As a professional singer and vocal educator for over fifteen years and counting, this has got to be the question I hear more often than any other. Especially when I meet brand new people at parties and social events; the moment they find out I’m a voice teacher, dollars to donuts, the above question is inevitably the first to pop out of their mouths.

And they’re not the only ones. Over the years, I’ve had countless students ask me the same question, or some variation of it. I think in doing so, they are examining the validity of voice training in the first place. They are questioning the common belief, the contention made by many, that you either “can sing” or you “can’t”; you’re either “born with the talent”, or you “aren’t”. And I think they are also questioning what seems like an unlikely assertion made by many supposed experts that, somehow, what seems like natural, God-given talent can actually be taught and learned.

I believe the asking of these questions is a very positive thing. Throughout history, we as a race have had to contend with all varieties of charlatans and pseudo-scientists; men and women claiming to be “experts” in some esoteric remedy or little-known methodology, offering what seem like too-good-to-be-true shortcuts to take off the weight, grow back the hair, heal the disease, get rich quick…or magically grant us the ability or the skill we covet in mere days or weeks that some are blessed with a natural proficiency for, and others spend years developing.

These gurus often speak up a storm, while providing little or no concrete scientific evidence to support their claims. So, I think it’s a good thing to question these allegations when they are made to us. Healthy skepticism gives us the tools of perspective, which allows us to discern the differences between fact, opinions, and flat-out falsehoods. It forces the claimant to back up their pronouncements with more than just confidently delivered, convincing-sounding factoids.

All of that being said: I feel that “Can anyone learn how to sing?” is too narrow a question to ask. The concept of “being a good singer” is far too open to opinion and personal bias, and there are way too many factors involved in either being a good singer, or becoming one, to answer what seems like a simple question with an equally simple answer.

A much better question to ask is:

“Can anyone learn to become a better singer?”

My answer: ABSOLUTELY.

As a general rule, all singers, be they total beginners or seasoned professionals, have both negative habits and gaps in their knowledge that hinder them from being the very best they can be. For the trained and untrained alike, whether we’re talking about poor breath support
and emotional tension-triggers choking away their range and stamina, or a lack of access to certain kinds of resonance limiting their power and projection; whether a lack of ear training limits their ability to match pitch or improvise/adlib to their fullest potential, or an ignorance of how to care for their instrument prevents it from performing to its optimal capacity, proper guidance and education combined with dedication and diligence can help most any singer, no matter what their level, minimize their boundaries and embrace their strengths to ascend to the next level on their journey to become the singer they strive to be.

This principle can be applied to all facets of life and self-improvement, not just to singing. I can cite my baseball story from my first article, An Introduction to Voice Technique as an excellent example. In a later article, I’ll also illustrate how this principle of voice training (and even overall self-improvement) is evident in the realm of self-defense training. That article will also delve into a very important aspect of singing and emotional work: a physiological mechanism called Fight or Flight. Understanding Fight or Flight is pivotal to reaching your vocal potential, no matter what your level of experience or training, so keep your eyes out for that article when it’s posted.

In the meantime, I return to our original query: can any singer improve? With the right education, effort, and diligence, can you learn to become a better singer and performer than you are currently? I absolutely believe you can. Seeking out the right information, like you are by reading this blog, is a huge part of the battle. And putting it into practice on a consistent basis over time is the rest of it. Make no mistake: if you are reading this article, and others like it, you’ve already taken the first essential step towards becoming the singer you hope to be. Keep seeking out the best information you can find on the subject of voice training and performance, and be consistent in your efforts to apply it to your own singing, and you’ll have nowhere to go but forward.

Have a question about singing technique, voice training, or performance, or an article you’d like to see written? ASK DAN.

 

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We’ll start with the obvious culprit: DAIRY. Yes, indeed…milk products being potentially harmful to the voice is another well established belief that just so happens to be completely true. Consuming dairy products can cause a thick, heavy phlegm to form and coat the vocal folds (not to be confused with the thin, protective mucosal lining that coats the folds, that is both healthy and vital to a well functioning voice). With the vocal folds coated and weighed down by this phlegm, the normal amount of air pressure required to make them vibrate just won’t do the trick. We end up having to use more air pressure just get our phlegm-laddened vocal folds to vibrate the way they normally do…and as I’ve mentioned before , using extra pressure for singing can be inefficient and limiting to start, and potentially harmful and damaging overall to your voice.

Also try to avoid pasteurized citric-acid rich juices (orange, lemon, grapefruit); they are also phlegm inducing and create a similar effect. Again, this is not to be confused with the freshly squeezed stuff; freshly squeezed juices are great.

Other drinks/foods that can cause a similar phlegm: Processed soy products, like soy milk and soy yogurt. Yes, I know…many people tout soy products as a flawless replacement for the demon-dairy. Unfortunately, soy isn’t really much better. It causes the same kind of phlegm, and can also cause gas if you’re not used to using it. A belly full of gas is never a good thing when you’re trying to sing.

A better dairy replacement than Soy Milk would be Almond Milk. It’s highly nutritious, without the digestive issues. If you don’t believe me, do a couple of google-searches: “Soy Milk Vs. Almond Milk”, “Soy Milk Dangers”, “Almond Milk Dangers”…you’ll see what I mean.

As long as we’re talking about drinks, another culprit is alcohol. It’s a diuretic, so it draws moisture right out of the body. Ever notice when you’re out having a few drinks, and you find yourself having to urinate a lot? “Man, this beer’s really running through me!” What you’re actually doing is not only peeing out the moisture from the beer/wine/liquor itself, but you’re also losing a lot of moisture that was in your system before you even took your first alcoholic sip.

When I have a few drinks, I make it a point to re-hydrate at the same time. For each beer or drink or two that I have, I’ll drink a glass of water. You should try to do the same; doing so will keep you amply hydrated, despite the effects of the alcohol you’re imbibing.

Similarly, though to a lesser degree, try to curb your consumption of caffeine-containing products. Caffeine is also a diuretic, though not to the same degree that alcohol is. So, if you can avoid it, don’t drink a liter of Coca Cola before a recording session.

