Singing advice.... please post yours

eskimo

I've been getting vocal training for almost a year now but there're some things that drive me insane, like the existense of crap in your throat when you're trying to sing which makes you sound terrible when you'd normally sound a lot better! That's only one of the many many problems you come across when trying to sing.... Can people please post any singing tips they have?? Especially for trying to sing when your body and health are letting you down! Thanks!


My amateur tips to help get your voice working to its best are:

1) Steam inhalation: boil the kettle, fill a bowl, stick your head in and start inhaling! It soothes your vocal chords. Dont burn yourself!!!
2) Herbal tea with honey mixed in when your throat is filled with crap n stuff to clear and soothe it.
3) Buy "Throat Coat". It's a herbal spray designed for singers and speakers to strengthen your throat when its suffering. Available from health shops.
4) If it hurts when you sing, you're using the wrong muscles and damaging yourself. It's much better to sound terribly when you sing and NOT be in any pain than to sound good and be in pain, because you are not training the right muscles and you are never going to be able to sing properly that way. If you sound bad but you're not in any pain at all, you're on the right track to having a good voice.

Acid_Violet

I'm in pretty much the exact same position as you, but have found ways to cope.

Sipping warm water regularly keeps the chords hydrated and the voice in good shape. Drinking it all in one go will make your vocal chords denser and you won't be able to hit high notes. I've found that after drinking a lot of water my voice would go dead about 6 or 7 semi-tones away from my highest notes.

Bad foods for voice;

Dairy products (excess mucus, leads to stuff in your throat which shouldn't be there.) What I usually do is cut them out completely during the day and have a glass of milk at night, basically have my three servings per day then.

Highly acidic foods (citrus fruits, tomoatoes, among others.) These clog up the vocal chords. I don't find these cause much problem for me but I wouldn't have any on performance days etc. just in case.

Caffeine and chocolate and other related foods. They clog up the vocal chords too. I'd completely cut these out during the day. Saying that, my vocal coach drinks two cups of coffee a day and says that's almost too much for a singer.

Spicy foods will generate too mucus again. You probably shouldn't eat them on a day of performance.

Good for voice;

Honey. An antiseptic that soothes the throat.

Lemon, but only in very very small amounts.

Ginger. I think this is best kept to a minimum as well, from previous experience.

I'd put the above three ingredients in a pint glass of water, maybe a teaspoon of each, a little bit more sometimes but never more than a tablespoon of lemon.

There is a sure-fire way to get rid of mucus from the nose and throat. a little bit will be left over but things will be significantly better. Pretty much all vocal coaches advise this one, even though it's not the nicest.

Snorting water and salt. Mix a bit of water and salt together and if you can put it in a squirt bottle. I just hold a teaspoon of it under my nose and snort. Do it in full and do it one nostril at a time, otherwise it won't be too nice. You'll be able to spit out the mixture with all the mucus in it.
I've done this before an audition after eating mildly spicy food and needing a quick fix. I still wasn't able to hit the high notes as well as I could've at all, so if you do this try to do it a good while before the time you'll be singing.

NEVER EVER EVER CLEAR YOUR THROAT. It does an unimaginable amount of damage. I'm still inclined to do it as I used to do it a lot because I had a lot of phlegm at the back of my throat but the salt and water or steam option is much better.