- Take care of your instrument which happens to be your voice as this blog is all about singing. You can’t go out and buy another set of vocal chords, so be sure to treasure them. This means, water water water 💦 It is so simple but we often skip it or do not realize how much we require. What to avoid before singing? Make sure to never stuff yourself, especially before a performance. Some foods and beverages to avoid prior to singing are mucous producing foods such as dairy, stimulants such as caffeine and spicy foods, soft drinks, refined sugars, chocolate, iced drinks and alcohol. Pro Tip! How to sing or perform when getting over a cold with excess mucous? Hydration in the form of steam (head over a bowl of boiling water, with a towel over your head), is seen by many singers as the very best way to get the folds hydrated, and to shift thick mucus which might clog them up. This saved me in 2018 when I was getting over a cold but had to perform Phantom of the Opera at River Rock Casino.
- Practice, practice, practice and be patient. Practicing scales, improving your tongue-soft palate coordination, repeating tongue and lip trills and simply humming are a few fabulous little warm-up exercises to get your vocal cords loose and ready for singing. To improve your range start your vocal warm ups with humming. Don’t push too hard or strain your voice. Humming is almost like a massage and if done consistently as part of your routine you will be able to increase your lower and higher range.
- Breathing – Never skip breathing exercises. No matter what level you are, every singer will agree that breath control is the most important foundational component to singing well, with ease and it will protect your voice so you can sing for a lifetime. This is what gives power to all your registers. Breathing exercises are an excellent start for those looking to improve their ability to sing and while it is tempting to just skip all the warm ups and learn a song by singing it over and over – you will not improve as much as you would like and often times it will cause injury. Breathing is what will make your tone, pitch and strength to your voice.
Thank you for reading and I look forward to building this blog with suggestions from you. I will be taking each one of these tips and going into more detail with specific exercises for breathing technique. Lastly, there are many approaches to singing and vocal coaches will have their methodology. Rather than debating which way is right or wrong, I believe one of the most important parts of finding success goes beyond talent but being consistent. Think of your vocal training just like fitness training.