An email subscriber sent me a question last year about advice for keeping their voice clear for singing. I’ve also seen a lot of people finding my website searching for exactly the same reasons. Hence, I thought it was worth covering my thoughts on it this week.
Most of you will have some idea of what I mean by “keeping your voice clear” for singing, but before we dive in, there’s some background info you’re going to need.
Some context
Mucus is the primary issue we face as singers for keeping our voices clear for singing. It’s what primarily clogs up our throat, voice and sinuses, and makes our voice feel claggy and horrible. But here’s the thing: mucus is something our body generates to protect us.
Consider this: Here is a cross-sectional view of the vocal folds.
See that outer layer? That outer epithelial layer is essential a lining of mucus to protect the inner layers of the vocal folds from damage. It’s mucus that is MEANT to be there. When that gets stripped away or irritated, the body will generate more mucus to continue protecting the vocal folds.
Mucus is something our body generates to protect itself.
Snot in our nose, post nasal drip from our nasal cavity and sinuses, etc is all intended to capture germs and microbes and enable your body to discharge them. Without that, we’d get very ill indeed. Mucus in the nose, throat or vocal folds is generated to lubricate and protect us from germs or irritation that could wreak more havoc than just feeling a bit gunky.
So mucus itself is not an issue… it’s EXCESS mucus that we desire to minimise. But we also need to be cautious about trying to clear it aggressively (e.g. excess coughing/hacking), as that will only exacerbate the issues.
My protocol for dealing with mucus/gunk on the voice
Now that we’ve got the background, let’s talk about some things I find very helpful for keeping my voice as clear as possible. Most of these are prevention rather than cure, as by the time we actually need to shift it, it’s usually too late to dramatically improve things with a sinus spray, lozenge, or staying off caffeine.
1. Drink lots of water
The more hydrated your body is, the thinner and easier to shift the mucus is. So drink lots of water. That way, whether the mucus is essential for protecting your body or not, it should shift more easily.
You can also leverage the heat of drinks to your advantage. Cold drinks are good for soothing the voice, and hot drinks are good for shifting mucus. But be aware, as cold drinks can also make mucus seem more stubborn to shift, and hot drinks can also aggravate your throat if too hot – the challenge is to deploy the tools you need as and when you need them.
2. Get a consistent routine and amount of sleep
Lack of sleep/inconsistent sleep pattern is a KILLER for causing inflammation in the voice. This in turn causes lots of mucus to be generated by your body to protect it.
I personally suffer from bouts of insomnia and trouble getting to sleep, so rest assured you’re not alone if you’re thinking this is hard to do. Nevertheless, this is a key but often overlooked component to daily routine which pays huge dividends in keeping your voice consistent and clear day to day.
3. Go for medium-to-brisk walks in fresh air every day
Exercise and rest in appropriate proportion is important to recover from illness. Some people try to exercise too vigorously, others rest too much. I try to get out for a brisk 1-3 mile walk most days, especially when I’m gunky. This helps to clear mucus by breathing a bit deeper than just being indoors. The fresh air and vitamin D from the sun also helps your body to be at it’s best.
4. Identify allergies and effective treatments
I suffer from fairly mild hayfever, but it can wreak havoc on my voice. Some people also have an allergy or reaction to milk, caffeine, or other foods. But everyone needs to play around with their diet to identify if any particular substance a problem. Caffeine is a diuretic, but for most people it’s the milk plus a very mild lactose intolerance that is causing the mucus generation.
Avoiding antagonising substances goes a long way, but beyond that I suggest the following, at least in relation to hayfever. Antihistamines, steroidal nasal sprays, and saline nasal sprays to rinse your sinuses are helpful tools to have stored in your house. Saline spray is especially good to use day-to-day during times of hayfever, or poor sleep, post-nasal drip, recovering from illness, etc.
5. Gently warm up your voice, and only go at the pace your voice lets you
Some days my voice is in great shape, and other days it’s like swimming through treacle to get it started. This is fairly typical as we are all organic human beings, and there are natural variations. But we need to respect what our body is letting us do on any given day.
If your voice is feeling sluggish or gunky, hitting it harder or more aggressively will only make it worse. Be willing to work on it little and often, and step away when your voice isn’t co-operating.
Sure, that day might be a write-off or you may not feel you got to your full height of vocal prowess, but if you keep hammering away on your voice, the next day will be even worse. Remember, it’s a marathon, not a sprint.
6. Start with your manageable songs
Many singers try to do just a few warm-ups, hit their most demanding song immediately, then judge their voice based on how that’s feeling… that’s a recipe for frustration and vocal damage.
The great performers of opera would have their pet repertoire, where they would gauge the state of their voice every day by working through their material in a logical and progressive order. By starting with the more manageable pieces then working your way up the difficulty scale, you could figure out how your voice is doing, and also integrate your voice more fully into the songs as you went.
Conclusion
Allergies, ill health and sleeping issues aside, if you adopt the “ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” strategy, you should find your voice is pretty clear/easily clearable most days. It then makes it a lot easier to more accurately identify what is derailing your voice day to day, and in turn makes it easier to be precise with how best to respond for your body.
However, if a singer is not drinking enough water, not getting consistent (and enough!) sleep, or eating/drinking things they know aren’t great for them, not getting any fresh air or even moderate exercise, THEN hitting super-demanding songs without warming up… there’s no magic lozenge or “stop drinking coffee” advice that can improve their vocal condition.
I realise most of these bits of advice are not sexy or exciting, but they honestly work, such that even a coffee-drinking insomniac with hayfever can find his voice pretty consistent most every day when following such a routine.