5 Simple Ways to Improve Vocal Health

 

 

I’m standing at the top of the stairs and my 4 kids are in the kitchen getting ready for school.  They are LOUD- because that’s just how they are- and I need to get their attention. We need to be in the van in 5 minutes!

 

But I can’t call them. My voice is tired.

 

The thought of propelling my voice that far seems incomprehensible.

 

So, I use my fist to bang on the wall until one of them comes close enough to hear me.  With effort- an effort that is sometimes physical, but more often, mental- I give the instructions that I wanted to just call down to them.

 

I need my voice.

 

Vocal Health is important beyond singing.

 

Yes, I’m a singer and a voice teacher.  My voice is vital to what I do.

 

But, I’m also a wife, a mother, a sister, a daughter, a friend.  And my voice is essential to each of those roles as well.

When you suffer from a voice condition or injury, that phone call or chat in a coffee shop seems insurmountable and so relationships can decline as well.

 

That’s why I’m writing today.  I want to advocate for vocal health and for care of the voice.  It is a treasure that is so often abused and neglected, when it should be cherished.

 

I have to confess that for years, I was under-hydrated, sleep-deprived, and didn’t think one iota about how I was using my voice beyond singing.

 

What about you?  How are you caring for your irreplaceable instrument?

 

 If your voice was impaired, how effectively would you be able to live your life? 

 

 

Stop and think about it.  If you were told to speak as little as possible for a week, how would it affect your every day life?

It’s a loaded question!

 

And, one with which I actually have intimate experience.  You see, I have a condition called “vocal cord paresis”.

I’ve studied voice for many years now. But until recently, all my emphasis was on learning to use my voice well as a singer.

I didn’t really give much thought to my speaking voice– until I started to feel voice fatigue after I was teaching for a few hours.

…Which then, morphed into fatigue after normal conversation.

…Which then, evolved into “I can’t sing those notes anymore”.

…Which then, grew into “I’ll have to call her another time, because my voice is just too tired.”

 

Putting off Vocal Health has a Price

 

I just kept pushing through.  I kept telling myself that it was nothing, no big deal.  And I wonder, how many other people do the same…

 

If I went to the ENT, it would be a waste of time and money because they wouldn’t find anything.  It wasn’t hoarseness, after all.  I could still function.

 

To keep a very long story short, I was involved in a heavy performance schedule and teaching my regular 20+ hours a week, and I lost my voice.  Completely.  I woke one morning with a stabbing pain in my larynx and actually cancelled all my lessons for that day- I had never cancelled teaching due to voice issues in all my years as a teacher!

It took 2 weeks to even regain enough sound that I could perform, and I still was unwilling to see a doctor. (2 years prior I had seen an ENT and he looked at my cords with a mirror, didn’t see anything, prescribed prednisone and sent me on my way.)

Finally, at the urging of a colleague (shout out to Michael!), I went to see a doctor and it was the start of a 2 year journey through vocal fatigue and toward vocal health.  (Still on the journey in 2018!)

 

The Cost of Poor Vocal Health

 

2 years, 2 doctors, 2 voice therapists, hundreds of miles driven, hours of time in commuting, voice therapy sessions, research, and rehabilitation, and surgery on the horizon, have rebuilt my understanding of my voice and its care.

And so has,

… having to miss out on performance opportunities,

… having to step back from worship ministry in my church- one of the most fulfilling roles I’ve ever served in

… losing touch with long time friends, family, and acquaintances because I just can’t bear to speak another word that day

… losing time at work, students, and then limiting my teaching schedule due to physical limitations.

 

Losing your vocal health costs much more than a song.  

 

Seeing the Good…

 

The beautiful thing about difficulty is that it changes us.  I am a changed singer, a changed teacher, and a changed person. And I cannot say I regret my journey.  (But I’ll be really happy to have my healthy voice back!)

 

Now, I’m not just a singer and voice teacher, I’m conscious of my voice health and how it’s my job to preserve the gift.