While we’re on the subject of soda: any drinks containing carbonation also aren’t great choices for pre-singing beverages. They fill your stomach with a large surplus of air, and with your diaphragm pushing against the walls of your stomach with every breath you take, they can cause cramping, burping, or hiccups while singing.

Wrapping up the “drinks” portion of this article: as was mentioned in VOCAL HYGIENE – PART 3: Dietary “Do-s”, you should absolutely avoid drinking cold liquids before you sing. The exact reasons why will be discussed in a later article, but for time being, rest assured: cold liquids are a no-no. Stick with hot, warm, or room temperature liquids.

Moving on from liquids…in addition those of a dairy or soy-based persuasion, what kinds of foods should be avoided before you sing?

To start, you’ll want to try and stay away from overly salty or spicy foods. And again, I’m not saying you should avoid them entirely, any more than I’m saying you shouldn’t have the occasional ice cream sundae; but the last thing you want to do is have a spicy curry dish or a salty pork dish before vocalizing. Salty foods not only dry out the throat, but also draw moisture right out of the body.

Spicy foods can do the same thing salty foods do. They also dry out and irritate our throats, causing our old arch-nemesis, phlegm, to form and coat the vocal folds.

You should also try and stay away from foods that are overly processed. Fast food, frozen dinners from the supermarket…anything that has been altered dramatically from its natural state with chemicals and chemical reactions, *heat, and blast freezing, etc., should be avoided before you sing. Anything the body has difficulty breaking down will cause you stress, and cost you valuable energy that you should be devoting to your performance, not to mention dehydrating the heck out of you in the process. Again, if you want to go out for the occasional Big Mac or Pizza Hut Pan Pizza, I won’t stop ya…just at least try not to do it on the day when you’ll be singing, or, at the very least, do it after you’re finished.

(*Just to clarify: when I talk about food that is altered dramatically from its natural state with heat, I’m not referring to ordinary foods that you cook or order to have cooked for you before you eat,; I’m not saying you have to eat everything raw. (: Meats, breads, or vegetables that are purchased as-is and prepared/cooked in your home or a restaurant do not fall into the same category as something that is over-processed ahead of time, pre-prepared, and altered with flash heat, chemicals, and preservatives, and frozen, like a Big Mac or a TV dinner.)

I’m sure I don’t need to get into details when I say that cigarettes, marijuana, and other drugs are also extremely bad for the voice and should be avoided in general if possible, but especially before you sing.

One final biggie to avoid: MENTHOL. Contrary to popular belief, it is NOT good for your voice at all.

Let me paint a picture for you: you have a sore throat…what do you do? You take a HALLS Menthol throat drop…and you feel this nice, cool sensation soothing the back of your throat. What can be wrong with that?

Remember when we talked about that protective mucosal lining that protects the vocal folds? Well, the menthol literally STRIPS AWAY that protective lining, and dilates the blood vessels in your throat in the process. Now, since your throat is presumably around the same temperature as your body (97-98.7 degrees), what do you think happens to your bare, unprotected vocal folds and dilated throat blood vessels when you inhale air that is cooler than 97-98.7 degrees into your throat? You guessed it: you feel a “cool, soothing sensation”…cold air hitting your unprotected throat and folds!

Sucking on a Halls, or Fisherman’s Friend, or a similar menthol product when your voice and throat are compromised isn’t really any different than going on a hike or a marathon when you’re sporting a badly sprained ankle; you’re adding a stressing element to something that is already compromised.

A better choice would be a Slipper Elm Throat Lozenger, or Liquorish Root, or tea made out of either Slippery Elm or Liquorish Root. There are also some fantastic all-natural throat sprays that are phenomenal for helping you work through dry throat and vocal strain. We’ll discuss those elements, and several others, further in an upcoming article on herbs, products, supplements, and practices that can have miracle effects on the voice and throat.

In the meantime, eat well, drink well, and sing well.

Have a question about singing technique, voice training, or performance, or an article you’d like to see written? ASK DAN.

 

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But what exactly do I mean by “fluid intake”? Besides water, what kinds of specific liquids are healthy for the voice? Which ones can be harmful? How about foods? What can or should we eat before we sing, and what foods should we try to avoid, to help us maintain optimal vocal ability and health?

Let’s answer these questions by first introducing another important physical element to the list. We’ve already familiarized ourselves with the diaphragm and the vocal folds : now, let’s become acquainted with the SALIVARY GLANDS.

The salivary glands are found in and around the mouth and throat, and are activated when the taste buds detect elements of taste-perception (sweet, sour, bitter, salty…) in the mouth and top of the throat. The salivary glands then secrete saliva (also known as “spit”), a liquid oral substance which aids in the breakdown of the food in the mouth.

What many people don’t realize is that salivary glandular ducts are not ONLY present in the mouth; there are salivary ducts located DIRECTLY on the vocal folds themselves.

When the salivary glands are stimulated and the mouth starts to “water”, the salivary ducts located on the vocal folds release a lubricant, and the folds are INSTANTANEOUSLY re-hydrated and re-moisturized.

I mentioned in our last article on Vocal Hygiene, Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate! Why hydration is important to singing , that from the time you actually drink something, to the time the moisture actually reaches and benefits the vocal folds , it takes about twenty minutes. So, it’s very useful, and extremely cool, that if you know how to appropriately stimulate your salivary glands even moments before you are about to sing (or even DURING a vocal performance), you can moisturize and lubricate your voice in mere seconds.

So…which foods and drinks work best when it comes to stimulating the salivary glands and keeping the vocal folds moisturized?

To start with, the best things to imbibe for salivary gland stimulation are those which are either very sweet, or contain a “sweet-tartness”. Studies have shown that sweet and tart flavors stimulate the salivary glands more than any other flavors.

I’m sure your dentist is going to kill me for saying this, but one of the very best tools are hard candies, particularly those with a fruity sweet tart flavor. Jolly Ranchers, fruity Lifesavers (not the minty kinds), lollypops…all fantastic for instantaneously moisturizing the folds. I’ll never forget how one of my vocal mentors had a large bowl of Jolly Rancher candies on the table right in front of his piano, at all times. I would suck on them both before the lesson, and during it (not in the middle of singing, of course; when we were in between songs and exercises, or just chatting), and I was blown away by what a difference it always made. I utilize the tool of stimulating the salivary glands even today, before and during singing, either in a recording session or at a live performance.

