Voice Change in Pop Culture

Abstract

The chapter discusses the way popular understanding and misunderstanding of voice change is largely perpetuated by mainstream media. Portrayals of voice change distributed via music, television, and movies have contributed to a simulacrum of adolescent voice change, a situated reality not based in fact but accepted in pop culture. The generally embraced perception of voice change is that it is a time of humiliation, anxiety, turmoil, and dread. Voice change is not always pleasant, but students and music educators perceive and approach the experience with such angst and trepidation well before it begins that is rarely given the opportunity to be something positive or exciting. The chapter examines and distills episodes of The Brady Bunch, The Wonder Years, and The Goldbergs, popular television series that spanned a period of more than 40 years, each with an episode focused on the adolescent changing voice.