Vocal Health for the Professional Voice User

Vocal Health for Professional Voice Users – an excerpt from Demystifying the Voice

by Beth Falcone, certified vocologist & vocal technique teacher Sping Studios Manhattan / Voice@BethFalcone.com Can’t I just sing? Why do I have to think about this?

Every instrument needs care: Clarinets, trombones, basses, you name it. All professional instrumentalists learn how to take care of their instruments. A violinist with the New York Philharmonic would never walk into a concert with a violin that had a crack in the wood. A clarinetist goes to great lengths to take care of her reeds.

Check out what Metropolitan Opera Clarinetist Jessica Philips has to say! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swVSeGSXjCk

What’s a clarinet got to do with it? Well . . .

Every instrument has three main components: 1. A vibrating mechanism: something that shakes back and forth. That shaking creates a vibration, and that vibration causes wiggles in space. The wiggles are waves, which we hear as sound.

2. An initiator: something that causes the something to shake back and forth.

3. An amplifier: something that causes those waves to get bigger, which we hear as louder. In the case of an acoustic instrument (one that does not use electricity), that amplification happens because of resonance, which means “re-sounding.” More on that later!

Taking care of your voice is about taking care of all three parts, but let’s focus on number one for now. After all, without a “shaker-back-and-forther,” an instrument can’t produce any sound waves to begin with, so the rest would be naught. The clarinet’s vibrating mechanism is the reed (as is the saxophone and the oboe.) What do you think the vibrating mechanism is for a piano? A trumpet? A guitar? Any other instruments with which you are familiar? Go ahead and guess…

So . . . what’s the thing that shakes back and forth in your voice?

Many of you have guessed correctly, but it’s OK if this is new info: The thing that vibrates is a pair of small tissues that are called “vocal folds.” They bang together and create a ripple wave motion, much like when you put your lips together, pout and then blow through them to imitate a motorcycle. (Yeah, go for it!)

What are vocal folds made of?

https://voice-academy.uiowa.edu How do I take care of them?

These magical creatures living inside your throat are made up of a number of different layers. No one seems to agree on what that number is, so just know that there is a top layer, a bunch of middle layers, and the bottom layer is the muscle that shortens and thickens, otherwise known as the vocalis muscle, or thyroarytenoid. (You can call it “the shorteners” for fun!)

Since your vocal folds are made up of all of these different things, each layer needs its own kind of care. The good news is . . . it’s not magic. It’s a lot like taking care of other parts of your body. The bad news is… it’s not magic. It’s a lot like taking care of other parts of your body!

So, from the top layer of skin to the bottom layer of muscle. How do you take care of your skin? Do you let it dry out? How do your muscles stay strong and yet flexible? Do you ever rest after a workout? Now that you have a bit more of a map, let’s talk about some practicalities of vocal fold maintenance.

Hydration, Hydration, Hydration Explore and Imagine: Rub your hands together with soap and water. Rinse and dry your hands. Now rub them vigorously together while they are dry for about 15 seconds.

Notice a difference in the feel of the two rubbing actions? How are friction and lubrication related?

There are two types of hydration to maintain: 1. Systemic hydration – the internal hydration of the entire body that keeps the skin, eyes, vocal folds, and all other mucosal tissue healthy.

2. Topical hydration – the moisture level that keeps that top layer slippery enough to vibrate with the least amount of effort.

*Over my almost thirty years of teaching, I have discovered that a good baseline for water intake is about half your body weight in ounces. So, if you are 120 pounds, then 60 ounces of water a day is a good target, more or less, depending. This is anecdotal evidence, based on my experience with students over the years, and I’m sticking to it until more stats are in. What all medical and voice professionals agree on is that ADEQUATE HYDRATION is ABSOLUTELY IMPERATIVE to HEALTHY VOICE functioning. (Did those capital letters feel like yelling? I am passionate about this!) Systemic hydration can be a tricky balancing act. It also depends on your activities and the level of humidity in the air you breathe, so it’s not the same all the time.