By the way, one of the most well-believed conceptions of vocal hygiene is that singers should avoid SUGAR at all costs, because it “coats”, or “closes up” the throat. That, my dear friends, is what is known as a WIVES TALE. There have never been any studies that I’m aware of that have shown sugar to have any detrimental effect on the voice at all (and believe me, I’ve looked). Conversely, I have seen several studies (and have heard of many more) that show how beneficial sweet flavors, often those containing sugars, can be for salivary gland stimulation, and keeping the voice lubricated and limber. I’ve been recommending hard candies to a multitude of singers over the years, and have seen nothing but positive results.

Please, let me be clear: when I talk about hard candies, I do NOT mean “Halls” menthol throat drops, or anything similar. Those are NOT good for the voice. I’ll explain why in the next article about vocal hygiene, Dietary “Don’t-s” – What foods & drinks are NOT good for the voice. Keep an eye out for it.

What other foods are good for aiding salivary gland stimulation?  Toasted bread and crackers are fantastic (as long as the crackers don’t have any salt on them; more on that later).  When you eat un-salted crackers (I personally enjoy graham crackers) or toasted bread, some of the mostly-masticated particles and crumbs remain in your mouth and at the top of your throat, consistently stimulating the salivary glands for a while even after you’ve finished eating them. The same goes for foods like bananas and apples.

For those of you who want to avoid the sugar in hard candies, I find that raisins, craisins, dates, and other dried fruit are a great alternative. And while we’re on the subject, I find that regular grapes can also be great.

How about actual meals? What should you have for a regular meal if you’re planning to sing? How much should you or shouldn’t you eat? How much time should you allow for digestion between eating and singing? Should you eat at ALL, or should you sing on an empty stomach?

We’ll start with the last question first. As I’ve drummed into your brain in previous articles, singing is an athletic activity . It requires fuel, so singing on a completely empty stomach is not a great idea. Always have something good in your system before you sing.

Now, since we know singers are athletes , you should keep that in mind when you decide what you want to eat, how much, and when. Would a marathon runner stuff him/herself to the gills with fried food five minutes before a big race? Of course not.

A good rule of thumb is to allow at least an hour, if not two (two is better) between when you eat and when you sing. That will give your body ample time to digest the fuel you’ve given it, without inhibiting your performance later on. Digestion takes energy, so you don’t want your body’s resources occupied with digestion when it should be giving all pistons to your performance.

You also don’t want to have a full stomach when you sing, because a full belly will inhibit proper diaphragmatic breathing , and can also cause gas and cramping (not unlike trying to run or do anything else athletic on a full stomach). Before you plan to sing (and for general health), you should eat until you are COMFORTABLY FULL, no more. Don’t stuff yourself. Eat until you are satisfied.

What kinds of specific foods should you eat before you sing? As a rule, you’ll want to gravitate towards foods that the body can easily break down without great effort. Whole foods, with vegetables and fruits, are terrific. Eggs are great, too; high protein content, and easily digestible due to their low density. I also find that things like fish and lean chicken are good, as long as they are not too spicy or salty in their preparation. I’ll address why to avoid salty or spicy foods before you sing in a later article on vocal hygiene, Dietary “Don’t-s” – What foods & drinks are NOT good for the voice.

And, how about drinks? Juices that are not super-high in added citric acid are great for stimulating the salivary glands. Apple Juice, Grape Juice, Pineapple Juice, Cranberry Juice…all fantastic. It’s often good to dilute them about 50% with water; they will not lose their ability to initiate salivation, but it’ll save you from imbibing all that sugar.

Also, there are juices that are high in natural Citric Acid, but are not pasteurized, which are also very good. Freshly squeezed Orange or Grapefruit Juice, freshly made Lemonade (from real lemons, not from a mix), can also be great choices.

Often when I’m on stage doing a show, or in the studio laying down vocal tracks, I will have a bottle of apple or cranberry juice, diluted 50% with water, at arm’s length at all times. Anytime my throat begins to get dry, I take a swig, or even a little sip, and it fixes the problem lickety-split.

I’ll get into drinks to avoid (juices high in Citric Acid that ARE pasteurized fall into that category) in the next vocal hygiene article, Dietary “Don’t-s” – What foods & drinks are NOT good for the voice.

Now, as long as we’re talking about drinks, let’s talk about TEMPERATURE. Is it good to drink liquids hot? Cold? Room temperature?

The answer: Hot, Warm, or Room Temperature are great. Cold liquids should be AVOIDED before and during singing. I’ll get into why in a later article entitled Vocal Hygiene: Tools & Practices.

As long as we’re quickly mentioning the benefits of hot liquids, we have to talk about hot TEA, another of the most common and well-believed conceptions of vocal hygiene. Is hot tea with honey and lemon as great for the voice as all the “old wives” seem to think?

I’m happy to say that, yes: hot tea with lemon and honey, is, in fact, terrific for the voice. Again, we’ll get into why *hot* liquids are beneficial in a later article, but for now, take my word for it…they are. As for honey…talk about a FANTASTIC salivary gland stimulator! It’s one of the very best. And freshly squeezed lemon, in addition to also being just stellar for getting those vocal folds moisturized, is also great for killing any wayward bacteria that may be plaguing the throat.

The best kinds of teas are those that are naturally decaffeinated; most herbal teas are great. Teas with caffeine, or those that are chemically decaffeinated, are not quite as good, but can still be beneficial.

The effect of caffeine on the voice will be covered in the next vocal hygiene article, Dietary “Don’t-s” – What foods & drinks are NOT good for the voice.

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We took our first step in this direction in the article Breathing Effectively and Efficiently for Singing, Part 1 , in which we were introduced to the diaphragm and how vital the anatomy and physiology of our breathing mechanism is to the way we sing.

I’d like to take the next step in helping you understand the way your voice works by talking about the VOCAL FOLDS.

