As vocalists, we just can’t do that. The vocal folds are muscles and can’t take the wear and tear of that much extended use. I often liken it to marathon runners. Most people wouldn’t run a marathon and then get up the next day and run another marathon and then get up the next day and run another marathon. Muscles need recovery time or they are susceptible to injury.
I’ve been reminded of this personally as I have been preparing for my recital (Sunday, October 4th, 2pm, Dumke Recital Hall, David Gardner Music Building, Free for U of U students!). Most of my vocalizing thus far has been in short sets, working on difficult passages, running entire songs, and then running groups of songs back to back. This has been paired with time on the train spent memorizing and dissecting the music and text. But now that the recital is only three weeks away I need to adjust my practicing to start building up the stamina of an entire program (18 songs with only short breaks in between). So I need to start considering longevity and adjust my daily vocal use accordingly.
If I were strictly a performer and only had to worry about my evening shows, it would be less complicated to manage my vocal energies every day. But in teaching a full load of lessons and classes I need to make sure I am getting sufficient rest as I pace all of my vocal activities. Spending a Saturday screaming (at a football game, at an amusement park, or at a rock concert) is just not an option.
I have had this conversation with many of my students who are in the American Idiot cast. For the next few weeks, they need to pace ALL their vocal activities around their performance requirements. That’s what professionals do and they don’t have to wake up for 8am dance or take a full-time course load. That may mean that each day these students only get in Session 1 vocalization to stretch and warm up the voice and then some silent Session 3 work on learning notes, memorization, and analysis. They can’t afford to go to their shows vocally tired or their performances will suffer. They also can’t afford to skip their daily vocal regimen—that would be like running at a full sprint without any stretching or warming up.
These are just some of the considerations we must keep in mind as vocal athletes. The mental work never needs to take a break but the physical work needs to be carefully paced with all our other daily vocal demands.
How has your singing been going this week?
Now go practice.
Definitely one of my biggest fears about singing is vocal strain. I enjoy singing songs that are vocally challenging, however, I try not to sing them too often out of fear that I might, as you say, hurt my voice because it is a muscle. This last week, I've definitely tried to push my voice but not to the point where I lose my voice for the rest of the day. I've managed to work out a balance of starting out with a couple of easy and simple songs to sing and then move to a few vocally challenging songs. However, as soon as I can feel strain or tightness in my throat, I know that it's time to stop to give my voice a break.
ReplyDeleteOn a non-vocally related note, I bought a black binder with page protectors to start putting music in so that I can add more and more songs to it for future use. I've already added my first musical theatre piece that you gave me but I've also included other sheet music from shows and songs that I've performed in the past to help make my repertoire that much larger. I'm now very eager to add more and more suitable songs to my book.
For me personally, I think that I over warm-up in fear that I will strain my voice. Instead of warming up for 15 minutes in certain sections, I take 20-25. I definitely like challenging my voice, but I won't do it for very long. I spend less time on the more strenuous parts of the song than I do on the easier parts in order to not hurt my voice or make it so that I damage any part of my muscles. If it starts to feel even the slightest pain or strain, I take a moment to figure out if I am doing something wrong or if my muscles are tired from the workout. If I find that I don't have time to warm myself up, then I potentially embarrass myself and sing as I go. I'll do it wherever I am because vocal health is more important to me than a moment of embarrassment.
ReplyDeleteSomething interesting I've noticed is the comparison between my vocal warm-ups for singing and vocal warm-ups for just my natural speaking voice. Oddly enough I have two different problems when it comes to my singing and my speaking so I need to do two different warm-ups. When I work on my singing warm-up I am still trying to figure out with I am not warming up enough or if I am warming up too much. Because I find myself tiring out quit quickly. This hasn't been happening lately though and I think it has to do with my speaking warm-up. I work in a heavy customer service job and lately I find myself talking non-stop for six hour shifts. And without doing a proper warm-up my voice tires very quickly and begins to put a ton of strain on my vocal folds. With how much focus I have been putting on my singing warm-ups as opposed to my everyday speaking voice warm-up I end up still straining my voice and it leaks its way into my singing. Luckily because work has slowed down significantly I can begin to focus back on giving my voice the well rounded warm-up it needs to succeed.
