Voice Changer

Copyright oggbashan December 2022

The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

This is a work of fiction. The events described here are imaginary; the settings and characters are fictitious and are not intended to represent specific places or living persons.

"Andrew? You can sing, can't you?"

"I'd rather he didn't," my wife Sheila said before I could answer. "Why, Judy?"

I was taking the two of them to the Church choir Friday evening practice. Judy's husband had taken their car to go to a conference at a hotel in the Sussex countryside. It was no problem to take Judy as well when I was driving Sheila to the choir practice.

The Church, choir and congregation were inviting all the villagers to a community singing of The Messiah just before Christmas.

"Sheila, you know we are short of proper basses. We have plenty of tenors and baritones, but our basses are really not true basses but bass-baritones. They can't reach the lower bass notes, at least not strongly enough to make an impact, but Andrew?"

Sheila sighed.

"When we were at school together and Andrew was a boy treble, yes, he could sing. He, like us, was in the school choir and in the Church choir. But when his voice broke, it just kept getting lower and lower. When he sings it is like a growling grizzly bear. I can't stand it so he doesn't sing unless I'm not around."

"Judy? I can't reach the higher notes of a bass line. I'm really a basso profundo, and apart from songs in Russian, there is virtually nothing I could sing."

"Can you demonstrate?"

"No Judy, not in the car. That would upset Sheila."

"It would, Judy. It is a terrible noise." Sheila said.

"OK. How about in a side room before the main choir starts rehearsing?" Just for me and a couple of committee members?"

"As long as you keep the door firmly shut, Judy." Sheila said. "You don't want to frighten the choir."

"Surely he's not that bad?

"You'll hear -- later and might regret it, Judy."

+++

When we arrived at the Church most of the choir greeted me by name. Why not? We were villagers and the choir was one third of the regular congregation. Almost all of them had been at the village school with the three of us.

While the choir had tea and chatted before starting the rehearsal Judy and two committee members, John and Mavis, took me into a room under the tower. There was an upright piano. I sung an aria from Boris Godunov. Judy and the others were impressed, not just with my singing but in the power with which I could produce the very low notes.

But when they asked me to sing some of the bass parts from the Messiah, I couldn't reach the higher parts of a bass. For them, I dropped an octave below the marked notes. They were visibly shaken by my performance.

"Andrew? I can see what Sheila means," Judy said. "You growl beautifully but when you drop an octave you would stand out among the choir's ensemble, especially with such a powerful voice."

"I can also see why Sheila doesn't want to sing with you. She is a great mezzo but a duet with you would be very odd," Mavis said.

"But..." Judy said.

"But what?" John asked.

"We've known for months that our basses were too few and not really basses. We have been lent a professional voice changer, but couldn't see how we could use it for the whole bass section. But for Andrew on his own?"

"It's worth a try." John said "Even if we get everyone in the village to sing, I doubt we have more than one or two true basses, and perhaps even none. I'll get it."

The voice changer was a hand held microphone with a lead connecting to a small black box at the back of the waist. From there it was wireless to the main amplifier for the church's PA system. I clipped the black box to my belt. The microphone was marked to change octaves.

"Andrew? As an extreme test, could you try singing a tenor aria, preferably one with high notes?" Judy asked.

With Judy's help and singing a few test notes to adjust my vocal range to a tenor's, listening to the sounds out of the black box's built in speaker, I tried a few bars.

It felt odd. All of us could hear my deep basso profundo voice, and the quieter tenor voice from the speaker.

"OK, Andrew, now I'll switch on the wireless connection and you can try a complete aria," Judy said.

I was dubious. The tinny sound from the small speaker hadn't impressed me. But Judy had made a mistake. She had intended the connection to be just to the loudspeakers in the committee room, but she had selected 'all'.