The vocal folds are twin infoldings of tissue which are (roughly) the size of our eyelids. They are covered with a protective mucosal lining and are located in the larynx, which is the cartilage casing in the throat that is often referred to as the Adam’s Apple” (for men), the “Eve’s Apple” (for women), or the “Voice Box”.

Our voices create sound when the air expelled from our lungs rushes through the larynx, causing the vocal folds to open and close rapidly, or vibrate. This vibration creates a tone that we then direct into either our throats (which is an incorrect, inefficient, and often damaging voice technique, and should be avoided at all costs), or a set of spacial resonance chambers, or cavities, located inside the skull (a much healthier, more efficient, and more effective way to vocalize), which in turn creates volume and resonance.

Check out the following vids to see actual video footage of what the vocal folds look like when they operate:

(I’ve included multiple links, in case one or two get taken down. If they all do, just go to You Tube or Google Videos and do a search for “Vocal Folds”.)

I mentioned a moment ago how we direct the tone created by the vocal folds’ vibration into resonance chambers in our skulls, creating volume and resonance. We’ll get into resonance in a later article. For now, let’s stick with the vocal folds, and focus on how they are related to pitch.

What is “pitch”? Pitch is defined as the “highness” or “lowness” of a note. When we sing a note, how high or low a note sounds is a direct result of how fast or slowly the waveform is repeating. And the speed of the waveform’s repetition (also known as the *frequency* of the note), will be a direct result of how fast or how slow our vocal folds themselves vibrate.

If the vocal folds vibrate slower, the wavelength they produce repeats fewer times per second, which, upon being detected by our ears, is interpreted by our brains as a lower note. Conversely, if the vocal folds vibrate faster, they produce a wavelength that repeats MORE times per second, which our brains are going to perceive as a higher note.

Confused?

Check out the below video examples demonstrating the difference between faster vibration (thus containing more wavelength frequency repetitions, creating a *HIGHER* pitch) and slower vibration (thus containing less wavelength frequency repetitions, creating a *LOWER* pitch).

Okay…I know that seems like heady stuff, but stick with me.

So: the vocal folds vibrating faster means they produce a higher note for us to sing. The vocal folds vibrating more slowly creates a lower note.

That speed of vibration will be determined by three distinct factors:

1. How thick or thin the particular set of vocal folds are to begin with.

2. How long or short the particular set of vocal folds are to begin with.

3. The vocal folds’ degree of tension (in other words, how tightly or loosely the vocal folds are being pulled / held by the pitch muscles in the larynx at a given moment).

I’d like to expand upon each factor, one at a time. To do so, I’m going to use the image of guitar strings as examples:

1. THICKNESS:

A guitar has six strings, all at different levels of thickness. When the guitar sits on your lap, the string at the top is the thickest, and bottom string is the thinnest.

When you pluck the thicker string, it vibrates at a slower rate simply by virtue of it’s thicker mass (more mass to vibrate means slower overall vibration), producing fewer wavelengths per second, which, upon being detected by our ears, is interpreted by our brain as a lower note. And when the thinner string is plucked with the same force as the thicker string, because of its lesser mass, it’s going to vibrate much faster, producing more wavelengths per second, which our brains perceive as a higher note.

Here’s an example of what I’m talking about:

The vocal folds, though they are more like folds of flesh / tissue than actual strings, work the same way. Thicker vocal folds vibrate slower, thereby creating lower notes. Men, as a general rule, have thicker vocal folds than women, which is why men’s voices tend to be lower and deeper, and women’s voices tend to be higher in pitch. Children, same thing! Little body’s, smaller larynxes, thinner vocal folds, higher voices. Make sense?

2. LENGTH:

Think of how a guitar is played. Plucking a string by itself without touching any other part of the string creates one note. But, by pressing down on the string somewhere in the middle of the guitar neck and plucking it, you create a higher note. Why? Because in essence, by pressing down on the string, you are only allowing the part of the string BELOW your finger to vibrate; basically, you’re SHORTENING the string. And shortening the string makes a higher note.

Here’s a video example of what I’m talking about:

Again, it’s like the thickness idea: less mass, less to vibrate, equals faster vibration, more wavelengths per second, which we hear as a higher note. And longer strings means more mass to vibrate, less wavelengths, and lower notes. Make sense?

Once more, though they don’t actually resemble guitar strings, the same principle applies to the vocal folds. Notice how men have larger larynxes than women? Men have “Adam’s Apples”, while women have “Eve’s Apples”, because men tend to have longer vocal folds than women, which is, once again, another reason why men have lower voices than women. And, again…children! Smaller larynxes, shorter vocal folds, faster vibration, higher voices.

It actually makes a lot of sense when you think about it, right?

3. TENSION:

Have you ever seen the way a person tunes a guitar? They twist little tuning pegs at the top of the guitar neck, which tightens or loosens the strings’ tension.

Here’s a video example of what I’m talking about:

Tighter / more tension means less slack, which, in turn, means it vibrates faster and produces more wavelengths per second when plucked (say it with me, class: HIGHER NOTES!). Looser / less tension means more slack, which means the string doesn’t vibrate as fast, producing less wavelengths for the brain to interpret as, what? That’s right! Lower notes.

So…the vocal folds have muscles attached to them in the larynx. One is called the “thyroarytendoid” (pronounced “thy-roh-ah-reht-uh-noid) and the other is called the “cricothyroid” (pronouced “kry-koh-thy-roid”). Don’t worry if you don’t remember the names of the two muscles…they won’t be on the quiz. Just remember that the muscles are there, and what they do.

In effect, those muscles do to the vocal folds what the tuning pegs at the top of the guitar neck do to the guitar strings: they tighten (increase tension of) or loosen (reduce tension of) the vocal folds. So, when we, as singers, hear a particular note in our mind’s ear that we want to hit, our brains send a signal to the thyroarytendoid and cricothyroid, which in turn create JUST the right amount of tension on our vocal folds to (hopefully) reproduce the precise note we want to hit.

PHEW!

