Vocal Health for Singers

Do you feel like your voice needs a little extra TLC? Perhaps you’re unsure how to properly take care of it.

Vocal health for singers is part of every recording artist’s career. As we need to look after our physical and mental health, so too we must take notice of our vocal apparatus. This means warming up, eating well, drinking water and resting where necessary.

In this article, we’ll explain exactly how to incorporate good vocal hygiene into your daily routine and develop the habits that’ll keep you singing strong and long.

Vocal health for singers

Recording a song can be a nerve-wracking experience. And this can put extra tension and stress on your vocals. But there are lots of things you can do to help prepare your voice before a performance. This will ensure your voice is at its healthiest and sounding its best when you need to be on top form.

There are lots of quick and easy ways to take care of your voice when you’re singing, including eating and drinking the right things. Looking after your vocal cords can prevent vocal strain and save you from a long and painful recovery process.

How do professional singers care for their voices?

Professional singers avoid the following:

Tensing the tongue
Raising the voice to speak in noisy environments before a performance
Bad posture
Pushing the stomach and abdomen in while singing
Blowing out too much air
Pushing to sing challenging songs too soon
Using a poor breathing technique
Drinking excess alcohol and taking drying decongestants
Tensing the jaw, face or neck during singing

How to take care of your voice

Looking after your vocal cords is important, especially if you’re a singer. The vocal cords are the tissue folds in your throat that stretch inwards from your larynx. They are responsible for creating sounds through vocalisation and they control pitch. Taking care of your vocal cords will ultimately take care of your voice.

Avoid damaging habits. There are lots of simple, everyday ways you can care for your voice. Avoiding smoking and second-hand smoke will reduce the risk of irritating your vocal cords. Opting to use non-alcohol-based mouthwashes instead of alcohol-based ones will also be kinder on your throat.

How to improve your voice quality for singing

Your vocal cords are your most important apparatus when you sing. The best way to care for them is to make sure you always warm up before a recording session.

Like an athlete always stretches before a race, you have to loosen and prepare your cords before you sing. Trilling the lips and tongue is a good way to start your warm-up and helps loosen your jaw and throat.

Take deep breaths and send the breath through your lips, keeping them loose and letting your lips vibrate. You might feel silly, but lip trills are a good way to test your exhale endurance!

Another technique to include in your warm-up is going through arpeggios (broken chords), ascending and descending in pitch as you go. Practice five-note scales using any consonant or consonant and vowel combination you’re comfortable with. Doing this will help loosen your voice up and having loose, warm vocal cords will help care for your singing voice.

Singing can be physically demanding on your vocal cords. It’s easy to forget to warm up and cool down your voice in the excitement before and after a show, but this is the best way to look after your vocal cords. Your voice is your most important instrument, so you have to take care of it.

How to clear your voice for singing

Staying hydrated is really important – not just before recording, but in everyday life too. Water is one of the best things you can drink to take care of your voice.

Drinking warm water or water at room temperature can help prevent vocal strain and loosen your vocal cords. The recommended intake is around 2 litres a day and it’s better if you drink at regular intervals throughout the day so your vocal cords stay supple and your voice won’t crack.

Drinking tea can also help soothe and lubricate your vocal cords before singing. But only certain types of tea are good for your voice; caffeinated teas should be avoided as they have a dehydrating effect. Instead, opt for green, herbal and peppermint teas as these will relax any tension in your throat. For a full list of the best teas to drink for your singing voice, check out this supporting page.

What do professional singers use for their throats?

Your focus should always be on preventing vocal strain before it has a chance to happen. But if your throat begins to feel strained, uncomfortable or painful, act as soon as possible to prevent the damage from becoming severe. These are some of the best ways to recover from vocal strain:

Rest your voice
Keep hydrated
Have a hot shower
Don’t whisper
Gargle with saltwater
Wrap your throat up warmly
Don’t sing before you’re fully recovered

Singers diet for a healthy voice

A healthy diet and lifestyle will help take care of your voice.

Your vocal cords, diaphragm, and voice box do a lot of work while you sing. So you have to make sure you nurture them in the right way – and one of the best ways to do this is by paying attention to what you eat and drink. Having a moderately sized meal before a performance is a must; you need the energy for your show!

A singer’s diet is mainly about what you shouldn’t eat – as there are more foods out there that hinder your voice than help it. The foods you should avoid in the three hours before you sing include dairy products, caffeine, and processed sugars. All of these can increase the mucus in your throat and constricts your cords’ movement. Spicy foods and fried foods are also a big no in the build-up to performances – the spice and oil content can lead to heartburn and give you indigestion as you go on stage.

The best way to care for your voice is to stock up on healthy, non-processed foods before you sing. Fresh fruit, nuts, and peanut butter are all good choices as they give you protein and a small sugar boost to fuel you through your performance. A spoonful of honey mixed into a drink will really help soothe your throat and the honey’s antibacterial properties will keep throat viruses away.

Voice rest instructions

Even if you take really good care of your voice and eat and drink carefully, you might still feel your vocals strain from time to time. If you find yourself with sore vocal cords, there are various ways you can take care of your voice and get your singing voice back again as soon as possible. But the main thing you should do is take vocal rest.

If you are poorly and taking medicine then this is definitely the time to rest. Some common cold medications can actually dry out your vocal folds. The ingredients in some decongestants and antihistamines can also have a dehydrating effect on your vocal cords.

A good way to test whether you should go ahead is to do a vocal test in your most comfortable range. Try to work through your usual warm-up at a gentle pace. Go through some glissandos you’re usually comfortable with and see how your voice feels vocalising intervals on vowels. If these don’t feel strained and your voice begins to warm up, you should be able to sing with a bit of extra care.

If you sing regularly and don’t already have vocal coaching, it’s well worth considering finding a good singing teacher. They will help you to take care of your voice and ensure you use the correct vocal techniques.