Building Healthy Vocal Habits
In order to be a singer, a singer who can use their voice consistently for decades, it is imperative that you develop good, healthy vocal habits. In order to build these healthy vocal habits, you must first recognize and break any bad habits that you have developed throughout your life. I’m not just talking about habits while singing! You may not know it, but the way you speak on a day to day basis can heavily impact the way you sing. Here are a few things to notice about your voice and how you use it.
Speaking volume. The volume at which you speak can help or hurt your voice. Ideally, you should speak at a level that people can just hear you, no louder. Granted, I tend to speak much louder than necessary, but once a voice therapist pointed this out to me, I have made it a habit to speak more quietly and to correct myself when I fall into old decibels. Of course when you are on stage or at a loud restaurant you will need to speak louder, but in your daily life, quiet down. Louder means more pressure and more tension on your vocal cords, so speaking more quietly will keep your cords healthy and happy.
Glottal Attacks. Now, these are a bit more difficult to hear when you aren’t listening for them, as the vast majority of English speakers us them, but they can be detrimental to your voice over time. Glottal attacks and glottal stops can be very exciting tools and tricks to use in your singing, but overuse and misuse of them is not healthy. According to Vocalist UK, a “glottal stop is the sound produced by the sudden explosive release of breath from behind the closed glottis and the term 'Glottal Attack' describes the percussive pulse from vocal cords as in a slight grunt”. Basically, your vocal cords hit together much harder than they have to in order to produce sound. Typically, glottal attacks in speech and song primarily occur on words beginning with vowels - next time you speak, listen for them and then try gliding from word to word or adding an “H” in front of the vowel to get your cords to gently come together.
Warming Up. Unfortunately, there are many who believe they can become a professional singer while solely focusing on learning songs. This is simply not true. There are some naturally gifted singers who have needed less time focusing on technique, but it is nearly impossible to sustain a singing career without good vocal care and technique, beginning with WARMING UP. One of the healthiest vocal habits you can develop is warming up every. single. day. Not just the days you plan on singing, but every day, ideally early in the day. Warming up vocally will help your speaking voice throughout the day and will keep your singing voice flexible and your breath ever-improving. Even if you just plan to sing along to the radio on your drive to school or work, you should take at least 5 minutes to get your voice moving before doing so. Singing with stiff vocal cords can limit your range, or worse, cause an injury. Next time you catch yourself belting it out before you’ve warmed up, hit pause and warm up any way you can, then go back to singing! You voice will thank you.
Support your sound. I’ll say it a million times, breath is the foundation of the voice - USE IT. Even when you are speaking, if you catch an airy tone, get more breath underneath you to support your sound. When you produce sound you must have a strong breath underneath you, especially when singing. Develop the healthy habit of breathing low and deep every time you open your mouth; not only will you feel more grounded, but you will be supporting your sound to keep your voice healthy and strengthening your breath control (which will only help you as a singer).
There you have it folks; a few things to listen for in your habitual use of your voice to be sure you are keeping your voice healthy. Consistently is key, as with any habit you are trying to build. First, you must be aware of the bad habits to look for. Then you must start correcting them to the healthy habit you want to create. The more you focus on it, the faster it will develop.
To be a singer who has access to the most your voice has to offer, you absolutely must take care of yourself and your voice. After all, you only get one pair of vocal cords; use them wisely.