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Your Vocal Health
The Zen of Screaming
By Mary Beth Felker and Melissa Cross

Don’t forget to warm-up and cool down your instrument!
We often take our voices for granted and don’t take care of our instruments. Consider yourself a professional athlete. Warm-up, cool down, practice complete vocal rest at times, and beware of performance and promotional demands that overtax your voice. Cool down your voice after the show. Do stretching exercises to massage out any vocal swelling that may have occurred during the performance. Do NOT go to sleep on a swollen voice. It will be worse in the morning, not better.

Keep hydrated – Water, water, water.
It should be the same color going in as it is coming out. Room temperature is best. Begin hydrating at least 3-4 hours before a show. Drinking during a gig just makes you run to the bathroom but doesn’t hydrate your voice. Steam is great as well – get a humidifier or breathe steam in the shower or by putting a towel over your head while running hot water into a sink.

Know your body.
What affects your voice? Smoke, food, alcohol and allergies can all be offenders. Be vigilant to how much sleep your body needs. Sleep is the best way to repair vocal damage or overuse. Be sensitive to what your body and your voice are telling you. Most vocal injuries occur as a result of the combination of illness and fatigue from lack of sleep. Watch out for mucous causing events like viruses, bacterial infections, allergies and acid reflux. Wash your hands often and keep your fingers from touching your eyes. Congestion in the lungs is the most dangerous situation for vocalists and often warrants the cancellation of a show. Nasal congestion and sore throats are not ideal, but you can get through it if you know how to compensate for fatigue that affects breathing and stay hydrated.

Don’t be afraid to use your voice.
The voice has a “cruising altitude” that allows it to be used for hours. Know what yours is. Being “careful” can be just as damaging as abusing the voice. Do not whisper, this is worse than yelling. Always speak or sing in a full-tone whether it is a loud or soft dynamic. Remember, your voice is the only instrument without replaceable parts. Don’t ever yell over loud music in bars, during concerts and meet and greets. Learn the warning signs of vocal fatigue and pay attention to them. When vocal folds have become swollen from overuse, which should NOT happen with proper technique, the discipline of vocal rest is ESSENTIAL. Vocal rest means your complete silence without exception (especially no whispering) until swelling is reduced. Learn proper speech technique to avoid making things worse in between shows.

Don’t compete with the other instruments on stage.
Do what you have to with monitors, ear buds and mic technique to hear yourself. Know your voice and your music so well that you can sing off of the feel as much as the sound. You know when you are over-doing it vocally. Learn how to do it right and warm up so that your body knows intuitively how to perform without thinking. If you can’t hear yourself, it is no fun at all, but you will make it worse if you try to compensate by pushing louder in order to do so. The front is probably hearing something different to what you are hearing on stage. Trust that if you are solid in your technique, your voice is doing the job even though you aren’t able to hear it. If your rehearsal space is small and your band is loud, forget hearing yourself during rehearsal. Your mic probably won’t be able to be turned up loud enough before feeding back in the small space. The band probably is not willing to turn down. So, do your vocal rehearsing on your own and show up to rehearsal to be part of your band’s glory. If they even notice they can’t hear you, explain the physics to them!

Commit to your music and KNOW your songs.
Nailing your vocal technique down is only the first step to successfully singing. You must invest an equal amount of time for practicing your performance, honing your style and expressing the music. The more you physically and emotionally commit to a song, the easier singing will become. Your voice will not do what your mind and body don’t commit to.

Melissa Cross is the founder of an extremely successful vocal training approach endorsed by metal’s heaviest screamers. Mary Beth Felker is the leader of the Voice Project, and the two are teaming up for two upcoming seminars in the Pacific Northwest. For more information visit www.thevoiceproject.com.