Singers – Take Care of Your Voice in 7 Easy Steps – Sewing Machines Los Angeles

Since great singing seems such an impossible skill to reach out for, a lot of people who do purchase a career in singing often look for secrets no one knows about. Special habits or products for the voice. Things to do or not to do that turns you into that one unique singer. You might be disappointed as the tips below are very basic and apply to anyone who wants to sing and anyone who can speak CAN pursue a career in singing.

Whether anyone WILL have a career is a whole different story. There is a lot more to it than just opening your mouth and sing. But that’s basically the main thing you need to do to sing. Open your mouth and sing. A lot of people think too much about how to sing and how to be a great singer. Just follow the steps below and you’ll be nicely on your way.

1.Work the body.

Even though all instruments require a healthy body to perform, no instrument depends so much on a healthy body as the voice. When you have an illness while playing guitar or piano or another instrument the instrument will sound the way it usually sounds while singing is almost impossible to do. Even if you can still sing you won’t be able to perform at your best and your voice definitely sounds different.

There for it’s not only necessary to keep your body healthy but in order to improve singing  to your highest possible skill level you need to optimize your body.

What does it mean to optimize your body? It means to train the parts that are used excessively as you sing. These parts are the same as the ones we use when speaking. Your vocal cords, your lungs and abdominal muscles. Train your vocal cords, train your lungs and train your abdominal muscles. You have to be a bit of an athlete in fact. Rather than focusing on your legs you will focus on your voice but just as an athlete you  will have to develop your lungs and muscles.

     A.The vocal cords.

Every muscle in the body that is used often needs training to become flexible. Muscles need to be  active every day in order to perform well. Muscles that are not active lose volume and grow very weak up to not being able to use them. A person who had a broken leg and had to rest for 6 weeks slowly has to build up using it again from taking slow steps to running. Since the vocal cords are also muscles you will have to use them every day. This will automatically make your voice a lot more flexible. We already use our voice everyday to speak but since singing uses a lot more frequencies we don’t use when we speak we need to sing almost daily to get comfortable in our full range.

     B.The breathing system this means the lungs and the abdominal muscles.

Exercising is good for your lungs. You need your lungs to sing thus exercising is great for your voice. Do it several times per week. Even better is to sing out while you exercise but that isn’t always possible. Many sports train the lungs. Running is the most obvious but swimming is even better as it  trains the lungs and abdominal muscles at the same time. Singing while you workout is great if you like belting and want to increase your range.  An article about belting will be published in the future.

2.Stay away from cigarette smoke at all times.

It reduces your range and increases the production of mucus. You will be clearing your throat continuously. Coughing is the best way to clear your throat properly. 

3.Drink no or little alcohol and avoid drinking alcohol at all before singing.

A lot of singers worry about what they should or should not drink. You always see them with a bottle of water in the hand at auditions. That’s because just about every site that gives vocal advice says drink gallons of water. You can never drink enough. I don’t believe those people are singers.

I sing for hours without drinking anything. My throat doesn’t dry out and I never feel uncomfortable. If you feel like you HAVE to drink constantly you might be doing something wrong. Of course you need to drink a lot everyday to keep a healthy body. It’s not so that you have to drink all the time meaning every 3 seconds. Some bottled waters even dry out the throat or give you a very uncomfortable feeling in the throat.   I only drink bits of water when I practise the top of my voice. The notes beyond the C3.

Warm drinks are very good. Cook some water and add lemon and honey to it. Avoid cold drinks with ice right before a show. This depends a little on the overall condition of your body. I’m very sensitive to cold, cold air, a nasty breeze and ice can even  make me cough in wintertime.

A lot of people say you should not drink milk because it increases the forming of mucus. I drink milk everyday and the mucus from drinking milk is nothing compared to what I get from pollution and inhaling cigarette smoke.

I reduced drinking alcohol to almost nothing. It numbs your voice and over time you will get pitch problems. Never drinking does make you more sensitive to alcohol. Now that I hardly ever drink, if I do drink a couple margaritas I can’t sing at all. My voice has absolutely no volume or range left.

4.Eat healthy at all times.

Seems common sense but a whole lot of people are constantly on some special diet. As a singer you’re probably aware of your looks and don’t want to be overweight. Whatever diet you choose make sure you eat regularly. Your voice needs consistent power and all the vocal exercises will not give as much results without regular meals. A poor diet gives a poor sound and a less powerful voice.

Don’t eat heavy meals right before a performance. You will feel tired using your breathing system and instead of digesting the food it might even come back up. Avoid too much spicy food and never eat it right before bedtime. You might want to check your sensitivity to garlic. It produces a gas in the lungs after digestion. My lungs also produce excessive mucus in the days after eating garlic so I avoid eating it at all.

Eat apples. What? Yes! Every day! Apples can perform miracles to your voice. If it happens that you have to sing in a smoky or very dusty  environment your voice  wears out rapidly. Eating an apple-over drinking water- will instantly boost your voice.

5.Take enough sleep.

You might feel strong but your body wears out more than you think and regular lack of sleep decreases your vocal potential.  Too little sleep is also just a matter of time before you get sick.

6.What to do when you have a problem.

You should always feel comfortable before, on and after singing. A sound or feeling you usually don’t have are signs that something is not right. Continuing can seriously damage your voice.  If you think you can’t speak don’t replace it with whispering! See a doctor to see there is no physical problem.

7.Be a good person!

No one can get you a beautiful voice. The color of your voice is the image of your soul.