opera a shot - there's many many opportunities for young voices there. You'd dominate the cherubino/pants market. There's plenty of roles for women to play young boys.

With enough research, you'll find many fantastic roles for your voice type!

[<3Wilson<3]

[Jenem]

[sunrae]