need help with diminishing voice.

[PinkSpider]

hi guys.

I have a friend whos a vocalist.
She sings really well too.

However , recently her throat has been getting strained.
Last time , she used to be able to sing for 2 hours straight.
However now , she gets tired after 2-3 songs. The songs that she sings
are those of quite a high vocal range for example sweet child in standard (not halfstep) tuning.(no she doesnt do screamo, just songs that are really high)

We dont know the cause of her problem but i do want to help her.

What i know is that 1 month ago , she got a horrible sorethroat cos she cheered , screamed , shouted (you get the idea) a lot during a particular camp. you know sometimes camps lidat one..

Also , i know that shes under a lot of stress lately. Its her new school term and shes piled with so many things to do.

I think the reason for her detioration of her vocal stamina are these 2 events. I have adviced her to drink lots of water and get plenty of rest.
Shes also been taking pi pa gao to soothe her throat.

However , its not working too well.
I know she,ll get better but the faster the better.

What should i advice her to do?
Rest more? i,ve already done that
Drink more water? done that too.

Or maybe she should stop singing for like a month?
If things go bad we could go see a doctor but thats expensive.

You guys are vocalists too so perhaps you guys have some experience on these matters? please help

 

[music_soul]

RE: need help with diminishing voice

Hi there!

Just a thought, your friend may want to find out if she has been singing with the right vocal techniques, i.e breathing and projection/delivery using the diaphragm, switching to the appropriate vocal registers eg. head voice for high notes. She may have overused her voice temporarily, and she probably want to avoid singing or talking for the moment. Excessive overworking of the voice, esp in the wrong way, may lead to the development of vocal cord nodes, and this can be quite bad in the long run.

An all-time useful tip for vocalists would be effective vocal warm-ups before diving into a song or performance. And definitely, it helps to keep hydrated, and physical exercises such as swimming and jogging would be useful for building lung capacity.

Hope this helps!=)

Music_soul

 

[fgl]

sounds like a mental thing

ask her to try go out there, dontthink of anything N just belt them tunes out

 

[sage]

:/ every vocalist's nightmare..

It's not really my habit to pursue focusing on vocal techniques or psychological aspects in this effect, as I feel the former can only be executed when you're aware enough, and the symptoms of the latter are commonly more heard when the voice lacks vocal power / diminishing sustain or soft volume.. so....

I'd recommend having her rest more.. judging by how much she's been using her voice, it might have been stretched out a little too thin..

Stress affects the entire body and natively the voice as well, since singing comprises of the whole body as the instrument.. so maybe you should force her to go for holiday and sleep more or something haha.

Get her completely destressed and rested; Personally, based on experiences, these things help:
1) A warm cup of chamomile tea at the end of the day to relax the mind

2) You could also suggest using lavander spray on her pillow (can get from body shop) so that she'll get a good night's sleep

3) As for relieving her throat, she can try two things; honey in warm water (not boiling k) to soothe the voice (I recommend NuZeaBee's "Lemon Honey") every night until her voice gets better, then just need to drink every 2-3 days or

4) Robitussin's "Honey Cough Drops", which has a menthol outer shell filled with honey, to help console her throat especially when she's using it to scream or talk a lot and what not..

Usually the lack of a sustaining vocality is due to lack of rest (from a classical vocal pov) and sometimes stress subconsciously leads to tense jaws during singing, which in turn might provoke a vocal strain when the singer forces her/his voice out, and when it affects or restricts her usual vocal technique.
You might want to check on that if that's the case..

For now, besides rest, if she needs to keep up with jams and cope with lack of rest / stress, you could help by suggesting to her to warm up not her voice but her muscles and stuff to get her more relaxed. Muscle stretches, neck rotations, deep - slow breaths.

Otherwise, throw her a pillow dude.
Hope I helped throw some ideas... Let me know if there's any progress or if I can help in any other way..

 

[iqbal]

i agree with sage..avoid singing for the moment, rest her voice, drink loads of WARM water, no iced not hot, once she starts sing songs which has lower pitching then once she's warmed up move on to the higher pitch.

 

[PinkSpider]

thanks for the suggestions. good news is , shes getting better =D

 

[Channie]

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woah an interesting insight. didn't know there could be so much remedy methods