We’ll be exploring further the concepts of matching pitch, the mind’s ear, and over all, how to train your singer’s ear in later articles.

By the way, just FYI: with all this talk about the “Vocal Folds”, you might be wondering how they relate to the “Vocal CORDS”. The answer is: they are the exact same thing.

What *used* to be called the “Vocal Cords” are now commonly referred to as “Vocal Folds”. Which makes sense, right? “Vocal CORD” implies the sound is created with something resembling a cable, band, or string that vibrates when it’s struck or plucked, which, as we now know, is not the case. Once more, from the top of this article:

“Our voices create sound when the air expelled from the lungs rushes through the larynx, causing the vocal folds to open and close rapidly, or vibrate.”

“Vocal *FOLDS*” is a much more visually accurate term, which is why it has basically replaced the term “CORDS” in the vocal nomenclature. Make sense?

One last image to help hammer the whole concept home for you: I want you to picture A BALLOON. Imagine blowing up the balloon, but instead of tying it closed, you squeeze the edges of the balloon’s mouth, making a squealing noise. The air in the balloon SLOWLY escapes while the squeal sound is made.

Imagine the body of the balloon (which contains the air) as being like the diaphragm; it expands as it takes in the air, and as it releases the air, slowly, it gets smaller.

Imagine the MOUTH of the balloon (which you are squeezing) to be the VOCAL FOLDS, and your fingers (which are squeezing the mouth) as the thyroarytendoid and cricothyroid. Want to create a HIGHER or LOWER squeal sound? Pull the mouth of the balloon tighter (increasing the tension), or relax the tension of the balloon mouth (by making it a little looser), and the pitch of the squeal will go higher or lower accordingly.

The balloon image is probably the best abstract visual representation of the way the vocal mechanism works in conjunction with the breathing mechanism that I can think of.

Why have I spent so much time focusing on the physicality and physiology of the vocal folds in this article? Because, now that you have a strong basic understanding of how they work, I can speak about them in later articles / posts regarding alleviating tension when you sing, how to economize your air and connect your breath, how to develop emotional connection and work through performance anxiety and stage fright…etc.

When you have a firm rudimentary understanding of how your voice operates, you can start to address the more specific issues that may be holding you back from becoming the artist and singer you want to be. And that’s when the *real* fun begins. (:

Have a question about singing technique, voice training, or performance, or an article you’d like to see written? ASK DAN.

 

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Hydration allows the vocal folds to stay limber, and helps us maintain the protective mucosal lining which coats the vocal folds and protects them from the natural friction that occurs during vocalization. Conversely, without the moisture, the flexibility is hindered, as is the vocal folds, which can cause an unhealthy swelling of the folds. Swollen vocal folds do not vibrate as freely as healthy folds do, thus hindering the voice’s potential. And swollen vocal folds, like any condition or injury to the body, are potentially vulnerable to further, more serious, and possibly permanent, damage.

So, we want to be completely hydrated when we sing. Now, keep in mind: when we drink fluids, the moisture does not go directly to the vocal folds. The vital organs get “dibs” on as much of the hydration as they require for proper function. So, the heart, the lungs, the kidneys, the lymphatic system…they all get hydrated first. If you are looking to hydrate enough to keep thevocal folds healthy, limber, and ready for action, you need to make sure you have hydrated enough to allow your entire body to benefit, not just your voice.

Also, be aware: when the rest of our body is properly hydrated, the moisture from what you drink to help your voice does not GET to your vocal folds immediately. It usually takes around twenty minutes (give or take) for the fluids to make their way through your system before actually arriving in the larynx and benefiting the voice. So, if you know you’re going to be singing, don’t take a swig of water 5 seconds before you step in front of the microphone and expect it to help you. Make sure you drink yourself fully hydrated at least twenty minutes or so before you step up to the mic.

Okay…so, how do you know when the body, and the voice, are fully hydrated? A good rule of thumb is this: PEE CLEAR, SING CLEAR.

When you urinate, if your urine is visually clear, then your body and voice are fully hydrated. If your urine is a rich yellow, chances are you are somewhat dehydrated and need to take in more fluids.

Incidentally, there *ARE* things you can drink and eat that will, INSTANTLY, help the voice get ready for action (as well as foods and drinks which have the exact opposite effect). Those elements will be covered in the next two articles on vocal hygiene, entitled “ Dietary ‘Do-s’ ” and “ Dietary ‘Don’t-s ”

Two other quick points:

1. You can get too much of a good thing. Drinking five gallons of water will not help your voice; it’ll just make you sick. But following the “Pee clear, sing clear” principle will allow you to know when you’ve had enough without overdoing it; if it’s relatively clear, then you’re probably sufficiently hydrated.  Don’t go overboard.

2. This may seem obvious, but make sure you empty your bladder before you sing…especially if you’ve had a lot to drink in effort to hydrate yourself. There’s nothing worse than being in the middle of your second song in an eight song set, doing the “pee-pee dance” because you drank a lot and didn’t relieve yourself before going up on stage. (:

I’d like to quickly mention: some people complain of having “dry mouth”, even after drinking water. Though water does hydrate and eventually moisturize the vocal folds, it does not really stimulate the salivary glands, which serves to moisten the mouth and lubricate the vocal folds at the moment one drinks it.

One way to counteract dry mouth is to add some fruit juice to the water, which will not only prevent dry mouth, but will also instantaneously lubricate the vocal folds. More information on the subject of what to drink and eat to keep yourvocal folds moist, and your voice lubricated, will be provided in the next article on vocal hygiene, “ Dietary ‘Do-s’ ”.

I’ve mentioned the vocal folds quite a lot in this article, so my next post will provide an in-depth description of what thevocal folds are and how they function. And the next chapter on vocal hygiene, “ Dietary ‘Do-s’ “, will be posted shortly after.

I’ll leave off with one more benefit of in-taking fluids for the voice:

When the voice is heavily taxed, may it be from a performance, recording session, or rehearsal, or even just a lot of screaming or loud talking at a party, concert, sporting event, etc., the vocal folds can swell up. When this happens, like any muscle that is worked to the extreme, there can be a build-up of lactic acid in the vocal folds. Drinking a generous amount of fluids when the voice is compromised has the same effect on the folds that it has on taxed muscles: it helps flush out the built-up lactic acid, allowing the vocal folds to return to normal.