 

Even though vocal cord paresis is not an injury or something that I have done to my vocal cords, I now understand that it’s my responsibility to figure out how to work with the function (or, in this case, dysfunction) of my body.  My choices have made a difference in how I’ve been able to cope with my condition.

From the moment of inhalation, to the position in which I sleep and sit and stand, to the vocal function exercises that start my every day, I am conscious and intentional about my vocal health.

I even try to make sure I yell at my kids properly!

 

And, I am an advocate of voice awareness for everyone- singers, students, professionals… people.

 

Friend, don’t take it for granted.  You can’t go out and buy a new voice.

 

To that end, I’ve put together a few of the therapeutic staples that I’ve built into my everyday life.

 

 5 Simple Ways to Improve Your Vocal Health

 

The following tips are 5 ways among a multitude that can have an effect upon your overall vocal health and is not intended to be an exhaustive list.  But changes as simple as these can reap great rewards for you in both vocal health and vocal ability!

 

1. Activate your voice each morning with simple voice exercises that encourage easy phonation.

Your voice is a muscle and needs to ease into use.  Warming up the muscle will encourage blood flow and hence, oxygen, to the area, allowing it to function better. Some of my favorite “activation warm-ups” include:

• Glides on a hum, then forward vowels, like ee or oo
• Humming
• Vocal Function exercises
• Lip and tongue trills

Extra tips for a good warm-up:

1. Go from middle range to the outer extremes gradually.
2. Go from non-specific pitches like glides to specific pitches like scales.

 

2. Relax when you inhale.

Your body is made to draw in air.  You are a vacuum!

But most often, we suck air into our bodies which causes some tension within the vocal tract or in the muscles surrounding the larynx. That initial breath is the one that begins the cycle of breathing- for speech or singing. Instead of sucking air in, try opening the throat and “dropping the belly”.

Try this: Blow out gently until you use about half of your breath.  Then, let your abdominal muscles “drop” as you open the throat for inhalation . As they drop, allow the throat to expand but don’t suck air in.  Just open the throat silently. 

After you do this a few times, notice how the throat feels really relaxed.  I like to call it “fat throat”.  Notice the sensation and build it into your singing. It’s a game changer!

But it starts with a totally relaxed inhalation!

 

3.  Put a smile into your speech (and singing).

Smiling helps to raise the soft palate which gives you better resonance.  Better resonance allows your body to relax and not work as hard to make sound, resulting in less tension and muscle constriction.

When you put that smile in your speaking voice, you will hopefully feel a sensation of “pressure” across the front of the face in the nasal cavity as you open the back of throat and allow for cathedral acoustics in the back of the throat.  That is the sympathetic vibrations of the resonance chambers.

You will probably also notice that your pitch is slightly higher.  Go with it!

 

4.  Speak with support.

So much of what we do when we train our voices to sing well begins with our speaking voices and our every day habits.

Speak at a slightly elevated pitch and notice that the body and breath work to support the tone.

Try this: Say a nursery rhyme or poem or even just a long sentence, but don’t let your voice become gravelly at the end.  Intentionally keep the pitch raised and speak into the frontal resonators.  Your breath will kick in without you even trying!  AND, you’ll be surprised at how relaxed the throat remains!

Extra tip:

Once you have tried a new way and it introduces a new sensation, be sure you replicate it intentionally a few times. Then, go back to the old way, again intentionally, so that you can really feel the difference.

 

5.  Stretch, massage,  and actively relax.

The best foundation you can give your voice is one that is balanced and relaxed.  Forcing your body into alignment or good posture is really the antithesis of building a good foundation for singing.

I probably should have made this the first point.  Stretch and massage before vocalizing are instant voice improvers!

Take a few minutes to lie on the floor and relax into good posture. As you intentionally release the muscles and allow the support of the floor to guide you, you will allow your muscles to relax out of their compensations and into their primary roles.

Massage and stretching are additional ways that we actively release tension from our bodies, guiding them into alignment, and allowing them to function with fewer compensations- imperative for singing.

Take care of that instrument!  What choices are you making to improve your vocal health?  What stands out to you from this list?  I’d love to hear from you!    Will you comment below?