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If a singer takes a long break from singing, be it many weeks, months, or years, how severely will it affect his ability to sing (vocal range, singing technique, etc)?

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2 Answers 2

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The average singer who goes from practicing or exercising many times per week down to once a week or less will see a marked decrease in their range.

Humans have a natural vocal range, or tessitura. The average is about an octave, though many can sing a span of an octave and a half or even a two-octave span (three-octave range) even "cold". Outside that range is largely a "use it or lose it" area, and the further from that range, the more effort (in the practice and technique sense, not outright "pushing") is required to maintain access to those notes.

However, this should not be permanent. If you quit singing technically for a year, then start again, you will start at your natural tessitura, which you retain simply by speaking regularly and singing along with the radio. But, as you continue to practice, your range will increase.

One last point: tessituras can shift, both naturally through aging and artificially through singing to one side or the other of your tessitura. This is not range-building; the muscles in your pharynx simply tighten and loosen in reaction to how you are using them, like cranking the tuning peg on a violin string. You don't gain any more notes, you just shift registers. Range-building requires singing toward both sides of the tessitura, which actually develops the muscles and your control over them to allow you to tighten and loosen them in a wider overall range. Good vocal coaches and performers know this, and incorporate it into their practices through extensive warmup exercises and a variation in part ranges through the repertoire.

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In short, no or at least not permanently. Singing is more about learning how to relax the vocal chords and use all of your air. Basically, once you have that technique down it won't ever be taken from you (in my opinion). I believe it's like riding a bike; if you haven't ridden a bike for a while, you might suck at first. However, with seemingly minimal effort you will rapidly pick up the technique again. Same goes for singing; you might have some trouble hitting high notes and doing runs at first, but you'll start to remember all the nuances and it will come back to you in no time.

On a side note, I would not recommend abstaining from singing. There is absolutely no point. Even if you can only sing for 10 mins at time, do it.

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