I’ll get into more detail in another article about what to do in the case of vocal strain, but for the time being, keep in mind: when your voice is taxed, or even when it isn’t…hydrate, hydrate, hydrate.

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To practice vocal hygiene is to care for your voice by being aware of what effects various foods, drinks, and other elements can have on your voice, and overall health (the two, by the way, are INTEGRALLY related).   Your vocal mechanism (and body itself) is your instrument.  Just like any good guitarist, violinist, or saxophonist knows how to care for his or her instrument (what kinds of temperatures and moisture levels to avoid, how to maintain its level of repair, etc.), a good singer must be diligent when it comes to maintaining his or her own vocal (and overall physical) health.

Too often, singers sing the way many people drive their cars.  A person gets behind the wheel and expects the car to run perfectly and beautifully every time.  And a decent amount of the time, hopefully, the car does run that way.  But often times, a person will not consider what is happening beneath the hood of their own car.  As a result, they often don’t care for their car the way they should, and eventually, the car breaks down and stops working.  When this happens, these same people, frazzled and confused, don’t understand the ‘why’ behind the occurrence, and end up blaming the car, instead of themselves.

As singers, we need to care for our voices the way we need to care for our cars.  We can’t just assume our voice will always be healthy no matter what, and will always obey our every command.  And if we don’t care for our voice, and it fails us, we shouldn’t blame the voice itself.  It’s not necessarily that our voice wasn’t as good as we thought it was; it was that we didn’t care for it as we should have, and therefore have greatly limited its potential.

Obviously, developing proper vocal technique is important, and following good warm up and warm down routines is paramount if we want to allow our voices to remain healthy and to grow.  But additionally, we need to be aware of how what we eat and drink, and what other habits or practices we may have in our routines (or should adopt INTO our routines) can affect our vocal mechanism, both positively and detrimentally.

What kinds of fluids are healthy for the voice? Should they be drank hot…cold…room temperature?  What drinks are NOT good for the voice?  How about foods…are there foods that are either beneficial or detrimental for proper vocal health?  What practices *outside of* what we eat and drink can be helpful, or hurtful, to the voice?

These questions, and more, will be answered in the next set of articles/ on vocal hygiene. Keep an eye out!

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And yet, somehow, the moment we stop “talking” and begin to use our voices to “sing”, something strange happens.  There’s an adjustment to our mindsets; a shift in our physicalities; a heightening in our emotional centers.  We abandon this simple, natural, effortless act of communicating, and enter a realm “performance”.  The stakes are suddenly higher; there just seems to be more on line somehow. Failure and embarrassment become imminent possibilities, and we allow our insecurities to play an active role in how we produce the sounds we make with our voices.

Now with all of that said, here’s the thing that I want you to really think about and process for yourself:  the separation between speaking and singing is something we manufacture.  It’s born from our insecurities, a direct result of our ignorance of how the voice really works.  It’s not real.

Keep this in mind:  Singing is simply an extension of speaking. Singing is MELODIC SPEAKING.  Now, that may sound simple and obvious, but when you think about it, it’s huge.

The acts of singing and speaking use the identical musculature; they use exactly the same anatomy and physiology.  Yet often times, as we perceive singing as being a wholly different act from speaking, we make all kinds of manipulated adjustments when we do it.  We tense our jaws; we tighten our breathing.  Rather than allowing the sound to flow the way we do when we speak, we PUSH IT out to sing.

But the fact is: singing is just a form of melodic speaking.  Sure, there’s more focus on melody and rhythm.  Sure, technique is more important in getting the sound you want, holding the notes you want, hitting the tones you wan to be able to hit.  But barring the additional focus of the same elements in both, they are one and the same.

When I teach this concept to an individual student or a class, I often liken it to walking in a fun and goofy way.  I’ll first walk back and forth across the studio like one normally would, and then, I’ll do silly dance, now walking in rhythm, swinging my arms in rhythm with my footsteps…sort of like the “Walk Like an Egyptian” dance.  These antics usually makes the student(s) laugh and breaks the tension, but it also makes my point beautifully:  I’m using the same arms, legs, muscles, ligaments, etc., to walk normally as I did performing the silly dance, and both acts required the equal amount of effort (which is very little).

With the dance, I took a little more care to move my arms in legs in synchronicity, and to allow them to move at a specific speed, with a specific rhythm, as if to some unheard soundtrack.  But outside of that extra focus, I really did nothing different.

The same concept applies perfectly to the perceived differences between speaking and singing.  When we speak, all we really do is slide haphazardly from one note to another; when we sing, we hit specific notes purposefully.  When we speak, we can string our words together at whatever rate we like…often speeding up and slowing down in the middle of sentences; when we sing, we adhere to a more uniform tempo and rhythm.

When we speak, we can take a breath whenever we want to, even in the middle of a sentence; when we sing, we can only breathe in certain places, and therefore need to have better focus on our breaths when we do.  When we speak, we don’t pay much attention to what our voices actually sound like; when we sing, our timbre and delivery is very important, so we need to access certain forms of resonance in a certain way to conform to our artistic visions.

All this may seem very obvious.  But sometimes, the obvious needs to be pointed out nonetheless, written or read, spoken out loud, so we can shake our heads with a smile and say “of course, it’s so simple, how could I have not thought of that?”

Spend some time thinking about this concept.  Let it marinade a bit…and then, start applying it to your singing.  Start out by taking whatever song you’re working on at the moment, and simply speak through the words out loud, without worrying about the actual melody.  Notice how your voice is sliding from one note to another without a care.  Then, sing the song at a quiet, relaxed volume, simply speaking the lyrics at the song melody’s specific notes, instead of sliding around randomly between pitches.  Don’t worry about how it sounds (Mechanics First, THEN Results, remember?); just let the words fall on the notes with the same ease they had when they were sliding between notes.

