When I watched the remake of the movie Sybil, I found it interesting that Sybil’s host personality became upset about one of her alter parts being very talented in playing the piano while the host personality did not have that talent. The same thing happened to me, only with me, it was singing.
Before integration from Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), I had an average singing voice. I could stay on key, but my voice was nothing to write home about. However, there were times in which I would sing, and my voice sounded beautiful. It was not some trained, professional-sounding voice, but it was very pretty. I did not know why my “pretty voice” would come and go.
The reason for this was that an alter part held my love and talent for singing. As part of protecting this beautiful part of myself from being destroyed by my abusers, I split this talent off into an alter part and buried it deep inside of myself. As I began to heal from my history of child abuse, that part of myself felt safe enough to come out on occasion.
What was interesting was that I would be able to access this part of myself easier when singing certain songs that made me happy. For example, if one of my favorite hymns was sung during a church service, my “pretty” singing voice would come out. However, it wouldn’t be there during the next hymn. I had no control over when it came or left.
After integration, I still had to “invite” that part of myself out and reassure myself that it was safe for me to sing with my “pretty voice.” Now, I have full access to that part of myself as long as I feel safe. If I am feeling anxious or upset about something, then I have trouble coaxing that part of myself out. However, as long as I am feeling safe and present, it comes out naturally.
The other interesting thing is that this part of myself “hides” to the left. I would often feel only my left vocal chords doing the singing. I had to be very relaxed for the “pretty voice” to make use of all of my vocal chords. After integration, my “pretty voice” mostly uses all of my vocal chords, but I still feel a tingling in the left side of my neck when I sing.
Photo credit: Lynda Bernhardt
Blooming Lotus 
I also have alters who possess certain talents that I do not. Like you, one sings beautifully, whereas my singing is mediocre. I always invite her out at church, so she can enjoy singing where others can hear her. (My pathetic singing is confined to when I’m home, alone.)
Also, one who paints and draws, and for the longest time I didn’t realize that it wasn’t me with the artistic talent. Not until I was working on an oil painting and got tired partway through. Up till then we’d been co-conscious, but at this point she “left” and I continued the painting on my own. I noticed that what I was painting didn’t look as good; I invited her to switch back out to finish the painting, and she did. If you look at this painting, you’ll see that there are a few areas that look like someone else painted them, someone with a much lower skill level.
I’ve just got round to this part of the archives, and I’m sitting here in tears. I didn’t know this had happened to anyone else. The person I was forced to be could muster no more than an off-key croak, as myself I can do a passable Aretha Franklin. It used to upset me so much that this way of expressing myself was cut off from me and I couldn’t understand how it was even physically possible. But self-expression was never allowed when I was a child. Blues and soul is what I love to sing, and it’s appropriate in a way I suppose that it’s only when I truly feel, including feeling all my pain, that my voice can soar. Thank you fpr sharing this, Faith. And thank you Midge for your interesting comment too, if you see this…