in practicing for next week's show, i've run into some concerns about singing and wearing out my voice. my teacher had some helpful words to say about it, so i've posted her response in hopes that it will be as helpful to others as it is to me. plus, i couldn't resist making a reference to The Little Mermaid. imagine how tragic would it be if i couldn't tell a dashing prince that i'm actually half-fish.
Q: Hi Amy! While practicing for this show, I've been singing more frequently and am worried that I'm going to wear out my voice. The show next week is going to be 2 hours, and I'm noticing that as I run through the songs, my voice gets hoarse, cracks in certain ranges and hurts a little bit. What should I do? Is there a way that I can build up endurance?
A: Hi Parker, if your voice is hurting or cracking it means you are pushing your voice too much. You need to take it easy so you don't do damage to your vocal chords. Supporting from your diaphragm will help a lot so it does some of the work and not your throat. When you are practicing don't push as hard as you would at the concert. Sing lightly with a lot of air. When it comes time for the concert your voice won't be worn out. Drink lots of water and make sure you are resting. Try practicing for shorter intervals and give your voice a rest in between practicing. Your voice is probably cracking where your break is, so try when you are practicing to go up in your head voice sooner. You can sing it the way you usually do in the concert, but for practicing it might be easier on your voice. Ultimately, you are not used to singing for such long periods of time so your voice needs to get used to it. Make sure you are warming up with some vocal exercises before you sing, but if it hurts stop for a while. You don't want to hurt your voice. It is especially important to not overstrain your voice, as this how people develop vocal nodes, which can be very painful and can cause permanent damage to your vocal cords.
0 comments:
Post a Comment