3 More Tips for Keeping Your Voice Healthy
In our recent post 3 Tips for Keeping Your Voice Healthy, we discussed three ways for students to focus on vocal health and vocal hygiene, working from the inside out (focusing on good health and rest, making smart lifestyle choices, and knowing when to seek help). In this post, we’re sharing three more tips students can use to keep their voices healthy and strong. These ones focus on practical physical techniques that students should use during drama classes, rehearsals, and while performing.
1. Focus on proper body alignment and posture.
Students must employ good posture when speaking and singing. No slouching or slumping over – stand up straight, with the shoulders relaxed. When the spine is straight, with feet flat on the floor, the lungs are able to fill to capacity with air, and the throat is able to open fully. This makes singing and speaking much easier. As an added bonus, standing up straight makes you look taller and more confident.
Practicing and rehearsing with good body alignment will make it easier to make the transition from standing to moving or dancing while speaking or singing. It is true that students will not always be standing perfectly straight while they are performing. For example, many of the performers in the musical Tarzan are generally performing in a squatting position with their arms and shoulders curled forwards – like gorillas, of course. However, learning and practicing proper body technique creates muscle memory, and when students do need to transition from standing to movement while speaking or singing, those good habits that they have practiced will stick with them.
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2. Open your mouth and relax your jaw.
Do your students always ask to use microphones when they’re performing? Well, if they open their mouths, then they will be able to be heard without having to depend on a microphone. Students must think of their voices as instruments. Think about a clarinet or a trumpet – the bell on the end of the instrument is flared open so you can hear it. Similarly, trying to sing through a pursed or tight-lipped mouth is very difficult – not only is a performer difficult to hear, they are more likely to mumble or slur their words.
In addition to opening their mouths, students must focus on releasing tension from their jaws. Holding tension in the jaw area makes it equally difficult to get sound out – and when the sound does come out easily, it is often sounds strained or tense.
Have students practice relaxing their jaws by yawning out loud together, reciting vowels out loud in an exaggerated fashion (students should scrunch up, stretch and relax their entire face while holding the vowel sounds for a count of three), or massaging their jaw muscles.
I also learned an interesting technique from a yoga instructor – if you are feeling tension in the jaw, focus on actively lowering your tongue from the roof of your mouth. It’s fascinating once you are aware of it, and it really works!
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3. Warm-ups are crucial.
I’ll say it again – warm-ups are crucial! Just as students must warm up their bodies before commencing physical movement or dance onstage, it is equally important for students to warm up their voices before performing. We warm up to prevent strain and injuries on our muscles, and the vocal folds are no different. Jumping right into a strenuous vocal performance without warming up is a great way to strain the vocal folds, which can lead to vocal injury or nodes. Vocal folds are very delicate, and warming up helps to relax those muscles and remove excess mucus (which is why a lot of performers don’t drink milk before a big show, as dairy products can “coat your throat”).
Students who practice vocal warm-ups daily (even outside of rehearsals) will find that their voices feel stronger and that they are able to speak and sing for longer periods of time without feeling stressed or strained. Even 15 minutes each day is helpful. Simple warm-ups can involve deep breathing, humming, and lip trills.
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