Since our bodies are our instruments, it only makes sense that wear and tear on our bodies will eventually be reflected in our voice and in our singing ability. Late nights, junk food, and too little exercise (or sometimes too much exercise!) can all be detrimental to the singer.
I trained with a wonderful vocal coach in the past who told me that after years of teaching, she could tell by a student's voice how many hours of sleep they had had the night before.
And you may have heard the saying "The tape never lies..."  speaking about recording technique. If you are tired before a performance, or a recording, don't be surprised if fatigue is evident on your recordings or in your stamina, power, and range in performance.

Stress, physical or emotional, also will affect your voice and the way in which you interpret and emotionally connect with your songs, so make sure that you journal, pray, vent, cry, etc. or whatever you need to do to release all the daily worries, doubts, fears and frustrations that tend to build up over time, but that our society sometimes tells us we are not allowed to express. Or sometimes, life just feels to busy to stop and take stock of what we are actually feeling. Taking that time every day, or even a few times a week, to (at the risk of sounding cliche) get in touch with our emotions can really aid the process of any kind of artist or creative person.

Exercise is an often overlooked aspect of singing, however, as a vocal teacher and a vocalist, I am discovering more and more how staying active can be extremely beneficial to a singer. First of all,  it's obvious that lung capacity plays a pretty major role in singing, and getting regular cardiovascular exercise can help maintain and even increase lung capacity, so that you can take in more air, and therefore have more power so that you can sing longer and stronger! Exercise can also help you stay limber and alleviate muscle tension that accumulates from stress, and sedentary lifestyles.

I recently read an article that supports what I have also found to be true, in that regular cardio exercise keeps my diaphragm and breathing muscles loose and strong, which help in supporting my voice, and in producing a strong and free vibrato.  To check out this excellent article by Judy Rodman, click on this link: http://ezinearticles.com/?Singing-and-Physical-Exercise&id=2280813

It should be noted, however, that a few teachers I have come across have recommended against excessive body-building in the shoulder/neck area (although of course it is beneficial to have strong shoulders and upper back, just not to the extreme of bulky muscles that may limit range of motion), as they have seen this interfere with singing and cause tightness in the neck and throat.

Happy singing, and stay healthy!
 
 
As a vocal teacher, I have many students come to me with the complaint that their voice feels “tight”, or that their throat gets sore when they sing. Yes, it’s that old enemy, tension, but what is the cause, and what is the cure? As a singer myself, I struggled with vocal tension for years, often feeling like I was fighting against myself to produce the sound that I knew I was capable of. I tried exercises, stretches, and different vocal placements, and while some helped, the tension remained, and more often than not, I was back where I started. Parallel to my struggle with vocal tension was my struggle to find my own voice, my own authentic sound. I loved a variety of different singers, and was struggling to find where I fit in amongst them all. But I never put these two pieces of my voice together.

Fast forward to my vocal teaching career. When I began to work with many singers with these same issues, I began to realize that many of my vocal students, male and female, had not accepted their own voices, and were constantly trying to force their voice to sound how they thought they "should" sound, as opposed to singing with their own voices.

It didn’t take me long to realize a source of their vocal tension; when you are trying to sing like you, but at the same time trying to force your voice to sound like someone else’s, you’re trying to force your voice to do something unnatural, hence a major source of tension.

Most women I teach are trying to achieve a more powerful, darker sound, without developing the diaphragmatic strength first, and using their throats to compensate, causing that tension and throat soreness. Many young men I teach try and adapt a breathy, hoarse vocal sound, which does the same thing; causes tension and limits range and flexibility. It should be noted that this problem is not the only cause of vocal tension by any means. There can be many causes, however, this is one that I have run up against enough to write about.

Working my students through this problematic habit has proven to be one of the most rewarding successes for me as a vocal teacher. Sometimes it can be scary for a vocalist to give up their habits, and work with the natural voice underneath, however there is nothing like discovering the truly beautiful voice under the tension.

About Me Adri-Anne is a vocalist, songwriter, and vocal coach based out of Victoria, BC