Homeschool at ProfessorCheap.com

Tips to maintain your vocal health

August 27th, 2010

Healthy Speech Can Improve Your Singing

How you speak can directly affect how you sing. By taking good care of your voice while speaking, you ensure better vocal health. You can improve your speaking habits by: Using full volume when you need to be heard (at sports events, parties, or clubs), but not screaming. If you tend to speak loudly all the time, turn down the volume. Noticing the articulation as you speak to prevent tension – not speaking with tension, such as jaw tension or tongue tension. Applying your knowledge of breathing while talking on the phone and avoid talking on the phone until your voice hurts due to lack of breath support.

Maintain a Healthy Weight

It’s not a problem for everyone, but being too lean may lead to problems with stamina while singing and sustaining higher pitches. To improve your stamina, make sure you’re giving your body the nourishment it needs. Many singers wait until late in the day to eat, but your body needs something to get it started. Try to find a routine that enables you to get food in your body early in the day, so you aren’t snacking well into the night when your body finally feels hungry.

Keeping yourself hydrated

Your body is 50% to 65% water. Your lungs depend on water to keep the tissue moving easily. Muscle tissue is made up of 75% water. So keeping your body well hydrated helps your singing voice work better.

Many people find water to be boring to drink. You can balance out your hydration with other liquids as long as you realize that sugar content in most drinks doesn’t help your waistline and that caffeine actually dries you out. Because caffeine is diuretic, which means that it makes your body get rid of water, you can’t rely on that morning cup of coffee to keep your voice in good working order.

Get Plenty of Sleep

Too little sleep makes it difficult for your throat tissue to heal. Depriving yourself of sleep only makes your voice feel sluggish. You want to recoup and regenerate during the night. Try getting more sleep for a few nights and see if it makes a difference in your singing.

Be Sure You’re Well Nourished

You should always eat a balanced diet. Adhering to the guidelines of basic nutrition means your getting the right amounts of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, dairy products, and meats. Within this balanced diet you find proper amounts of protein, carbohydrates and fats. Many singers find that performing requires more energy which means protein should be added to increase energy levels.

Preventing a Sore Throat or Infection

It can make a big difference if you keep just a few simple remedies hand for the times you feel a tickle coming on. One item to keep on hand is a bottle of saline nasal spray which is a solution of water and salt. When you spray the solution up your nose you effectively wash away germs that may be waiting around, ready to attack your immune system.

It also helps to gargle with warm salt water. Adding a few teaspoons of salt to a half cup of warm water and then gargling helps wash away any germs that can lodge in the back of your mouth. Simply mix about a half cup of warm water with a few teaspoons of salt and gargle, washing away germs that are lodged in the back of your mouth. If you have frequent infections around your tonsils, you may find that saltwater is one of your best friends. If you want to stop canker sores in their tracks, just swish the saltwater around in your mouth.

I hope you found this vocal health information helpful. To learn to sing like a star and discover more about maintaining the best posssible vocal health, I recommend checking out the Sing With Freedom vocal training program from Per Bristow.