If you’re like most people, you probably use your vocal muscles more than any other muscles in your body. You probably also abuse them more than any other muscle. As a worship leader, it is vitally important that you take care of your voice. I’d like to go over some helpful things and point out some harmful things related to vocal use. I am in to way making this a complete vocal class being as I have not the time nor the full training to be of professional help, but I want to give you some pointers.
If it hurts when you sing, then you are hurting your voice. Most of this comes from tension found throughout the body ; the jaw, tongue, larynx, neck, shoulders, back, legs, etc.
Prolonged singing with tension, singing higher than you really should be, and singing longer than you should be is harmful to your voice.
One vocal problem is vocal nodes, or screames nodules. You can get this from screaming (all you SEC football fans), or overuse of the voice. Vocal nodes are basically little callouses that form on your vocal chords that make them unable to completely close during phonation(making a sound). Symptoms include chronic hoarsness and sore throat. Trust me people, I’ve seen pictures of this. It’s gross.
Another vocal problem is reflux. Actually reflux is the number one cause of vocal damage in singers. This is when your esophagus fails to properly block the acid from your stomach and it gets in your voice box and damages it. If you suffer from acid reflux alot, and are a singer, consider going to your doctor or ENT (ear nose throat) specialist about it.
What can you do? Be good to your voice! Drink plently of fluids. I don’t mean take a swig of water before you go out and sing, water doesn’t pass over your vocal chords when you swallow. I’m talking about full body hydration. Drink often and alot. Caffine can be a danger to the voice too, because it is a diaretic and prevents water from being absorbed into the body. So consider a cut in caffine. Give your voice a break. If you’ve sang alot today, that’s enough. Your vocal chords need rest after working out just like all of your other muscles. Also I’d recommend not eating right before you sing, as this can agrivate reflux.
Or you could just ignore all of this and sound like a duck when you get old.
I’m not sure what I’m gonna talk about next time . . . I might be all musiced out . . . nah. Peace.