ReplyDeleteI used to do extremely minimal warm ups because I find them boring. I just want to get to the singing. However, I did start with just 20 minutes of just basic humming, scales and sirens. Then continually adding more and more. Now, I really enjoy warm ups because I know how important it is. I keep it fresh by trying to do something different each practice whether its to go higher or lower, different vowels or different intervals. I also, have noticed it takes longer to warmup with this drier climate. Which forces me to take my time and not rush through my warm ups.
ReplyDeleteWarm ups have been a really big part of my practice process for a long time, and I've found that whenever I leave them out of my daily work, I don't feel or sing as well as when I include them. However I take care to really feel how my body is doing daily, and tailor my practice accordingly. Some days I can do more than usual, and some days less. This week has been relatively neutral, but I've noticed that my throat feels much more sore than usual. So instead of perfecting the notes and seeing how I can stretch my vocal chords, I've been working on memorization of my lyrics, as well as what they mean to me. When working on monologues and acting I take on a relatively Method type of process, and often try to encorporate the same with singing; looking at the lyrics and imagining what my character must feel like, and finding an experience of mine that has produced the same emotions. Pairing these two, I feel like I get much closer to my character, and it allows me to memorize my lyrics easier.
ReplyDeleteI think that is why the session system was created. It is very hard to feel vocally tired after 30 minutes of singing, which is the minimum for say session 2. I also think an important part of avoiding strain is switching up your practice material daily. I for once, mix up my belt songs, classical, mix, fast, slow songs as much as possible so my voice never one, gets used to one style, and two so i can avoid belting my folds until the bleed. When I am in rehearsal I find myself over singing when I don't need to, and now i've learned if I dont have to push the voice, I shouldn't. I've heard the goal of anything is to achieve maximum success earned with the littlest effort possible. I think this is very true of singing, the less you can feel like you are working at the voice, the more relaxed the sound will be and be able to grow.
ReplyDeleteWhat up Bri Bri!
ReplyDeleteI have really come to terms with this concept that you're speaking of with Caint Say No as well as music rehearsals for Young Frankenstein. I practiced for a week on the YF material and almost lost my voice. Even for the auditions I sang a lot for 3 days straight. I'm weak sauce in the singing world because I was dying! For Caint Say No I realize that I have to pace my practice because it is a HUGE song with a wide range required as well as volume. I can't just bust that song out 6 times a day or I would probably die and wither in a small ball. I have realized that those straws are saving my life any time I have to sing. Warming up with the straw in the morning is great for getting the vocal folds warm. I also include the wide mouth stretch with the tongue sticking out as well as the opposite with squishing the face up. This is like doing plies or roll downs in dance where I just want to let my body move a little. I have noticed that dance is so much easier and that my body feels so much better when I have done yoga. I liken this to singing when I notice that my voice feels so much better when I do a little every day for MYSELF. It's great to know that I have taken care of it. I know that I can't scream or talk too much especially if I am trying to get ready for a performance. After seeing American Idiot, I have realized that before YF opens I need to get myself in the kind of shape where I can sing AND dance for 3 straight hours. and also practice singing WHILE dancing.
I have found that i don't get vocally tired quickly. It takes about two or more hours of jamming to hard songs to get my vocal chords strained. Though i know i shouldn't do this i sometimes can't help it. I agree with the discipline we as singers need to have, i have to get better at control my vocal use. My singing this week has been great nothing too crazy, i am enjoying "caro mio ben" in both keys. I have been trying to be more confident about singing in front of people. One of the things i drink often is lemon juice/honey mix, it makes my voice and throat feel great.
ReplyDeleteAlso, i will hopefully come to the recital! It sounds wonderful!
ReplyDeleteThat's a hard balance. Trying to find the ease of good use of the the vocal folds and the determination of growing vocally. I used to lose my voice in shows after abusing it all day and going into shows are over compensating. After taking lessons, I learned how to not do that. But it's good to remind myself that the vocal muscles are susceptible to damage, and they can be pulled and strained like an athlete's muscles might.
ReplyDeleteDuring my day, I know I cannot over vocalize. I usually will vocalize for half an hour then work on musical peices I need to work on. It is very common to strain your voice and be too tired to sing afterwards. Sometimes I would be way too tired to sing and I know it's cause I cannot over vocalize and because I need to build up my cardio. Warming up is very important to me, I love lip rolls the best. I found out that lip rolls warm up the voice well without straining too much. Also relaxing the jaw and singing lightly helps tremendously to not strain and warm up the voice. I think lip rolls everyday and a couple warm ups will really benefit the voice.
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