Age and pitch

[e-crooner]

Like most people I like to sing along when I listen to my favorite songs.
I have noticed that recently I'm having a hard time hitting the right notes, it's as if my voice's pitch becomes harder and harder to control

Is it an age thing? (I am in my 50s). I noticed on various live videos on Youtube that some famous singers also have pitch problems as they get older.

Is it a natural process or is there anything one can do to stop or even invert that deterioration?

[e-crooner]

Maybe the problem is deteriorating fine motor skills. I assume voice chords work similar to the strings of a guitar. The correct tuning depends on the correct tension of the string, which in the case of the voice chords is the muscles' and nerves' job.

[Aloysius]

Auto-Tune

[e-crooner]

That's cheating, nor do I sing into my DAW, I just want to sing along in a reasonable way, the way I used to 10 or 20 years ago.

[Aloysius]

Computer says no.

[Forgotten]

It depends. I think in some ways I pitch better than I did when I was younger, but my high range has decreased by quite a bit - I just can’t reach those notes anymore.

There are a lot of artists who drop songs from their live sets or pitch them down or use different arrangements as their voice ages, but it varies at which age they do it.

Geddy Lee from Rush pitches a couple of songs down a tone so that he can hit the highest notes, Mick Jagger relies on backing singers for any songs where he originally used his falsetto range, and Freddie Mercury let Roger Taylor sing the parts of Queen songs that he struggled to reach live.

Age affects your voice, but it’s more of a range thing and maybe losing the more pure tones of your voice.

[Googly Smythe]

How age changes your voice

The same changes that affect your body as it ages -- less muscle and strength, more body fat, slower movements, and degeneration of body tissues -- impact your voice as you get older. Usually as people age their speech slows down, syllables and words are elongated, and sentences are punctuated with more pauses for air. Pitch and loudness may be reduced, and tremors can appear. All in all, an older person's speech lacks "pep."

https://uiowa.edu/voice-academy/how-ages-changes-voice

You're just getting old, mate.

[e-crooner]

How age changes your voice

The same changes that affect your body as it ages -- less muscle and strength, more body fat, slower movements, and degeneration of body tissues -- impact your voice as you get older. Usually as people age their speech slows down, syllables and words are elongated, and sentences are punctuated with more pauses for air. Pitch and loudness may be reduced, and tremors can appear. All in all, an older person's speech lacks "pep."

https://uiowa.edu/voice-academy/how-ages-changes-voice

You're just getting old, mate.

Thanks a lot, why don't you just shoot me

[e-crooner]

It depends. I think in some ways I pitch better than I did when I was younger, but my high range has decreased by quite a bit - I just can’t reach those notes anymore.

There are a lot of artists who drop songs from their live sets or pitch them down or use different arrangements as their voice ages, but it varies at which age they do it.

Geddy Lee from Rush pitches a couple of songs down a tone so that he can hit the highest notes, Mick Jagger relies on backing singers for any songs where he originally used his falsetto range, and Freddie Mercury let Roger Taylor sing the parts of Queen songs that he struggled to reach live.

Age affects your voice, but it’s more of a range thing and maybe losing the more pure tones of your voice.

Jagger never was a good singer to begin with. More of a talker.
Anyway, range as such is not my problem, but hitting and maintaining the right pitch. My tremolo has also suffered.
I wonder if there are exercises that help...

[Googly Smythe]

How age changes your voice

The same changes that affect your body as it ages -- less muscle and strength, more body fat, slower movements, and degeneration of body tissues -- impact your voice as you get older. Usually as people age their speech slows down, syllables and words are elongated, and sentences are punctuated with more pauses for air. Pitch and loudness may be reduced, and tremors can appear. All in all, an older person's speech lacks "pep."

https://uiowa.edu/voice-academy/how-ages-changes-voice

You're just getting old, mate.

Thanks a lot, why don't you just shoot me

I speak as a 65-year old who has trouble getting his socks on in the morning!

[vurt]

handy tip - leave them on the night before

[e-crooner]

I speak as a 65-year old who has trouble getting his socks on in the morning!

Get bigger socks

[Forgotten]

Pro tip: grease the inside of all your socks and stretch the tops around nets used to get goldfish out of tanks - that way you can get them on in one quick flick of the wrist.

[vurt]

sew them in to the bottoms of your trousers, no need for awkward bending.

[Forgotten]

Might as well sew your shoes to them while you’re at it and make the whole leg and feet dressing one easy step.