Like our first diaphragmatic breathing exercise, you should do this at a minimum frequency of 4-5 minutes at a time, twice a day.  You can certainly do it more, if you like.  You can only help yourself if you do.  But, try not to do it less than twice a day, and for no less than 4-5 minutes at a clip.  If you do that, you’ll quickly begin to develop the muscle memory necessary to begin redefining how you approach singing, both from a physical and an emotional standpoint.

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There are plenty of elements that should be addressed on the road to developing correct vocal technique, but NONE are more important than learning how to breathe efficiently, and learning how to “connect the breath” to bring out the freedom and the power of the voice.

“Connect the breath”? Sounds like vocal-ese techno-jargon, right? Don’t worry, it’ll make sense soon.

Not to sound repetitive, but in the grand scheme of alleviating tension in the body and supporting the voice to give it the power it needs, good breath support and breath connection are absolutely essential. Breathing efficiently is the most important and most necessary element to singing correctly, hands down. It’s the foundation of the house, so to speak; if the structural foundation is flawed, then everything you build on top of it will be flawed, shaky, vulnerable, and weak. That’s just the way it works.

That being said, lets get into some more specifics, and try a couple of things.

Take off your shirt and look at yourself in the mirror. Now, take a deep breath, and let it out. Do your chest and shoulders expand upwards when you breathe, and drop back down when you exhale? Do you hear an audible breath sound as you breathe in?

Now try this:  lie down on the floor, on your back. Put the back of your head on the floor, and rest your hands, folded together, on your chest. Bring your knees up, allowing the BOTTOMS of your feet to be flat on the floor, causing your back to also lie completely flat on the floor. Then, take a SLOW and QUIET breath in through both your mouth and nose simultaneously, and out. Don’t rush it! And make sure the breath is almost completely silent.

What do I mean by making sure the breath is silent? Well, try this: take the “H sound, like in the beginning of the word “house”, and exhale with that “H” sound (‘hhhhhh…’).  Now *INHALE*, using the same “H” sound. That audible inhalation is very typical…and it’s precisely what we want to avoid. You should breathe in quietly enough that you don’t hear that inverted “H” sound. You can inhale as slowly as you need to, to get it totally silent.

If you were playing hide and seek, and the person you were hiding from was standing right next to your hiding place…how would you breathe, to keep them from hearing you, to keep from getting caught? Slowly and silently, right? That’s the way you should be breathing with this exercise (and with most others as well).

The reason to avoid breathing audibly is simple:  if you can hear the breath going in, it’s because you are literally drying out the protective mucosal lining that shields the vocal folds from friction and keeps them limber. And conversely, if you can’t hear the air going in, then the vocal folds are not adversely affected in any way. So keep your breaths silent, and you’ll be in good shape!

Okay…so, back to work: you’re lying on the floor, on your back, knees bent, with the back of your head resting on the floor, and your hands resting, folded, on your chest. You’re breathing EXTRA slowly, and super QUIETLY, through your nose and mouth simultaneously, in…out…in…out….

What are you chest and shoulders doing? Are they still moving all over the place, or are they relatively stationary (hopefully, they are relatively stationary)?  Now…what is your BELLY doing? Does it seem to be filling with air on each inhalation, and emptying when you breathe out?

It’s pretty relaxing, isn’t it?

Now…as you breathe in and out, I want you to feel that the expansion is not ONLY happening in the front…it’s happening in the sides and back as well. In fact, you’ll begin to feel that the expansion in the sides and the back are PRIMARY…the expansion in the front is only a symptom of the sides / back expansion.

Congratulations! You’ve just begun to learn correct “diaphragmatic” breathing, the best and most efficient way to breathe while singing and speaking.

…eh?  What the heck is diaphragmatic breathing?

The DIAPHRAGM (pronounced “DIE-UH-FRAM”) is a muscle located in your midsection, attached to the base of the rib cage.  It separates the respiratory system from the digestive system. It is shaped sort of like a salad bowl turned upside-down, or a parachute. It wraps all around your body, like an inner tube, a hoola-hoop, or a letter “O” that has been turned on its back, and attaches to the spine in the back.

Though it’s a solid muscle, it does have openings for the esophagus, the spine, and the vena cava & aorta (the “to” and “from” arteries to the heart).

The diaphragm acts like a balloon; after the air filters through your lungs during inhalation, it fills up your diaphragm, causing the diaphragm to expand downward and outward, in conjunction with the rib cage. It literally draws the air in like a vacuum. As the diaphragm is expanding, it’s pushing the stomach and vital organs aside, creating the illusion that we’re filling our stomach with air.

Now, as far as the exercise we just learned (lying down on our backs, breathing super slowly and super quietly, expanding the diaphragm without moving the chest and shoulders, in/out/in/out…), you should do this EVERY day, at least *twice* a day, for a minimum of *5* minutes at a time.  Not a huge demand in time if you think about it, but doing it with that frequency and consistency is very important.

The body needs repetition to develop the sensational connection and muscle memory required to change old habits.  And believe you-me, the way we are used to breathing is a VERY ingrained habit (you’ve been breathing the other way for *how many years, now…??*), and it will take diligence to re-train yourself to do it differently.

So…why should we bother with learning to breathe diaphragmatically, anyway? What’s wrong with having our chest expand and our shoulders rise and drop when we breathe?

There are two primary reasons:

When the chest expands during inhalation, it pushes the upper part of the rib cage OUTWARD. Now, that part of the rib cage is not really designed to move in that way (it may not feel awkward to you is because you’ve been doing it for so long, you’ve gotten used to the feeling of tightness, so you don’t even notice it anymore).

Because the area is not designed to move that way, the body perceives it as a problem when it DOES move that way. The brain then sends a signal to your thoracic muscles (your chest muscles) to come to the aid of the rib cage, and those muscles involuntarily try and push the rib cage back. The result? You have a reverse tug-o’-war that results in any air you have stored in your upper chest to be pushed out forcefully by your chest muscles. And since we need to economize our air to support our voice, hit the tones we want to hit, hold the notes we want to hold, etc, we find that we’re unable to, because the air is being hastily forced out of our chests before we have the chance to use it.

