7 Ways to Take Care of Your Voice

Your voice is your instrument. It is important that you know exactly how to take care of it.
I have a saying... "𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙫𝙤𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨𝙣'𝙩 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙤𝙣 𝙎𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙣 𝙈𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙮."

1. Hydration

Most of the human body is water, on an average of about 60%. The amount of water you have depends on age, sex, and hydration levels.

Water is essential for health as well as your vocal cords. It helps:

To regulate your body temperature
Helps the cells function
It pushes the waste out of your body

Did you know that the vocal cords are the last part of your body to get hydrated? Don't wait until your throat feels dry to start chugging water!

Once it feels dry, you are already dehydrated. If you want your vocal cords hydrated for Sunday. Start on Monday. It takes about 48 hours to properly hydrate your body.

But really you need to hydrate your body properly each day. WHY? Dehydration can cause numerous medical issues in addition to losing flexibility with the vocal cords. That can make your vocal cords an easy target for damage.

The percentage of water in the body changes with age. Babies have a very high percentage of water in their bodies, while older adults have less.

People with a higher percentage of body fat are more likely to have a lower percentage of water in their bodies.

The following tables give the average percentages and ranges of water in the body, according to sex and age:

Eat This Not That!

𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐬𝐞, 𝐲𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐭, ice cream, and other dairy products. Dairy can create phlegm and that gets in the way of your natural tone.
𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐬 can cause acid reflux and irritate your vocal cords. Then You may need to clear out your throat, which can inflame and damage vocal fold

𝐂𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜. This means it makes you go to the restroom more often. And it dehydrates your vocal folds. Your voice needs to stay lubricated in order to work well.
𝐂𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞 these foods before you sing...Foods that are natural and easily digested. Food is your fuel--that's why it's directly related to

your ability to produce vocal power!

Rest

When you're young it is easy to push your body to its limits, but we want sustainability. Rest is crucial!

If you have been practicing for over 15 mins and you find yourself "pushing" to make things happen. 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐏 you need a break. You don’t want to get hoarse or damage your vocal cords! Or worse... get hoarse before the end of your set.

Get a good night's sleep before you sing. If you wake up with a “frog” in your throat you might have experienced acid reflux. Consider raising the top part of your bed to avoid the acid from sitting on your vocal cords while you sleep. Gross, I know, but it is very common and very damaging.

If your job requires you to sing often. You need to plan some vocal rest days. Yup.. that also means NO TALKING, and NO SINGING... you cannot keep pushing your body and not honoring what it needs. It won't show up to perform for you.

4. Drink This

Coldwater shocks the muscles and stops them from working as well, so warm water is best, not hot.

Warm Water, Honey & Lemon

This is a simple recipe. The honey coats the throat and creates a protective layer.
That acid from the lemon helps to get rid of any phlegm that might be hanging around.

Herbal Tea, Honey, Lemon & Ginger

Make sure it is light caffeine, like green tea. And then you can mix the rest in.
Ginger is anti-inflammatory and also has an awesome way of opening up the sinuses...

Phlegm Reducer

Drink ½-1 cup of pineapple juice. This helps to reduce phlegm buildup and soothes the throat. There is also a really great essential oil that helps to reduce phlegm!

Breathe Easy-Traditional Medicinals

Breathe easy is one of my favorites! It is a Mint tea. The natural menthol in mint helps to clear the airways so that you can breathe easily. Mint is also good for your digestive system – if this is not functioning properly, you will have problems using your lungs and diaphragm muscle, which are essential for singing. The fermented tea is also good for your digestive system and can help to settle your stomach if you are nervous before a performance.

Throat Coat-Traditional Medicinals

Throat Coat Tea- is also a great find at the grocery store. It contains Slippery Elm. It's considered the throat’s best friend when the mucous membranes of the throat and lungs are swollen and inflamed. It is a demulcent, which means it soothes mucous membranes by creating a smooth film to cover and soothe the irritated tissue. This is why slippery elm is one of the best choices to help soothe and relieve a dry, irritated throat.

5. Natural Remedies...

I have a whole class dedicated to this below.

Did you know that there are V=Alternative Ways To Take Care of Your Voice on Sundays?

Essential oils help all Body Systems. They are effective because they are small molecules. This basically means they have the ability to enter cells very quickly!

Because the steroid sprays and antibiotics might help temporarily but they come with some huge side effects.

So if you suffer from seasonal allergies really any respiratory issues. You will want my Natural remedies class for the voice.
Check this Masterclass on Remedies for your throat.

Recipies In The Class:

𝗠𝘂𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿 - let's face it we might not want to eliminate everything from our diet. 😂 But yet we know what mucus does to our singing.😝

𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗼𝗮𝘁 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗲𝘀- these will keep you healthy before you get exposed to anything!

𝗝𝘂𝗺𝗽𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗩𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝘂𝗹𝗮-keeping a high frequency = energy.

𝗦𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝘂𝗹𝗮-That is everything it says it is. Brings down the anxiety and allows you to focus.

𝗦𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗼𝗮𝘁 𝗦𝗽𝗿𝗮𝘆- Keep this in your pocket at all times on Sunday or whenever you sing.

6. Warm-Ups

Many people leading worship overlook warm-ups! Especially if you are naturally talented. NBA players are naturally gifted too, but you will always find them warming up and preparing for every game. This helps to avoid injury. Warm-ups don’t have to be complicated. Do it from home In the shower, before you head out IN your car...which is what I did often.

The Basic 5 note ascending, descending scale on the vowel ee. Shape your mouth like an “o” but sing “ee”. If that is too hard, try it on an "ah". It makes it much easier. 👉🏼

7. Posture

Posture is important cause we don't want to cut off our air supply!!

𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐤 on the 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐝𝐟.

Schedule a free 𝗩𝗢𝗖𝗔𝗟 𝗔𝗨𝗗𝗜𝗧. This is where I will listen to your voice to give you non-judgmental feedback. And give you any tools you might need to improve your voice. Or just help you get to your next step.

VOCAL AUDIT Wanna know more?