Singing Tips: Avoid Damaging Your Vocal Chords

As a singer, having your voice just right is the most important thing. Sure you can bend pitches and hit high notes, but what are you doing to protect your voice? A lot of singers make the mistake of not caring for their voice the right way, meaning the longevity of their vocal cords are limited. Having bowed vocal chords is a serious problem that can damage your greatest talent. Now is the time to protect those special vocal chords! Follow these guidelines to keep your voice full of harmony.

Warming Up: It's always very important, that you warm up your voice before any type of vocal session or performance! Just as an athlete would warm up before a big game, you must warm up before you use your vocal cords. A lot of vocal injuries are caused by singers not taking the proper time to warm up. Don't cause strain on your vocal cords by trying to hit those high notes without a full vocal warm up exercise.

Getting the Proper Rest: In order for you to maintain the beautiful harmony in your melodies, your body must rest! After each session on performance, make sure you take time out to rest your voice. This means avoiding loud yelling and constantly clearing your throat which can cause lots of strain.

Drink lots of Water: Your body cannot function properly without water! Your vocal chords are instruments, so you must always keep your instrument hydrated. Try to aim for at least 8 glasses of water a day, your voice will thank you for it!

Vocal Exercises: Learn how to do vocal exercises to both warm up and cool down your voice. This will ensure that you don't overwork your voice causing a strain injury. Learn how to go thru the vocal scale up and down with ease. Click here to see example of vocal exercises!

Avoid lots of Dairy Product: Eating dairy is a bad thing when it comes to your singing voice. Dairy not only clogs the vocal passage but it puts excess mucus in your mouth causing you to sound muffled. Know that the more diary products you consume, the more distorted your voice will sound. Dairy products include milk, cheese and ice cream.

Avoid Smoking: Sure there are lots of singers that smoke and have great vocal chords, however; that will only last for so long. The best way to ensure that your vocal chords are protected is not to smoke at all. Smoking damages your vocal chords because the smoke goes thru your voice. It will give you a raspy sounding presentation as oppose to harmony.

Avoid Anti-depressants and Decongestants: Both of these types of medicine cause your throat to get extremely dry. Avoid taking these when you're getting ready to sing or preparing for a show. The vocal chords must be well hydrated in order to do their job.

Keep Face and Neck Relaxed: Keeping your face and neck muscles relaxed during singing is also very important. We control our vocal chords with our neck muscles so if they aren't relaxed it could result in sever strain or injury.

Drinking Warm Tea: Drinking warm tea is probably one of the best things you can do when it comes to protecting your voice. Not only does the warm tea sooth your vocal chords, but it also repairs any itchy or scratchy throat feeling which can affect your performance.

Protect Your Hearing: Some may look at this like, what? But this is also really important. Put ear plugs in your ears when you're around loud instruments or loud speakers, not being able to hear properly can affect your tune when singing. You may have heard the saying "tone deaf", this is where it comes from. Singers sometimes can't hear that they're singing out of tune because their hearing has been damaged. Click here to learn more about protecting your hearing!