How Dry I Am… Wait! How is it I’m Dry? 1. Exhaling. Yep, you lose moisture just from breathing. If you were bedridden and couldn’t ingest anything, you would lose about two and a half liters of moisture overnight. It’s worse in arid environments such as Arizona or NYC in the winter... or in air conditioning.

2. Alcohol. In fact for every 1g of alcohol drunk, urine excretion increases by 10ml. It also inflates the tissues, making them more prone to injury.

According to the Porter in Macbeth, alcohol promotes “nose-painting, sleep and urine.” What he may be referring to, among other things, is our loss of inhibitions when imbibing. As a result, we are often talking louder than we realize, and if we are having a good time, it’s often in noisier places. Loud, raucous talking for a night commonly causes phonotrauma, which is another way to say “vocal injury.” Take it from Shakespeare. Come to your concert with a clean nose and good vocal hygiene.

3. Drying Medications: Menthol… Avoid those cough drops Antihistamines ACE inhibitors (for high blood pressure) Some antidepressants Some antibiotics Antidiarrheal / Gastric medications Some pain medications

If you’re taking a medication that you are unsure could be affecting your voice, let your teachers know, so they can help you find solutions or point you to a medical professional to help.

4. Sweating for any reason a. Whether it’s because it’s hot outside or from dance class,

you are losing buckets of extra fluid. Drink up!

5. Stress…Feeling threatened, real or imagined, little or big, can cause dry mouth and have a host of other threat responses. Great, right?

You’ll learn things in your lessons that can help you calm your nervous system. Here’s a little tip from Met and Broadway star Audra McDonald! https://youtu.be/UX5-LPTJln8?t=106

Oiling Up Your Voice – Some Things You Can Do On Your Own ! Drink 2 pints of water upon arising. ! Eat fruits and veggies with high water content. ! Drink 8-16 ounces of water every hour. ! Breathe in steam a couple of times a day, or put a warm, moist washcloth over your mouth for a few minutes. It’s especially helpful to do before bedtime and first thing in the morning. ! Sleep with a humidifier in the winter. This is a MUST. Get a humidifier if you don’t have one. Save up. Ask for one for Christmas. For professional voice users, not having one is not an option! ! Keep the humidity in your place around forty percent. ! Induce salivation (Anything which causes salivation will also cause laryngeal mucus secretion… All necessary for easy phonation.) ! Twist your tongue around to the side of your mouth and stick the tip of your tongue out at the angle of the lips. While the tongue is in this sideways position, bite down hard enough to hurt, but not hard enough to tear the tissues.

Chew gum… Stick it between your gums and your cheeks. Yep. This is one class where it’s not a crime to chew gum! Dave " Grohl of the Foo Fighters does it . . .

o

"

https://www.radiox.co.uk/artists/foo-fighters/whydoes-dave-grohl-always-chew-gum-when-he-sings/

Grapes! Met Opera Broadway performer Roosevelt Credit swears by grapes in his dressing room. They are hydrating, slippery, and he says it keeps him from reaching for the chocolate and other nottoo-helpful goodies often provided on the catering table. (RooseveltCredit.com)

!

When possible (which is really most of the day and night, and often even during performance, breathe through your nose … It helps to humidify the air on its way to your vocal folds.

!

And follow this link for a few more helpful tips from laryngologist Dr. H. Steven Sims at the Chicago Institute for Voice Care. https://www.chicagovoicecare.com/newsletter.html

Going to the Gym OK, give me 500 pushups… Now! No? Why not? Too much? Too much too soon?

Hmmm…The conditioning of your vocalis and the surrounding muscles is like conditioning any other muscle…It’s best over time and in increments.

Just as in any other type of training, with patience and persistence, you will become conditioned. It’s not magic, it’s biophysics. The magic comes later.

You are a vocal athlete, training for the vocal Olympics. What they have found out in the latest sports medicine also applies to the muscles and tissues that make up your vocal folds, the structures that surround them, what activates them, and the whole house they sit in…your body.

