Superior Vocal Health

http://www.HowToSing.com


Superior Vocal Health

Developing healthy habits that will help maintain vocal health is

important whether you sing every night on tour or just once a month

in a church choir. I’ve heard many folk tales about vocal remedies,

some downright humorous (i.e. an egg in a shot of cognac, a serving

of beefsteak tartar, lotions, neck salves, etc). We’ll talk about some

remedies that really work but will begin the focus on prevention.

Preventive medicine is the best medicine for the singer. So, we’ll start

there.

Vocal health starts with warm ups and exercises. This will strengthen

your voice muscles, help avoid fatigue, increase your range and help

you to sing on pitch. Warm ups are absolutely vital. No strenuous

activity, including singing, should be performed without having


warmed up. This is true whether you are a runner, swimmer, dancer

or singer. All involve strenuous activity, and all should begin with

warming up.

With singing, while warm up exercises definitely include vocal warm

up exercises, scales, etc., it also includes warming up the whole

body. Singing is a whole body event, particularly the body from the

waist up. So, exercises should start with some type of motion that

targets the torso, the abdominal wall and the neck. Certainly the

shoulders are a part of the singing event as well.

Maintaining regular exercise, 30 minutes to an hour, 3-4 times a

week, will definitely help you to sing better. It will particularly affect

your breathing, which is one of the main keys of singing well and

beautifully. Excess weight makes breathing noisy, which doesn’t lead


to free singing. Silent breath renewal in between sung phrases is the

goal.

Once doing a few minutes of physical exercise, a regimen of vocal

warm up exercises should be done. When doing vocal exercises,

beginners may find that their voice feels fatigued after ten to twenty

minutes. That’s fine. That is plenty of time at first. More advanced

singers, hoping to do a complete range of all technical work, may

warm up for closer to thirty minutes (this usually includes their

strengthening exercises). After a while, you can perfect a vocal

routine that is just a few minutes a day.

A good vocal warm up only needs to be done once in a day and

should last the remainder of the day. But that doesn’t necessarily

account for vocal strengthening exercises for technical work in

developing the voice further.


While lighter voices, whether male or female, don’t usually need to

warm up for very long, females in general usually don’t need to warm

up for as long as males. Because the male voice has such a wide

range in the chest voice, whereas the female voice switches over the

head voice much sooner, increased energy is used and needed for

the male voice in the pitches above middle range. There should be

plenty of warm up done in the chest register, for the male, before

asking the voice to do the work in the higher ranges.

Warm up time will decrease, as your technique gets better. And this

is good because too much vocal warm up before a performance will

tire the voice, and it will lose some of its shimmer.

Vocal warm ups should be done daily, which is why I’ve included a

downloadable vocal warm up routine with this product. Also, I made a


video, showing how to do each of the warm up exercises. It’s

important that you watch the video before doing the exercises, so that

you know how to do them correctly.

Now I want to talk about some things you can avoid in order to

protect your voice from abuse, both temporary and potential long-

term abuse.

Things To Avoid

Alcohol

Alcohol dilates blood vessels throughout your body, including in your

throat. This is not a huge deal normally, but can potentially be a

problem when you sing because when blood vessels dilate, the blood

thins and comes to the surface, which makes your vocal cords more

prone to hemorrhage. Also alcohol dehydrates you. And, of course,


you want your body, and throat, to be plenty hydrated. If you’re

planning to drink, it’s important to drink lots of water, and, remember,

alcohol can dehydrate you for up to three days. It’s better to avoid

alcohol on days that you plan to perform and also the night before.

Cigarettes

Cigarettes and singing are archenemies. Smoking is a known cause

of lung, tongue, trachea and larynx cancer. And all of the things in

that list are pretty important to the singer. Smoke, on a day-to-day

basis, traumatizes the membrane of the vocal tract.

Also, the heat from inhaling a cigarette dries out and causes

inflammation in throat tissues. As you can imagine, singing becomes

more difficult with an inflamed throat, and you lose a degree of note


manipulation control. Also, as the throat becomes dried out, the throat

membrane secrets mucus to try and compensate, and this sets you

up for a throat clearing, which grinds and adds trauma to the vocal

cords .

