In the entertainment world (which includes opera), there is an increasing emphasis on weight loss. It is well known that opera is becoming more visual and less auditory. The many reasons for this are for another discussion, but in part probably reflect a world that is increasingly visual, with ever more sophisticated technology catering to a new generation of operagoers who need to be dazzled.
Beautiful sopranos and handsome tenors are the order of the day. Overweight singers, no matter how great the voice, simply do not get the opportunities of a Netrebko or Georghiu. The 200-pound-plus Violetta is going the way of the Victrola phonograph.
This column is not about the general issue of obesity, but more specifically about the effect of weight loss on the voice. The overall health benefits (and professional advantages) of not being overweight are generally accepted—but how much weight should you lose, how should you do it, and what happens to your singing voice?
First, each of us has an ideal weight, determined by our genes, age, and other factors. You can easily go over this weight, with excess caloric intake, poor choice of foods, and lack of exercise. You can also be under this weight, but this requires constant dietary vigilance, relentless exercise, and in most cases is not necessary.
To begin your journey, then, find out what the ideal weight is for you, given your height, age, and genetic makeup, and make that your goal. It is reasonable, achievable, and should not have any adverse health effects.
Fat is stored throughout our bodies in fat cells (adipocytes). Fat cells are created during childhood, and then remain in relatively constant numbers in adulthood. So if you gain weight as an adult, it simply means that each cell gets fatter, not that you have generated more fat cells. The implications of childhood obesity are therefore obvious: a fat child has generated more fat cells for the rest of his or her life, so has more potential to store fat. For overweight children, obesity becomes a lifelong problem.
Consider also that fat is not only stored in the belly. Fat cells are scattered throughout the body, including parts of the vocal apparatus (such as the pharynx and tongue). When you gain or lose weight, each adipocyte is affected. For singers, significant weight loss can have some effect on the cushioning and sound absorption in the resonating cavities above the larynx. The effect is not necessarily a negative one, but the voice may change. Once the cushioning effect in the upper vocal tract is gone, proprioception and bone-conducted transmission of sound may also change. This means that the voice as heard by the listener is changed, and the voice that the singer hears may be even more different.
A great deal of fat, however, is in the abdomen, not just in the abdominal wall, but also inside, covering the intestines. Fat adds bulk to the abdominal contents. Since singing involves pushing the abdominal contents up, singers must consider the issue of vocal power and sostenuto. The muscles contract against the resistance of the abdominal contents and move this mass up toward the chest. If your abdominal wall muscles are accustomed to pushing a certain volume of contents up (like the plunger pushing into the barrel of the syringe), and that volume has significantly decreased, you must retrain those muscles—they have a new resting position, and a different range of excursion.
The implications to the singer are clear: Even with moderate weight loss, you need to exercise these muscles, so they can relearn their task during expiration (i.e. phonation). This is an important concept: singers worry about loss of vocal support with weight loss. Certainly, rapid or drastic weight loss can cause general weakness with loss of muscle power. But gradual loss of a reasonable amount of weight in a healthy singer should not result in loss of vocal support, as long as the abdominal muscles have adjusted to their new task.
For most singers, the task is pretty logical: gradual weight loss toward an ideal weight, combined with exercise and particular attention to adjusting the technique to fit your new anatomy. The best way to do this, in my opinion, is by strict restriction of carbohydrates, and portion control.
For a special subclass of overweight people, however, no amount of portion control or exercise will achieve this goal. These are the patients who undergo bariatric surgery: stomach stapling, banding, or other weight-reducing procedures. The main issues I see in this group have to do with the need to adjust the technique (both above and below the larynx), and the issues of GERD—refluxing and even regurgitating food. These singers do not have the luxury of progressively accommodating to a gradual weight loss, and need to intensively rework their technique. These singers can overcome the issue of support, but the change of vocal color may still be present. With a pharynx, tongue and palate that have changed in shape and mass, vocal color also changes. This is not necessarily bad! Just different.
Does this mean that a morbidly obese singer should not consider such surgery? Not at all! The benefits to general health (including avoidance of diabetes, heart disease and arthritis), as well as the increased marketability of an otherwise outstanding singer, for the most part outweigh these vocal changes, even if they are perceivable.