Explore and Imagine: Clap your hands together 26 times. How do they feel? Right away, clap again, this time, loudly, 26 times! Now how do they feel?

FUN FACT: Your vocal folds “clap” together two hundred and sixty times — every second — on middle C! The hard claps are a lot like heavy voice use... calling out in the wilderness, or like those loud, climactic moments in your musical or play. Moreover, there are no nerves in your vocal folds to tell you when you are hurting.

Learning good technique is about learning how to produce sound efficiently, learning to have unlimited dynamic capabilities so you have unlimited expressive capabilities with the least amount of effort. There are ways to sing and speak on stage that will use less pressure on the folds. You’ll learn to do that. But… your vocal folds don’t just get used for your profession. Can you imagine, for instance, being an Olympic swimmer who lives in the ocean, where swimming is an everyday part of life?

Meet Marla Marla lives in a little ocean village where swimming is the primary mode of transportation. But Marla is an exquisitely talented swimmer, and for this human, swimming has become more than a practical way to get from place to place. For Marla, swimming is her deepest passion, and so, she has decided she wants to be a professional swimmer. Marla trains every day in the hope that one day she will accomplish her big dream: a gold medal at the Atlantis Olympics.

Because of where she lives, in addition to her workouts and coaching sessions, she swims to work, swims to the grocery store, swims to the movies. Some swimmers might float part of the way to rest a little, but not her. She loves swimming, and people greet her warmly everywhere she goes. In fact, people particularly love it when she swims, because she is more than a utilitarian swimmer, she is artful. The neighbors have not stopped talking about her backstroke for years! Sure, she gets tired, but she shows up to her Olympic training and pushes through. She’s not tired. No, not at all. Anyway, she’ll bounce back! Right?

Sound familiar? OK, we’re talking about talking. Talking all day long, creating sound with the same folds you want to use for your art. Nature needs those cells to recover, and the more stress you put on your voice, the more recovery time you need. . . .

Did you know that much of what applies to sports medicine and preventing injury applies to voice? According to the American College of Sports Medicine, “at least 48 hours should be allowed between higher intensity exercise of the same muscle groups. This allows your muscles the opportunity to rebuild themselves and reduces the risk of overtraining.

NYU Mount Sinai: Sports Injury Prevention Tips (*italics are from Beth) If it’s true for other muscles, it’s most likely true for your voice.

To help you avoid injuries on the fields, courts, and tracks where you play, our team of medicine experts at Mount Sinai Health System have compiled the following recommendations: Maintain flexibility. It is extremely important that you do dynamic stretches before starting your activity. Cold muscles are more prone to injury, so, while it may be tempting to start playing immediately, you should take a few minutes to do some jumping jacks . . .

•

Explore and Imagine — Sing something cold. Now do 15 minutes of aerobics of your choice. Sing it again. Was there a difference?

•

Use proper technique. Knowing how to play your sport (*instrument!) correctly is essential to playing well and to protecting yourself from injury. An instructor can help you learn how. It helps to balance your body weight…

Explore and Imagine — Lock your knees and sing a song. Now unlock your knees and sing the same song. Was there a difference? Where do you feel your weight into your feet in these two positions? Is it the same or different?

•

Play with the proper equipment for your size and ability.

Imagine — You are a beginning clarinetist, and your teacher gives you a “number one reed.” This is the thinnest reed one can play on, because your embouchure isn’t strong enough yet for anything else. Yet, it’s not making the sounds you had imagined making… those beautiful orchestral sounds you dream of. You want to sound like a professional clarinetist, but you learn that part of what makes professionals sound different is that they play on much thicker reeds. “Number four” reeds make that thicker tone. So here’s the question Do you demand a number four reed right away? Or do you practice delayed gratification and build up to it?

What happens if you don’t wait?

•

Take time to rest. Playing any sport for too long without a break will cause your muscles to be overused, which increases the chances of your being injured.