In addition, more and more evidence suggests that smoking cigarette

speeds up the process of dyspnea, which is just a fancy way to say

difficulty breathing. This resembles a faster ageing of the lungs. With

an activity that is so dependent on breathing, breath support and

breath management, cigarette smoking is something that should be

avoided, of possible.

I don’t want to be insensitive to the one who smokes and has maybe

given quitting a try. I understand that addictions are extremely difficult

to break. Laying off of smoking for a few days before a performance

will make some difference, but not a ton, because the elasticity in the

membrane doesn’t repair itself that quickly.

Most of the above is also true when you breathe in secondhand

smoke.


Dairy

Dairy often causes phlegm and mucus to build up which hinders

vocal control and causes you to want to clear your throat, which we’ll

talk about next. Avoiding ice cream, milk, cheese, etc. will go a long

way in helping you sing at your full potential. Also, pay attention to

any foods that irritate your voice. For example, if your throat is

already irritated, avoid citrus fruits and juices, which will only further

irritate and inflame your vocal cords.

Clearing Your Throat


Clearing your throat may seem like a good idea. After all, it is a

temporary fix for the phlegm or mucus (from post-nasal drip or acid

reflux or dairy) that is affecting your singing. The truth is, clearing

your throat can be very damaging to your vocal cords. Singing

through a little bit of phlegm should be fine. I’ll talk more about throat-

clearing in other sections below.

Medications

Medications often have a side effect of drying out your throat. You

can compensate by drinking plenty of water to combat the dryness. It


is always a good idea to be drinking water throughout the day so that

you stay hydrated, but if you are taking medications you should be

extra aware to drink water.

Pollen and Dust

Pollen and dust can be a cause of an inflamed throat, due to the

swelling of your vocal cords and throat. And if you have any kind of

allergy or sensitivity to dust, it can increase the post-nasal drip, which

will cause you to repeatedly have a sore throat. There are

medications you can take for this, both over the counter and

prescription, but another practical solution is to make sure to dust

your living space regularly and wash your comforter and pillowcase.

Also, it’s a good idea to avoid goose down pillows, which aggravate

allergies for many people. Making sure to replace your pillow at least

once or twice a year will help, too.


Caffeine

Caffeine is another agent that will dehydrate your body and your

throat, and both coffee and tea are diuretics, which will further

dehydrate you. This includes energy drinks and soft drinks as well, of

course.

As a singer you want to keep your throat and voice hydrated at all

times, and caffeine provides the opposite effect so it is a good

practice to lay off the caffeine especially on the day of a performance.

Also, caffeine acts like a steroid on your voice so that you can’t tell if

you are singing too hard (pushing, forcing, belting) and damaging

your vocal cords.


The same is true for using throat lozenges. Most lozenges have a

numbing effect, which is great for decreasing the pain, but pain has a

function; it alerts you when something is wrong and needs your

attention. So, if you’re singing regularly, thinking your throat is fine,

you may actually be pushing too hard and harming it.

Belting

Belting is really just as it sounds, forcefully and loudly singing,

especially to hit a note or a group of notes that are at the top of, or

beyond, your range. You hear this quite a bit in live performances,

and there are even some instructors who teach this as a method. I

don’t, and I’ll tell you why.

During singing, as pitch ascends, the vocal cords stretch and

elongate, and when singing at the top of your range, the vocal


ligaments (the inner edges of the vocal cords) stretch as far as they

are able. The vocal cords have the option to either separate in the

middle, as is the case with falsetto (a similar phenomenon happens

with females, but they don’t technically have a falsetto voice) or

withstand the tension, even though the cords have no more room for

elongation.

So, what happens is a forced malfunction of the registration. Here’s

what I mean. The larynx compensates and rises, narrowing the

spaces between the false vocal cords and true vocal cords. And the

result is a loss of the larynx as a resonating source. And this is a

problem because the larynx is one of the chief resonators. Without

the maximum amount of resonators present, the sound of the voice is

flat and thin.

This is not even to mention the possible damage that this repeated

forceful tension could do to the vocal cords over time. The tension of

the closed vocal cords withstanding a big rush of air creates almost a

grinding, not unlike what happens during a whisper. But belting is

much more extreme and traumatic for the voice.


