This sounds like a fun research project. Thanks for adding this comment.

Okay, I have a really bizarre question. I remember being told by my mother, when I was in grade school, that there is some sort of genetic connection between a person’s eyebrows and the quality of their singing voice: to whit, that those people whose eyebrows can slant (with the inner corners rising while the outer corners stay low — okay, I know eyebrows don’t really have corners, but I don’t know how else to describe it — seem to have the purest, most natural voices. Some extreme examples of this characteristic are Mel Torme, Robert Goulet, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Clint Black. For some reason, what she said stuck with me, and in the 40+ years since then, I haven’t found much evidence to contradict her assertion. I would add a caveat to it, which is this. While the cream of the crop seem to have these “slanted” brows, extremely good voices can be found in those who have the ability to move their eyebrows more than the simple up and down that I can do — in particular, the ability to move the inner portion of the eyebrow independently of the outer brow. For instance, Trisha Yearwood has a beautiful voice, but doesn’t move her eyebrows much. However, she can move that inner portion when she wants to.

People like me, whose eyebrows seem rather fixed, don’t necessarily have terrible voices — we can carry a tune and even receive compliments on the sound we create — but we also aren’t meant to earn a living singing, either!

I’ve paid attention to this phenomenon when watching American Idol, and haven’t yet seen much evidence to dispute it. Clay Aiken and Elliot Yamin are the two who jump to mind as those with the sort of eyebrows Mel Torme had, but most of the better singers that have appeared on the show have been able to move their eyebrows to some degree.

Anyway, I’ve never come across anyone else who shared my mother’s theory, but I wondered if you, as a music teacher, might have an opinion on it.