OK, a little bit sensationalist, but it got your attention!
One of the things that I think underpins being a good teacher, is NOT trying to teach people… (bear with me), but trying to change lynchpins in the way people think. If you just try to teach them something new without challenging underlying preconceptions, you are just building on a foundation that isn’t necessarily strong enough to take the layers you are about to lay down.
With this in mind, today’s post is going to cover three different secrets of singing that I want every singer to at least reconsider in the light of the following info. Some things you will be doing you may want to stop doing, other things you won’t be doing that you may want to start doing… and some things will just be plain different to the way you normally think of things.
Recently I was asked what the most helpful things that I’ve learnt about my voice over the years are and so I thought I would share the top three… They all end up linking together – used together these singing secrets can help your vocal health as well as your vocal development.
SOMETHING YOU NEED TO DO MORE
REST. FOR GOODNESS SAKE, REST.
It is crucially important that singers regularly rest their voices. If your voice is tired or feeling rough, then for goodness sake rest. If you continue to use it without giving it adequate rest, you could end up causing more damage to your vocal cords which would then take much longer to heal than if you’d just rested it in the first place.
And by resting your voice I don’t just mean “not singing for a day”. I mean actually taking a day where you don’t talk (or at least keep talking down to an absolute minimum) on those days when your voice is feeling tired or run down. This gives your vocal cords a real chance to properly recover as you aren’t using them constantly.
The consequences of not getting adequate rest for your voice can be severe. For example, just look at the vocal problems of Megan Trainor, or the even more severe health issues Sam Smith is currently facing. Rest your voice. For goodness sake, rest it!
SOMETHING YOU SHOULD REVISIT
Understand exercises that work for your voice NOW (i.e. get stuck into quality coaching)
I know I’ve blogged on why I love lip bubbles before (you can read it here) and – quite frankly – I love them. This is because they work for my voice! Heck, they work for almost every voice. Whether my voice is feeling tired or on top of the world lip bubbles are an exercise that I *know* I can depend on – I know exactly what they’ll feel like in my voice and if it’s something that will actually be helpful for my voice.
Many self-taught singers or those who try searching the internet for the “silver bullet” exercise (CLUE: there isn’t one!) develop their own pet regimen of exercises… but they need to be the RIGHT ones prescribed for your voice, not just ones you’ve read about. There is no one size fits all approach. Everyone needs bespoke exercises tailored for their voices… otherwise those pet regimens really are not guaranteed to be getting your voice where it needs to be, or at the very least are not up to date with where your voice is today.
When you work regularly with a knowledgeable coach (and I still get regular lessons myself with Master Teachers and others) you start to find a few exercises that REALLY warm-up, connect and co-ordinate your voice to do what you need it to do. These will change and develop over time. The better you understand and know which exercises work for your voice the more effective your practice sessions and lessons will be, particularly when you are short on time.
SOMETHING YOU SHOULD DO LESS
Not coughing habitually
This is something that it took me quite a long time to learn! You know those times where your throat is a little bit phlegmy? Not the prettiest picture, but we all have those days. The issue this often causes is that we then start to cough excessively to clear the throat… and we are capable of throwing a lot more force and pressure at our vocal cords than our vocal cords are capable of withstanding. In short, this is a recipe for damaging our vocal cords.
In a nutshell, when we cough to clear our vocal cords, we can often strip them of the mucous that they are MEANT to have (for protection purposes). This leads to the cords getting dry and sore. But then the body just sends more mucous to the cords to resume protection, which we then cough away as we think it’s getting in the way… and the cycle continues.
Do you get the picture? Habitual coughing, however light, can very easily lead to a vicious cycle of simultaneously dry and phlegmy throats.
Instead, try swallowing whenever you want to cough, and/or take a swig of water. I used to cough all the time – even when I didn’t really need to. It’s really hard to break that habit, but once you start to do so, your voice feels a LOT better for it. Not coughing habitually means that your cords won’t get as inflamed and you just might find that the effects of things like sore throats, colds or throat infections can hang around for less time because of this.
That about wraps it up!
So there you have it – three things that I think really challenge how most people approach their voice. that I’ve learnt over my time of being a vocal coach and receiving coaching on my own voice. I hope you find these vocal tips helpful and if you’ve got any questions feel free to get in touch!