Tips, tricks and recipes for vocalists

Welcome to Autumn! It is my favorite season. With Autumn come many of my favorite things, like romantic firelit evenings, holidays, hot spiced cider, leaves to crunch, sweets to eat, and so much more. But with Autumn’s cool winds and atmosphere of celebration also comes cold and flu season, and this year is shaping up to be especially dreary in that regard.

I have been a singer for most of my life. Since I was five, in fact. Getting a cold for me in the middle of my busiest performance time (the holidays), means disaster to my schedule and my finances, so maintaining my health is essential to my work. If I book a gig, the last thing anyone wants is to hear a sick singer. Here are my tips and tricks for taking care of my body and my voice, all year long, but especially during this crazy time.

There are a million home remedies for the voice. Every singer has something he or she swears by. Vinegar, lemon, baking soda, gargling salt water, cough drops, steak, apples, sex, and shots of Yeigermister, whiskey or wine… Everyone has a preference as to what they feed their vocal chords before or after a performance. Let me start off by validating or debunking a few of these.

Anything caffeinated or alcoholic will dry out the tissues of your body. Our voice needs to be properly hydrated to prevent friction on the larynx. Too much friction is damaging to the chords.

Vinegar or lemon juice are highly acidic. For some body types, this blasts through mucus deposits on the vocal chords lickity split. (This post is not for the squimish, did I mention that?) :-d Take it easy on the acidic stuff, orange or other citrus juices, and vinegar or syrupy things like soda. While it may feel like it clears the mucus off, the body will naturally respond to this by creating a bunch of new mucus to coat the throat, which is supposed to be mucusy to some degree, and you’re back where you started less than an hour later. All flemmed up.

Scalding hot tea, or ice cold water alternately swell or shrink the tissues of the throat just enough to mess with your sense of pitch. Drink room temp water or warm to hot tea instead, especially during a performance.

Sex? steak? Apples? Um, you’re on your own there. :-d

So what does work? What do the pros use? All of the above, really, but there are a few things I personally use that have been backed up by science and anatomy, and my ENT (ear nose and throat doctor).

Hydration is number one. Take your body weight, divide by two and add half of that, or take seventy five percent of your body weight. That is hown many ounces of water you should be drinking daily. Example, a 200 pound man needs 150 ounces of water daily to be properly hydrated. That is a basic ground rule. If your body is higher in fat, or muscle tissue, the numbers may change slightly. Have a good working knowledge of your own body, and learn to judge your water intake. Watch your urine color. The darker the urine, the more water you need. Urine should be clear, especially as a vocalist. If you are on tour, watch climate and temperature changes, as this can have an impact on how much water you need.

I drink ginger tea before performances, especially long ones. The tea is hot, but not hot enough to scald the mouth. I drink room temperature water or warm water during the show, and more tea after to soothe the throat. Keeping well-hydrated before, during, and after a performance is crucial to good vocal health. Ginger is excellent for the body, astringent, but not too acidic, cleansing and soothing at the same time. If you have stage fright, ginger is a fabulous anti-nausea agent.

Do yourself a favor, go to bed! Yep, next tip… get plenty of rest. The same tips they give you to avoid getting sick are the same ones that will keep your voice in top form. If you sing professionally, these rules are etched in stone if you want long vocal life. There are so many reasons why sleep will help you sing better. It boosts the immune system, relaxes the muscle structure, gives your vocal chords much-needed quiet time… a million other reasons. Make sure you give yourself a few hours of awake time before you sing. This allows the body to slowly wake up, and the muscles to warm up. Stretch out or do some cardio work before you sing to allow oxygen to saturate the bloodstream, an warm up the breath flow through the lungs an the muscles surrounding the vocal chords.

Rest, hydration.. tip number three… vocal care. If you’re throat hurts, there is probably a reason, believe it or not. Listen to that. If you sang heavily the night before, go light or not at all the next day. Allow the tissues time to recuperate. They say not to work out on weights for the same muscle group two days in a row… well, treat your vocal chords and singing mechanism the same way you would treat any other muscle group in your body. Give it rest and growing room. If you get tired singing during rehearsal, back off until you build up enough stamina to sing for longer periods of time. This will gradually happen, just as muscle bulk gradually happens in your arms or abs. Don’t expect miracles overnight.

As you care for your body, your voice will improve. It’s that simple. Good rest, plenty of water, good food, routine check ups, and plenty of relaxation and exercise will balance your voice. Ladies, go easy on your vocals during your menstrual cycle if possible. You may find yourself slightly flat, or cloudy sounding because the tissues are swollen and cleansing. Respect your body’s need to clean itself, and be gentle to yourself.

In crystal healing, wear jade, or blue lace agate at the throat chakra to increase clean vocal production and vocal stamina and clarity.

Warm up thoroughly before performance, your high and low registers, and your mixed voice. Remember head voice and chest voice build differently, like working your biceps and triceps. Strengthen each individually, and then work on putting them together cleanly.

Singer’s tea recipe
For sore throat, hoarse voice, and overall vocal health

8 to 12 oz. boiling water, filtered
1 tsp lemon juice
½ tsp grated orange peel
2 tbsps grated fresh ginger root
A sprig of fresh mint
1 cardimum pod, cracked open
1 tsp or less cinnamon
Native honey to taste

Allow all ingredients except the honey to steep in boiling water for 6 to 8 minutes.
Strain tea and add honey. Wait for tea to be warm to hot before drinking.

Add licorice root for irritated throat or congestion.
Add rose hips for coughing or swelling and redness of throat.
Add extra mint to reduce fever.

Break a leg, or as they say to german opera singers, and as my voice teacher taught me, as she kneed me in the butt and pretended to spit over my shoulder… Toi! Toi! Toi!

Happy Singing

-Sassy

Rocks and Runes Reminder

Namaste!

Don’t forget to come join me for Sunday’s with sassy at Rocks and Runes. today, reading crystals, doing healings, and answering all your questions about minerals. No appointments necessary today, all are more than welcome. If you are not in the Southern California area, don’t worry, I do phone work as well, Just give Wendy at Rocks and Runes a call to schedule your appointment. We can find you the perfect crystal,, and Wendy has the best collection of energetic healing stones I’ve ever worked with. Come hang with us today, Sept. 6, from 1:00 to 5:00 PM and discover how a few little pretty rocks can transform your world. I’ll be there from one to five every Sunday this month and the first two Sundays in October.

Please see the Rocks and Runes website for directions and contact info.

Love, peace and light,

-Sassy