Avoiding Vocal Injury During Performances and Rehearsals
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Avoid over-singing. If you sing too loudly, you can cause irritation or bleeding on the vocal cords, which will make you hoarse and give you pain. Over a long period of time, over-singing can give you vocal nodules. Over-singing can occur while trying to out-sing other chorus members, or while your group is practicing over other noise in the room, or trying to sing over other pick-up groups at an afterglow.
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Record yourself before and after your performance or rehearsal. Then compare the tapes. If you sound more hoarse after singing, there is something about your technique that should be fixed.
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Use good posture. Good posture assists you with proper support. Without proper support, you have to abuse the muscles in and around your larynx to make sound, which leads to the same problems as over-singing. Most people don't think of a sprained ankle as a voice complaint, but the ankle pain will lead to poor vocal support! Be careful of over-exuberance with stage presence moves; if you are off balance, your support is impaired. Stand with your weight slightly forward on the balls of your feet, with your knees slightly flexed.
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Try to avoid other people's cigarette smoke before singing, as it will irritate your vocal cords and make you hoarse.
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Don't drink alcoholic beverages before or during singing. Alcohol dilates the blood vessels, and makes you susceptible to injury.
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Don't eat or drink unfamiliar foods right before singing. Many people have mild unrecognized food allergies. A little swelling in the vocal cords can lead to hoarseness, and make injury more likely.
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Be careful if you are flying to a contest or performance; airplanes are terrible for singers. Cabin air is very dry and can irritate the mucous membranes. So keep drinking juice or water. The cabins are very noisy, so don't try to sing or have a long conversation on the plane. A nice snooze is a good idea.
Vocal Health in Everyday Life
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Exercise your voice for five or ten minutes every morning, before you start work. Sing a single-octave scale in the shower, for example. This way, you can limber up your vocal folds before your job can irritate them, especially if you talk a lot during the day. Everyone knows the need to warm up before singing, but few realize that warming up before a day of talking can also improve your voice and protect the vocal folds. The neighbors will love you!
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Keep the noise in your workplace to a minimum. This will avoid overuse problems from shouting over noise. Try not to talk on the phone or to co-workers over the noise of computer printers, typewriters, copiers, etc.
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Keep singing and talking in the car to a minimum. Trying to out-shout auto noise can lead to overuse problems. Keep the ventilation fan off or on low. If you practice with a barbershop tape in the car, keep the volume low and try to sing softly.
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Try to use good posture while talking at work, just as you would when singing. With good air support, you can dramatically improve the efficiency of your voice and avoid overuse problems.
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Stay in good physical shape; exercise regularly. If your stomach and chest muscles are strong, your air support will be good.
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Avoid cigarette smoke. Everyone knows that smoking is bad for singers, but "second-hand smoke" can also make you hoarse.
Protecting Your Voice in Illness
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If you catch a cold or other upper respiratory infection, turn on a humidifier or vaporizer, especially during the winter. A stuffy nose will cause you to mouth-breathe, which dries the throat and larynx. Either the steam-type or cool-mist type will do. Don't put Vicks or anything else in the water; plain water is most effective.
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Drink lots of fluids. The best indicator of your hydration status is the color of your urine. If it is dark yellow, you need more fluids. You're doing fine if your urine looks like water. (Check with your doctor on this if you have a heart or kidney condition.)
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Avoid aspirin. It makes bleeding injuries in your vocal cords more likely. Tylenol (acetaminophen) is a better choices for fever or pain in singers.
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Avoid antihistamines and decongestants if possible. Most nonprescription cold remedies contain them, but they are too drying for singers. Mucolytic agents that break up mucus, such as Organidin (by prescription) or plain Robitussin (over the counter), help liquify secretions without drying your mucus membranes if you have a cold.
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Avoid Vitamin C in excessive doses. It has no proven benefit in fighting colds, but it is a mild diuretic and will tend to dry out your body.
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Pay attention to your general health. Constipation or diarrhea will make your stomach uncomfortable and ruin your support. Chronic allergies cause swelling in the mucous membranes of the larynx; the nasal stuffiness also leads to mouth breathing, causing excessive dryness in the larynx. These and other minor conditions, if untreated, will affect your singing.
If you have hoarseness or cough lasting more than a couple of weeks, see your otolaryngologist right away.
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