Vocal Domain

Any vocal coach or singing instructor worth their salt will emphasize the importance of vocal warm up exercises.  Just like warming up your muscles before a physical exercise session, warm up exercises are vital to protecting the vocal chords and throat from undue wear and tear.  But unlike most athletic trainers, your average vocal coach or singing instructor pays no attention to or is often unaware of the importance of vocal cool down exercises.

Any athlete or even casual exercise enthusiasts will tell you, you can do a great deal of physical exercise and then just walk away, but you face risking future injury and decreased muscle development without a proper cool down and stretch.  The same is true of your vocal instrument.  You need to go through a proper vocal cool down after any length of singing or vocalizing.

The mechanics involved during any increased level of singing or vocalizing are similar to those involved in physical exercise.  In both instances, greater flows of blood are directed to the area being utilized for exercise, in this case the voice, throat, and larynx areas.  Just as runners continue walking after a long run, singers and vocalists should perform a cool down after a session in order to bring blood levels down to normal in order to avoid damage to the vocal instrument.

To perform a vocal cool down, a good exercise is to try quiet lip or tongue trills up and down your range, or softly and quietly hum five-note descending scales in the middle of your range.  Keep in mind that this is a vocal cool down, so you don’t need to go through all the exercises from the warm up session prior to singing or vocalizing.  The idea is to bring things down from your peak performance level, just like bringing down your heart and breathing rate after a bout of physical exercise.

If your vocal coach or singing instructor doesn’t currently include, make sure you request to have this included in your regular lessons from now on.  If not, don’t be afraid to make a change where your instructor/coach is involved.  You must take every precaution necessary to protect your vocal instrument.

Through my training as a singer, I’ve been through five different vocal coaches, and I’m happy with my current vocal coach. A mistake I made early in my training was not moving on when it was necessary.  When I finally realized a given previous vocal coach wasn’t providing what I needed, I found it very difficult to leave because they were genuinely nice people and seemingly helpful.

But time is an asset in short supply! As soon as you truly realize this fact the better off you will be. I wish I had moved on faster than I did. Trust your instincts and don’t be afraid to find a new vocal coach if you feel you should. Even if your coach means well, their caring isn’t going to make you a better singer. I felt guilty leaving the vocal coaches I have had in the past, but in the end I really lost way too much time by sticking with them.

You need to remember that you can’t hear yourself the same way as your vocal coach. Your vocal coach hears what you are doing wrong –when your flat, pitchy, or not hitting the note. For that matter, your vocal coach hears when you are doing the right things, even when you may think you hear things differently. This is all assuming you have the right vocal coach for your needs. Above all, if you feel your progression is not going the way it should, don’t be afraid to switch to a new coach!

One last thing.  There might be some confusion here as to what in the professional world of singing is meant by a vocal coach compared to a singing teacher. In the professional world of singing, a vocal coach teaches you how to interpret the music. They are not necessarily teaching you how to utilize your vocal instrument to it’s fullest potential and capacity. That is what a teacher of singing does. Just be sure that the you and the person you are training with are both focused on the same outcome.

Singing is technique. You as a singer will spend a great deal of time and effort developing your vocal technique. One of the most important aspects to consider in developing your technique is balance and control of your airflow. Too much or not enough air through your windpipe results in overworked and overused vocal cords, and this eventually leads to painful swelling, hoarseness of voice, and eventually damage to your vocal cords. Many singers do not much consider the damage they may cause to their vocal cords even though this should be a priority one item any singers should guard against. Having the sound you want is useless if it eventually leads to irreparable damage. So first and foremost – protect you vocal cords!

One common misconception is that you need a great deal of air in your lungs to be able to sing, especially when it comes to belting out those big power high notes. You don’t need more air than you can muster; you just need to manage the air capacity that your lungs already have. If you take in more air than you’re comfortable with, you wont be able to manage it properly to start, so you’re following a self-defeating approach. Of course there are exercises that will help build and expand your lung capacity, but until you get there, you need to be comfortable with your current abilities.

When you take a breath, inhale with your diaphragm into your lower rib cage area, aka your reserve tank. Your stomach should expand while you make this action and you should do so without lifting or tensing your shoulders. As you are singing, press upward with your diaphragm. This way the effort and pressure of making sound is not completely on your vocal cords. When you sing, your ribcage – the reserve tank – should be full/expanded and you should sing as if it were coming from your stomach.

When it comes to singing, always remember to protect your vocal chords. One way to do this is to always remember to engage your diaphragm on both the inhale and exhale of you singing breaths.