When I was a teenager I traveled with a choral group across the

country, performing at several venues and television stations. Each

song that we performed had a couple of solos that were split among

the members of the group, and some were higher profile, more

coveted than other. These were the harder, higher phrases that

received the greatest response from the audience.

At first, I didn’t get any of these solos because I was the youngest in

the group and the newest member. But I did get my chance. But the

part, at that point, was beyond my ability. It was just too high. We’ll,

when the time came, and my part came, I belted out the note with all I

had, but it was too much for my vocal cords, and they partially

separated, in order to protect themselves from the immense tension,

but stayed together enough to let out a “squawk!”

It wasn’t one of my finer moments. But I learned that belting was no

substitute for spending the time to develop the range.

Vocal Fatigue and Swelling


A common problem for those who frequently perform, especially

those who spend a lot of time singing in higher registers, is vocal

fatigue. Not only does the voice feel tired and maybe a little sore, but

it’s not unusual for the singer to temporarily lose part of their lower

speaking range. And the voice can sound sort of raspy.

This used to happen to me quite frequently, and sometimes still does.

I used to get freaked out by this and think that I might be permanently

damaging my voice. But I found that after a couple of hours, certainly

after a night of sleep and vocal rest, the swelling would go down and

my voice would return back to normal. Again, this is common, and

has to do with a couple of different possible factors.


First off, as was the case with me, it can be, and often is, a result of

excessive vocal cord tension, which is created by singing with too

much energy or volume. This happens to me when I really get into a

performance and half scream the words out of passion.

One thing I use to combat this, since I can’t have my voice be swollen

after each performance, is turn the monitors up so that I can hear my

voice more loudly and clearly. The less I can hear my voice, the more

I tend to scream. So, the answer is less energy and volume. If you

have the opportunity to use in-ear monitors, this is much better than

stage wedges and can be very helpful to your voice.


Another factor can be improper breath management. Proper

breathing mostly has to do with having a high chest and sternum,

take complete breaths, and make sure that, during the inhale, the

expansion is happening as much in the lower ribs and oblique area of

your sides as it does in the front of your stomach. Also, remain in the

inhalation position as long as possible, not allowing the muscles of

inhalation to give way to the muscles of exhalation too early. This will

keep the diaphragm from ascending too early. This is what it means

to “breath/sing from your diaphragm”.

Finally, you may not have developed your higher range enough yet.

And this happens, in part, by first correctly developing your middle

range and carrying that technique into the higher range.

Healthy Speaking


Your speaking habits will directly affect your singing, so here are a

few pointers to keep in mind in your everyday speaking.

1. Parties, clubs and sporting events (etc.) can be very loud and

cause you to want to scream in order to be heard. Instead of the

grinding that comes with a scream, use the full volume of your voice

by implementing your new knowledge of breathing. Speak from your

diaphragm without tensing up your throat. Also, slightly raising the

pitch of your speaking voice can help you to project over the noise.

2. Monitor how loudly you talk. Without realizing it, you may speak

very loudly on a regular basis.

3. Monitor the tension in your face and jaw when you speak and

when you listen. As much as possible, avoid speaking with tension.


4. Avoid whispering. When your voice is sore, you may be tempted to

whisper in order to protect your singing voice. The truth is that

whispering adds tension and undue pressure to your voice. You are

better off speaking at a reasonable volume.

The day of, and the day before, a performance, it’s a good idea to

avoid long conversations, whether in person or on the phone. Most

people will understand if you let them know that you are saving your

voice for your performance.

Hydration


Your lungs and muscles, which are vital parts of your singing ability,

need water in order to function properly. Water helps your lungs keep

your muscle tissue—which is 75 percent water—moving easily. So,

staying hydrated directly affects your singing voice. Water will also

flush out any unwanted phlegm or junk in your throat. And if you’ve

ever tried to sing with a dried out throat, you know how important

hydration can be.

Dry Throat

Now, the first thing to realize is that a dry throat comes with anxiety,

which is not good news considering most singing situations involve

some degree of nervousness. And with this particular activity, a moist

supple throat makes for the best singing. But knowing this is a good

thing so that you can begin to battle it before the event itself.

The more prepared you are for an event, the less nervous you will be.