We had the music, with piano accompaniment for the aria 'Ah Mes Amis' from Donizetti's La Fille Du Regiment. It is one of the most challenging arias in the whole operatic tenor's repertoire. Most tenors couldn't attempt it. Those that could, except for a very few, showed strain on the high notes.

John played the piano. As usual, with most things I sing, I had to mentally transpose the singing line down several octaves. I sang the aria, strongly and with passion in my deep voice. But what came out of the loudspeakers was a clear tenor.

Sheila came into the room.

"That was fantastic, incredible," she said. "Who was it?"

"Seulement moi," I replied.

"You?" Sheila was incredulous.

"Yes, Sheila, that was Andrew with a voice changer." John said. "You all heard it?"

"We did, loud, clear and perfect. I thought it was a recording of a famous tenor."

"I think Andrew has shown that he can sing very well, probably better than most of us -- but in a very low range." John said.

"That was a very challenging aria yet Andrew's performance was spectacular." Judy said.

"But why a voice changer?" Sheila asked.

"We though if Andrew used it, he could reach the higher bass notes and provide support for the basses. But he was unbelievable as a tenor." Mavis said.

"He was. I would love to hear more of Andrew as a tenor, but not his normal voice." Sheila said.

+++

We joined the choir and the rehearsal of the Messiah. I used the voice changer, set up half an octave to make me a bass, and the bass parts came out very clearly even if I sounded stronger than all the rest of the basses, particularly on the lower notes.

As an example of what the voice changer could do, I also sang a soprano solo. That was weird.

At the end of the evening, John told me to take the voice changer home and practise using it. I sang some of the Messiah with the voice changer set half an octave higher.

On Saturday, Sheila and I decided t try what we could do together. We soon found that if she and I were in the same room it didn't work. My normal voice was heard as well as the changed one. After some experimentation we set up my audio system and the computer to record my voice wirelessly from the voice changer.

That worked if I was singing alone, but when we tried duets, using a microphone plugged into the computer for Sheila, that picked up my low voice as well as the changed voice and Sheila's.

I retreated into the kitchen and shut the door. I then sung a series of tenor arias expressing love. When I went back into the living room, Sheila hugged and kissed me.

"You sounded as if you meant all of them, Andrew."

"I did, and do," I replied. "I just couldn't express how much I love you as a basso profundo making sounds you hate."

"But as a tenor, your singing is wonderful, Andrew."

We sang several love duets, me in the kitchen and Sheila in the living room. They expressed what we felt about each other, more eloquently that we had been able to put into normal words. We might have been married for more than a decade and didn't say 'I love you' as often as we should, but in song? We demonstrated that love.

Every time I came through from the kitchen, Sheila grabbed me for a hug and kiss. We had to go to the bedroom to demonstrate our love before lunch. Afterwards we recorded some more duets. Listening to the playback, our arms wrapped around each other, we sounded amazing.

+++

On Sunday Sheila asked me to join the church choir, with the voice changer. My real voice didn't travel far beyond the choir stalls. My altered voice, as a true bass, echoed around the church as I let rip on the familiar hymns. The vicar was stunned. He hadn't expected such a powerful bass.

Sheila, Mavis and Judy, all choir members, were startled and impressed.

John had to adjust the volume on the PA before the second hymn so my voice was part of the choir instead of being more than the choir. Even at a reduced volume I had provided the choir with a more balanced sound even though I could be heard above the whole choir and the congregation.

.After the service I was congratulated by the choir members, the vicar and many of the congregation.

But Sheila wanted to drag me off to bed -- again.

When The Messiah was produced, just before Christmas, I was very familiar with the voice changer. My contribution meant that the bass line could be heard very clearly.

That evening Sheila and I expressed our love for each other in bed. My normal speaking voice was still very low, but with the voice changer -- we had to return the loaned item but I bought one for myself -- meant I could express my love for Sheila in songs I'd never have been able to sing before.

We shared duets, in song, and physically in bed.

The voice changer had changed my singing and allowed me to express my love eloquently.