When we exercise muscles in order to build them up, your muscles are breaking down. In order to build back up, the muscle fibers have to rest. This is often hard to do when in school. There is a lot of practice you can do without your vocal folds. There are other ways to practice that can help you maintain a balance of muscle use to muscle recovery.

•

Ensure proper healing of a previous injury. To avoid reinjuring yourself, check with your doctor to make sure that your injury has recovered fully, and you are clear to resume playing.

When you overdo it, admit it. There’s no shame. We’ve all been there. So ask yourself: “What’s the best way from here?” Rest. Get the help you need. The longer you avoid it, the longer you will be vocally limited. The greatest expression comes from your voice being able to make choices dynamically and with great timbral and pitch variance. This ability comes from technique used on a healthy instrument. It doesn’t matter how great the clarinetist is if the reeds are dry and the cork isn’t greased.

What you can do • Sleep. Get good sleep and enough sleep. Deep sleep helps the immune system to repair.

There is no substitute.

• Warm up, cool down, every morning, every night, just as you would for any other activity at the gym. Stretch into your higher register a few times a day with a straw or other semioccluded vocal tract exercises.

• Stay quiet in loud places... subways, moving cars and buses with the windows open, outdoors, noisy restaurants and clubs... It’s called the “Lombard Effect.” It is proven that we talk more loudly when there is background noise. This is very difficult to overcome, and the background noise will win. Often, you will not have full access to your instrument the next day… if at all.

• Learn how to celebrate joyfully without screaming. Yes, even on a rollercoaster at Disney!

Find quiet places to celebrate with friends. I know, I know... but you are creative! You can find those places and still have fun... just not at the expense of your instrument.

• Elide words and avoid glottal strokes as a rule. What’s a glottal stroke? Say “uh, oh.” That’s it. Except when you need it for certain styles of singing and, or expression in a character.

• When you feel a need to clear your throat, resist it. You can do easy, silent throat clearings.

• Good nutrition for your whole body helps to preserve your voice. Stay away from processed foods. More veggies and fruits. They have water in them.

• Pay attention to acidity in foods and maintain a healthy Ph balance. Protein shakes are a great quick breakfast when you have to run out the door.

Other things to know about (and to avoid): •

Smoking... Smoking will harm you and your voice (and I mean all types.) I know, this is a tough one if you are a smoker. It’s really, really hard. I acknowledge that and empathize. Truly. No judgments. But do what you can to quit. Your voice will feel so much better let alone the other health benefits for a longer, higher quality of life.

•

Second hand smoke, from whatever source, will also irritate that sensitive top layer that needs to come together in order to phonate. So, do what you can to stay out of smoky environments.

•

During heavy voice use, avoid taking anti-inflammatories such as Ibuprofen (Advil), Naproxen Sodium (Aleve) or aspirin. These thin the blood, causing you to be more susceptible to vocal hemorrhage. Not a pretty picture.

•

Avoid excessive exposure to dust and/or chemical odors

•

If you have a sore throat, avoid anything that will numb your throat. No Chloraseptic.

•

Coughing. OK, sometimes you can’t help it, but if you are coughing for whatever reason, you are prone to injury. Take a cough suppressant. Practice silent coughing. If it is persistent, investigate reflux. Speaking of which...

Acid Reflux Acid Reflux Disease has become an epidemic in the United States, and esophageal cancer has risen by 850% since 1970. Because of the way our foods are processed, we are taking in higher and higher levels of acidity. If you are hoarse, especially in the mornings, that could be a sign of reflux... Even if you don’t feel anything. If you think you may be dealing with this, let your teachers know, and they’ll steer you in the right direction for a proper diagnosis and a plan for healing. If you want to read about it, pick up the following book: “Dropping Acid” by Dr. Koufman as a start.

Thanks for taking your time to read this document. There’s a lot here, but you and your vocal journey are worth the investment! I look forward to seeing and hearing you on stage and wish you a long and healthy career! Questions? I’d love to hear from you! Voice@BethFalcone.com Speak. Sing. Sping! ~Beth Falcone

© 2008, (rev. 2022) by Beth Falcone, all right reserved