Nothing compares to preparedness and confidence in your ability,

when it comes to relieving nerves. If you have a chance to visit the


venue hours, or days, before the event, that usually cuts down the

level of anxiety as well. What is going on with you psychologically is

one of the biggest determinants of a dry throat.

Taking a sip of water right before hitting the stage will help some, too.

And certainly drinking more water in general will help.

Another odd, but well-used, old opera singer trick is biting gently on

the front of your tongue. This is only a temporary fix but really does

work!

Also, if you don’t ingest salt, whether in food or drink, the day of, and

the couple days before, the event, throat-dryness will decrease to

some degree.


Gum and throat lozenges will temporarily help saliva flow, but throat

dryness returns quickly and usually more severely afterward. So, I

don’t recommend either. Also, many lozenges have a numbing effect

which is dangerous because, as mentioned above, you may not

realize how hard you are pushing your voice when singing.

Another trick used by professional singers is eating a portion of an

apple before a performance or even in between acts or sets. Eating

an apple has a three-fold benefit. First, it will clear away some of the

superficial mucus in your throat. Second, it will help hydrate you

throat. And, third, the act of chewing and swallowing has a relaxing

effect on the vocal mechanism.

Water


Water really is the answer to most vocal health questions and

problems. Of course there are a variety of other hydration options but

none nearly as beneficial as good, old-fashioned water. As we said

before, coffee and tea are diuretics, which will dehydrate you, and

soft drinks, aside from effecting your waistline and mood, will do the

same, since most of them contain caffeine, which, of course, is also a

diuretic. The best option is water.

If you need to put a little bit of lemon in it to add some flavor, that’s

just fine. In fact, some singers swear by lemon water, saying it does a

better job of flushing down and cutting through phlegm and throat

junk.

I drink about a gallon of water a day, myself.


Sleep

Sleep is a major factor in allowing your tissue to heal, and this is

particularly important to your singing, as it relates to the tissue in your

throat. When you don’t sleep enough your voice feels sluggish, and

you’re more susceptible to getting sick. Sleep deprivation, even just

an hour or two, causes you to be slightly less aware and responsive.

This decreases your ability to sing at your highest level. Your vocal

agility suffers, too, and you are more likely to experience vocal

fatigue.

Also, the first thing that goes during sleep deprivation is cognition,

your ability to think clearly and process information. That means that

you are more likely to forget lyrics. Your body mends itself in many

amazing ways while you sleep, and it files information, so it pays to


allow yourself to sleep even an extra hour or two if possible. Try it for

a few nights, or a week and see how differently you feel.

Eight Hours and Fifteen Minutes

I took a sleep course when I was in grad school and decided to try a

little experiment for the class. I forced myself to sleep 8 hours and 15

minutes every night for 6 weeks in order to make up my sleep debt,

as some sleep specialist believe we accumulate. As the experiment

wore on, I felt better and better and better. I was thinking more

clearly; I was happier. I was far less fatigued. Colors seemed brighter.

It felt as if a fog had been lifted. Since then, I try to get a full 8 hours

of sleep every night (plus fifteen minutes, if possible!).

Nutrition


Having a well balanced diet is not only important for your general

health, but it makes a difference in your singing as well. Along with

drinking plenty of water, it’s important to eat fruits and vegetables and

to make sure that you are getting protein in your diet. While meat is a

good source of protein, there are several vegetarian protein options

as well. For example, nuts (peanuts, macadamia, etc.) and seeds

(sunflower, pumpkin, etc.) are a good protein alternative to meat, as

is whey. Carbohydrates, such as bread and cereal, are such a big

part of most people’s diet that you don’t need to be as intentional

about eating those.

Sugar

For many reasons you should avoid any kind of processed sugar in

your diet. I won’t go into all of the reason why, but there is nothing to

gain from sugar, and it will cause you to have blood sugar swings.


Natural sugar, like that found in whole fruit, is fine and actually good

for you. White table sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and all kinds of

artificial sweeteners should be avoided.

Energy

Singing may require more energy, especially if you have longer

rehearsal schedules, so you may need to increase the amount of

protein you ingest. Having said that, you may be tempted to eat a big

meal before singing, but I’ve always found it more beneficial to make

sure I have a good breakfast and then eat a small meal before a

performance.

