The best thing to do in these situations is to overcompensate with good habits to counteract the bad habits.
1. Have good technique. Singing with good breath support, focus and resonance will help keep your voice sounding healthy, beautiful, and agile.
2. Be careful how you use your voice when speaking. Most hoarseness in singers can be prevented if they would be careful to speak ‘over’ their chords instead of ‘on’ their chords. Talking with car windows down, or in loud areas can also cause undo wear on your voice, so take caution– these factors can add significantly to your vocal fatigue.
3. Protect your throat. At the risk of potentially looking like a ‘diva’ you should really wear a scarf. Windy, rainy, and cool weather all play a role in vocal fatigue. Too much cool air on your throat can cause a chest cold the mucous can feel like it is ‘sitting’ in your throat.
4. Tea, Lemon, Honey. Steam from a hot beverage will actually work faster to mend your voice than the beverage itself. While it may take up to 10 minutes for your body and vocal chords to feel the impact of the hydration, the impact on the voice from steam is immediate. Honey is a natural humectant. Although it is sugar, it is not the type of sugar that will strip your chords of moisture. Instead, it adds to the elasticity of your chords. Lemon juice strips mucous from your chords that may have accumulated from the consumption of dairy products, or greasy and high fat foods. These three items combined are a wonderful remedy.
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January 4, 2012