Joel's Switch

Well folks, there's a new development in Joel's voice. After years of speculation, we've discovered that Joel is definitely no longer a high baritone. He's a full lyric tenor. For those of you not familiar with opera, think Placido Domingo (who also started singing as a baritone). I was at Joel's last voice lesson while he and his voice teacher, John, were working on some tenor technique to see if Joel could hack it. Well it sounded great. John told Joel to sing an aria he pulled out. He didn't tell Joel what the aria was from because he didn't want to intimidate him. Joel got through it easily. It turned out to be Cavaradossi's Aria from Puccini's "Tosca"!!!! Very exciting!!!! So Joel is now studying as a tenor. The con: He's back to square one. He has no roles under his belt. The pros:(1) Joel is still only 29, young for a singer. (2)There is more demand for Tenors; operas with tenors in the lead are performed more often than those with baritones in the lead. (3) If he's good, he can just about demand his own price. (4) The stuff he'll get to sing as a full lyric tenor rocks! It's very recognizable music to the general public.