Imagine blowing up a balloon, and then squeezing the sides of it, forcing all the air out faster than it would have been expelled normally. The same basic principle applies to the thoracic muscles forcing the air from your chest.

To understand the second reason why chest / clavicular breathing is detrimental to efficient voice production, try this experiment:  take off your shirt, stand in front of a mirror, and breathe, allowing your upper chest to expand and your shoulders to rise. Now, look at your neck. The muscles located along the sides of your neck towards the front are called the LARYNGEAL muscles, and you’ll notice that the second you take a chest expansive breath, they SHORTEN and TIGHTEN.

Now, without blowing the air out, try and speak or sing for a second. It’s very difficult to do so when your laryngeal muscles are tightened! That happens each and every time you take a “chest breath”.

Now, as far as the body’s breathing mechanism and physiology is concerned, we inhale oxygen, it filters through the lungs, the oxygen is transformed into Co2, and is expelled from the body as we exhale. But just because the air filters through the lungs doesn’t mean that the lungs need to FILL with air, which is what is happening when we take a “chest breath”.

So…why is taking a diaphragmatic breath less detrimental and more efficient than breathing the other way?

Well, the diaphragm is a muscle that is designed to expand and fill with air.  So, when it fills with air (after filtering through the lungs), there is no involuntary bodily defense mechanism forcing the air out. The diaphragm collapses in time and empties, releasing the air at whatever rate we want it to. So, when we try to ECONOMIZE our air (breath economy will covered in a later article), we’re able to.

Picture this:  we take a regular, run-of-the-mill balloon, we blow it up, and we hold it at the tip between our thumb and forefinger to keep the air from escaping. Then, we do what kids have been doing since balloons were invented: with our thumbs and forefingers on both hands, we squeeze and pull either side of the balloon’s mouth, until it makes a high pitched squeal sound. When we hear that sound and look at the balloon, we see that the air is escaping VERY slowly, and the balloon is collapsing equally slowly. The air is coming out at a slow, natural rate, and is not being pushed out by force. That’s the way the air can come out of the diaphragm when our breath is focused there the right way.

Yes, you heard it here first…you only need to use a SMALL bit of air at once to sing loudly, fully, effectively. It’s mind blowing to think about, but it’s been scientifically proven over and over again: whether you are singing loud or soft, high or low, with a heavy rasp or a clear and clean tone, regardless of style or approach: you NEVER need more air than is escaping out of that balloon. The diaphragm can be every bit as efficient as the balloon.

This article has contained a little more technical information than the other articles before it, but as a voice teacher and a singer, I’ve always found that having an intellectual and conceptual understanding of the vocal mechanism allows most people to develop as vocal technicians, and grow as singers, performers, and artists.  You’ll see further technical explanations of the various elements of vocal functionality as these articles progress.

This article is only the beginning of adopting proper breathing technique. Practice the exercises outlined here, and by the time you reach the NEXT article regarding breathing, you’ll be able to use it to move to the next level.

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The problem is, the singer they are emulating has probably spent years developing that sound.  And, more importantly, that singer’s voice probably naturally lends itself to sounding the way does.  So, the prospective singer manipulates his or her voice to try and create the quality that the singer they are emulating gets naturally.  And this often leads to a serious strain, either right away, or over time.

Don’t get me wrong: musically, it’s a great idea to emulate another musician’s style if they move you.  It’s been happening since art and music were invented, and it’s totally natural.  But from a physical standpoint, doing so with that sort of manipulation of the voice can be very harmful.

When a singer gets into the habit of building their voice the correct way, by using a proper practice regiment, by learning proper breathing and resonance techniques, by learning to sing without physical tension or strain…they gain the tools necessary to create any sound they like. Developing those mechanics first is imperative.  If the mechanics are there, the results come AUTOMATICALLY.

If I hear a technically exceptional guitarist, may it be Paul Gilbert or Eddie Van Halen or John Petrucci, and decide I want to play the way they do, I can’t just pick up my guitar and play well in their style right from the get-go.  My runs will be sloppy; I’ll sound amateurish.  I’ll most likely end up with a whole lot of frustration, not to mention Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, for my trouble.  But if I consistently spend some time every day (the same way the guitar players I mentioned do), playing scales, doing dexterity exercises, developing muscle memory, learning how to keep relaxed and avoid tension…I should be able to develop some pretty great chops.

The voice works the same way.  Doesn’t matter whether you sing Rock, Pop, Classical, Jazz, R&B, Metal, Broadway, etc…work on the mechanics, and the results will come.

Ok, fine…point made.  So, how do we begin working on the mechanics that will help us develop into the singers we want to be?  Let’s start with the foundation of the house:  proper breathing technique.  The next article will offer the information (along with a few applicable tips) you’ll need to get started.

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Just like the act of hitting a baseball was daunting for me (see Article I, ‘An Introduction to Voice Technique’ ), the act of singing well is daunting for many people.  There doesn’t seem to be much rhyme or reason as to why some people do it so much better than others.

Well, a quick answer to the query is this: people who sing well naturally have better initial coordination regarding all of the muscular and neurological elements involved with singing than people who don’t.  But again, there’s no reason why most anyone can’t LEARN that coordination.

Yup, you heard it here first!  Whether you’re an amateur or an accomplished vocalist, it’s entirely reasonable that you can become much better than you are currently are, by learning correct vocal technique.  Things like correct breathing, alleviating tension, learning how to adjust the musculature involved in proper resonance, etc., can make your voice stronger, more resilient, and more diverse. Assorted ear training exercises can help develop the neural-pathways necessary to enhance your ability to match pitch, harmonize, and adlib more effectively and efficiently.  And yes…negative emotional dispositions, whether they are simple or complicated, have a TREMENDOUS bearing on the way you sing (when I had that baseball being thrown at me, and I wasn’t sure exactly HOW I was supposed to hit it, it scared the crap out of me!  Do you think that fear and insecurity had an effect on my success (or lack there of) at hitting the ball?  You better believe it!).

The emotional elements connected with singing will be covered in another article.  In the meantime, as we move on to the next one, let’s talk about slowing down that pitch, and giving you a chance to work on your swing (so to speak).

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