And eating a big meal before bed should also be avoided, since you

don’t have a day’s worth of activity to burn off those calories, but also

because it may induce acid reflux problems. As you can imagine, acid

on your vocal cords is not exactly what you want or need.

Sore Throat and Infection Prevention


You may remember your mom or childhood doctor telling you to wash

your hands often and keep them away from your face. Well, not much

has changed in that respect. These two things are the best way to

prevent germs from infecting you. Once you do feel tickle or soreness

in your throat there are a couple things that you can do.

Warm Salt Water Gargle

Gargling warm salt water is an easy, inexpensive trick that is very

effective for killing germs and soothing sore and/or inflamed vocal

cords. Add about a half a teaspoon of salt to a cup of warm water and

gargle. Warm water is better than cold, but make sure it’s not to hot,

because you can burn your mouth and throat. In a cup of water you

will have about 4 or 5 mouthfuls of water to gargle. Try to gargle for at

least 5-10 seconds for each mouthful. This can help kill germs that

have lodged in the back of your throat and can also take care of


those painful little canker sores if you swish the water around in your

mouth.

Neti Pot

Using a Neti Pot is great, especially if you have allergies. As a

professional singer, it was a lifesaver for me when I lived on the East

Coast where my allergies seemed to always be flared up. The Neti

Pot flushes out your nasal passages with warm salt water, getting rid

of the excess mucus where germs are waiting for your immune

system defenses to give them a foothold. You can find a Neti Pot at

just about any drugstore.

Medicating a Sore Throat


Catching a cold and having a scratchy, sore throat is inevitable for

most of us, and frequent for a lot of us, so it’s good to know what to

do when it does happen.

Avoid Nose Sprays

Most nasal sprays contain decongestants and antihistamines, which

can be habit forming and actually make the problem they’re treating

worse, once you’re over the cold. This is something that can be taken

in an emergency, but even then, it shouldn’t be used for more than 2

to 3 days in a row, or you can begin to become dependent on it.


Saline Spray

This is a safe nose spray, as it washes and flushes out your sinuses

much like the Neti Pot. The Neti Pot is more of a heavy hitter, of

course, but saline spray is good for when you’re out and about, away

from the Neti Pot. One thing to keep in mind when using saline spray,

or any kind of nasal spray, is to place the nozzle of the saline spray

close enough to your nose that you don’t just end up spraying water

all over your face but out enough that the germs in your nose don’t

get on the nozzle. You don’t want to keep putting those germs back

into your nose every time you use the spray.

Humidifier

If you live in a dry climate, or if you are running a heater a lot, it is a

good idea to use a humidifier in order to replenish the moisture in the

air and therefore in your skin and throat. When using a humidifier,

though, it’s important to clean it regularly so that mold won’t grow in

the stagnant water and make your situation worse.

Cold Medicine


Many cold medications will dry you out. Once you know this, it’s easy

to combat by drinking plenty of water in order to stay hydrated.

Antihistamine

A common ingredient in cold medicine is antihistamine, which is great

for drying up that runny nose. But it is also drying out your upper

respiratory tract. Again, as long as you are compensating by drinking

plenty of fluids, you should be fine.

Cough medicine

Cough medicine tends to dry out your voice. The best way to get rid

of the junk in your chest is to flush it out with water and to use

dextromethorphan with guaifenesin. Guaifenesin, besides just being

fun to say, helps you to cough the mucus up and keep it flowing.


Acetaminophen

The active ingredient in Tylenol is acetaminophen, which is a better

pain reliever to use for the singer than ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) or

aspirin because the latter dilate blood vessels making it more likely

that you will burst a blood vessel while singing. With casual use, this

shouldn’t be a problem. I don’t want to freak you out!

A Common Cold

When you have a cold and edema sets in, which just means that you

have swollen vocal cords, there is a huge urge to clear your throat.

But clearing your throat exacerbates the swelling of the throat as well

as increases the secretion of mucus. So, clearing your throat when

you have a cold both aggravates the problem further and adds more

mucus to the mix. No good.

One of the best ways to clear mucus from the throat is to sing it away.

Rapidly executing trills, arpeggios and agility exercises will usually go

a long way toward clearing away the phlegm. Another thing that

works is simply swallowing. A swallowing motion will pull some of the

mucus down and out of your throat.


