Vocal Health

To go into vocal health in a bit more detail...

In one of the comments on a previous post, someone asked about drinking olive oil to relieve a scratchy throat. I must say in the 10 years I've been singing I've never heard of that! But hey, if you try it and it works, EVOO is one of the best things you can put in your body so enjoy (and let us know!)

I stick to pretty standard stuff: hot tea with honey and lemon (make sure the tea is a light non-caffeinated tea); I keep a humidifier in my bedroom and my dressing room (we all can't be Celine Dion and have a major Las Vegas hotel afford to have our 15,000sq.ft. dressing room and the stage regulated to an ideal 55% humidity--but we can try); I have a personal steam unit (any drug store) and do what's called 'retro-nasal' breathing for a few minutes a few times a day (mostly only when I'm really dried out, tired, or it's winter time and people are sick everywhere--retro-nasal breathing is in through the mouth/out through the nose); I go on vocal rest between shows or whenever I'm feeling tired; I don't drink anything other than water/vitamin water EVER, and I avoid eating (silent reflux) late at night or within 2 hrs. of a performance. Also, avoid stressing the voice in any way before a performance (i.e. cell phone conversations outside, etc;)

Wow, that's a lot more than I even realized, but once it becomes habit, it's not so bad.

Then of course a proper warm-up and possibly a warm-down should be part of any singers routine in an 8 show a week run. Find a warm up that works for you and start slowly.

In Piazza I start with some light humming in the middle/lower end of my range then slowly work that into warming up the higher end of the middle. Then I do some scales, again not touching the high notes unles they feel ready. At this point it's been 5-10min. and I'm ready to start the show. After my first scene I have another 5 minutes before my first big number and this is when I work into my high notes a bit as my body and voice are warm now (thanks to adrenalin). But again, I don't push it. I stretch the chords to the notes I have to sing in the following number and then leave it alone.

Then, throughout the show, I'll warm up the notes I need during appropriate breaks whenever possible (i.e. my final song "Love To Me" is a totally different piece than my others, requiring a very gentle/lighter approach and ending on a pure falsetto high note...I literally sing this song through once or twice in the 12min break I have before going on to perform this number).

Again, whatever works for you based on the demands of what you're singing.