Singers need to take steps to take care of their voices. The voice is the singer’s tool, and without it, they can’t do their job. Fortunately, there are things that you can do to help prevent losing your voice while singing. It is important to follow these tips to keep your voice healthy.
9 Tips on How to Prevent the Loss of Your Voice While Singing
1. Never Sing Without Warming up
It is very important to warm up your voice before you sing. You may already know that you need to do this before you perform, but you should also warm up your voice when you are practicing at home. You should be spending between 20 and 30 minutes stretching your voice so that your vocal cords are ready. This will enable you to sing throughout your practice without straining your voice. Taking care to warm up your voice is similar to an athlete stretching before exercise, and it will improve your voice and help prevent injuries.
2. Don’t Forget to Cool Down After You Sing
When you are singing at home or in a performance, you will stretch your vocal cords to their limits. This gives them a serious work out, and it is important to let your voice cool down when you finish. Think about how an athlete cools down after exercise. Treat your vocal cords the same way, and be sure to take the time to stretch your voice and soothe it when you are finished singing.
3. Avoid Drinking Cold Water
You likely know that it is important to keep your vocal cords hydrated by drinking plenty of water. However, avoid drinking cold ice water. It will cause your muscles to tense, which counters all of the warming up you do to loosen them for singing. You should always try to drink water that is room temperature to keep your voice hydrated without causing your muscles to tense up.
4. Avoid Drinking Tea Before You Sing
Although you have probably heard people say that warm tea is soothing for your voice, it isn’t appropriate before you sing. Tea has caffeine in it, and caffeine is a diuretic. The problem with diuretics is that they can cause you to become dehydrated. You should never drink them before you sing because you need the hydration. Stick with room temperature water. You can add lemon and honey to your room temperature water, and it will soothe your voice.
5. Try Not to Strain for High Notes
Singing the high notes at the upper end of your range takes a lot of patience and practice. You need to work at it, but don’t strain your voice to do it. As you develop your technique and improve your singing, you will find that you can reach higher notes. If you strain them, you can lose your voice and possibly develop nodules on your vocal cords. Spend most of your time on songs that are within your range, and work up to the high notes you want to reach. Make sure that you take your time so that the improvement is gradual.
6. Try Not to Cough
Coughing is another activity that damages your vocal cords. When you cough, your vocal folds close in and rub together, which can cause nodules on your throat and damage your vocal cords. It might be difficult to avoid coughing if you are sick, but try to swallow when you need to cough, and do what you can to reduce the tickle in your throat. When you cough, round your mouth as if you are singing an “o” sound, as this is less damaging.
7. Avoid Yelling
Yelling is another activity that strains your vocal cords and can cause you to lose your voice. When you are working in a noisy environment, try to move to a quieter place if you want to talk. Try to avoid situations where you need to raise your voice or strain it to talk to people, and only say what needs to be said. This will help you avoid straining your voice and losing it.
8. Use Your Microphone
You will often use a microphone when you are singing on stage, and this is very important. If your microphone fails, you need to stop singing. If you add the stress of trying to project your voice so that the crowd can hear you, you can seriously damage your voice. Try to find another microphone to use, or you can stop singing because it isn’t worthwhile to damage your voice. Not only can it become hoarse, but you can get nodules on your throat that take a lot of time to heal. If your microphone isn’t creating the volume you need, you should increase the levels rather than singing louder.
9. Avoiding Whispering
If you do have a hoarse voice or are trying to heal it, try not to whisper. Many people think that whispering saves your voice, but it actually does more damage than speaking in your normal voice. It causes you to strain the folds in your vocal cords. Your voice is usually hoarse because your vocal cords are irritated or swollen, so they aren’t able to fold together correctly. The problem is that if you don’t take the time to rest your voice, you could damage it further and end up having nodules instead of irritation. You are better off to use a paper and write notes than to whisper and further damage your vocal cords.
Final Words
There are a lot of things that you can do to protect your voice so that you don’t lose it. It is very important to take care of your voice because once you strain it, you have to rest it or risk further damage. The best thing to do is rest your voice, and protect it by avoiding yelling or whispering. If you warm your voice up before you sing and take care of it, you won’t lose your voice very often.