I have often heard it said that giving a little cough is not damaging to

the vocal cords and is a better way of clearing mucus from the throat.

The truth is that coughing, particularly when your vocal cords are

swollen, can do as much damage as clearing your throat.

Coughing

When you have an upper-respiratory infection, coughing is inevitable

during certain phases of the sickness. It helps bring up and get rid of

the phlegm stuck in your chest. However, a lingering cough is not

something that should be looked on lightly by the singer. The action

of the vocal cords during a cough can be harmful to the membrane in

the larynx. Rather than let the cough linger until it runs its course, it’s

better for the singer to see a doctor, or, at least, get some type of

expectorant and cough suppressant.


When Not To Sing

I have been performing as a singer for the better part of my life, and I

discovered early on that there will often be times when you will need

to perform when your voice isn’t in perfect condition. But, when do

you choose not to sing? The general rule of thumb is this. If the throat

irritation isn’t specifically in the larynx then you can most likely let the

show go on. But if it is directly in the larynx, and your vocal cords are

swollen, then it’s better not to sing.

If your voice is hoarse or raspy, and the quality is thicker but slightly

higher pitch, then that’s a good indication that your vocal cords are

swollen, and the show must not go on. If you continue to sing over

the swollen cords, the swelling will increase, and you could risk some

permanent damage to your voice.

Complete Vocal Rest


There is some controversy surrounding whether complete vocal rest

is a good idea in the case where extended vocal fatigue plagues the

singer. The lack of vocal activity does make muscle coordination

sluggish. In order for the singer to maintain vocal muscle tone, there

needs to be daily use of the voice.

But when a singer experiences a long period of vocal weariness, two

or three days of vocal rest (even up to ten in some cases) can be

miraculous for the voice. In these more extreme cases, the singer

should literally carry around a pad and a pen, writing everything down

rather than speaking. This is very difficult, of course, but you can

make a game of it, and it can be fun.

Once coming out of a period of vocal rest, it’s not wise to immediately

resume the normal vocal routine. It may take up to a couple weeks to

regain the muscle tonus in the voice.

Now, depending on how your voice became excessively fatigued, you

may want to look into a singing lesson program or a coach. Your

voice may have gotten that way because of some part of your singing


technique that needs to be tweaked. If that is the case, then you will

be right back in vocal rest before too long. But hopefully you got there

because you just had too many high-profile gigs, back-to-back, for a

long time!

A Good Performance Day Routine

While you want to avoid long conversations, as was mentioned

above, it’s not a good idea to have complete vocal rest the day of a

performance. There is a balance between having your voice ready for

a performance and pushing it too hard and wearing yourself out. So,

here are a few steps of a performance day routine, helping you have

the best vocal performance possible.


1. Start the morning with a good breakfast. There are great

benefits of chewing and swallowing that will wake the voice up

and relax your vocal tract.

2. After letting breakfast settle in your stomach for about 20-30

minutes, begin your vocal warm up routine. This process

shouldn’t go on any longer than 30 minutes. After this, the voice

should be well conditioned for the remainder of the day.

3. Avoid taking naps, especially close to the time of the

performance. If you do take a nap, start over with step number

one.

4. No more singing should take place until about an hour or so

before the performance. Resist singing along to your favorite

bands, especially while in the car with the windows down!

5. Keep conversations to a minimum. Your good friends will

understand that you need to save your voice for your

performance.

6. Do a short vocal warm up about an hour before the

performance. A few minutes of warm ups should be sufficient—

no more than 5-10 minutes.


7. It is always a good idea to get to the venue early and get a feel

for where you will be, where you will enter onto the stage, etc.

This will help calm the nerves and help you compose yourself.

That pretty much wraps up your vocal health course. If you pay

attention to even a handful of these things that I have mentioned, you

should be able to maintain pretty good vocal health and have some

good ideas how to properly care for your voice if it does begin to

bother you.

If I had to pick one thing, out of all of this, that I think is the most

important, I would say that drinking plenty of water is the best way to

maintain vocal health. This will keep your voice hydrated; it will help

wash down phlegm and pollen; and it will flush down unwanted

bacteria, which will keep you healthier overall, which means a healthy

voice.

Best of luck to you as you pursue your singing!

Aaron Anastasi

Superior Vocal Health

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