Singers, particularly Metal/Punk/whatever Singers - how do you look after your voice?

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i have completely lost my voice since thursday's gig. i was only a little hoarse on friday but over the weekend i've gotten worse and worse and now i can barely raise my speech over a whisper. Anyone else ever had this?

― dog latin (dog latin), Sunday, 12 March 2006 14:33 (eighteen years ago) link

licorice tea with plenty of honey and lemon. drinking things like soda and beer beforehand make your vocal chords more raw, anything milk-based will coat them, causing you to work harder to hit those notes.

also, you might want to look into singing lessons. that way, you can do exercises for your vocal chords, making them more limber, in addition to learning proper breathing techniques, which might help eliminate/reduce the strain you place on them while singing.

― mts (theoreticalgirl), Sunday, 12 March 2006 14:55 (eighteen years ago) link

It really has nothing to do with making the vocal cords "limber" -- it's a matter of not squeezing them together so damn much, just relaxing them. Proper breathing is absolutely necessary too. But this is all easy for me to say because of opera singers in the family and years of trumpet playing -- so yeah, get lessons. teas and things just make you feel better and do nothing to fix the problem.

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Sunday, 12 March 2006 18:32 (eighteen years ago) link

Seriously, licorice tea has been a life saver. My voice unexpectedly went out an hour before a show the other month, and a generous application of licorice tea helped get it back in adequate shape.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Sunday, 12 March 2006 18:48 (eighteen years ago) link

i'm getting worried now. i think i must have ulcers and allsorts. the kind of singing i do is really really shouty and fast and loud, but that's the style. maybe i really did push it too much. it was our first gig, it lasted 15 minutes and i was terrified all the way through so maybe i overcompensated by going crazy with the vocal gymnastics.

― dog latin (dog latin), Sunday, 12 March 2006 23:56 (eighteen years ago) link

It really has nothing to do with making the vocal cords "limber" -- it's a matter of not squeezing them together so damn much, just relaxing them.

well, that is kind of the same thing. if your vocal chords are limber/better trained/whateverthefuckyouwanttocallit, you'll run the risk of straining them to make sounds.

― mts (theoreticalgirl), Monday, 13 March 2006 02:49 (eighteen years ago) link

i too come from a musical family, my mom used to do broadway and i spent my teen years being a theatre geek.

― mts (theoreticalgirl), Monday, 13 March 2006 02:51 (eighteen years ago) link

Ulcers?

― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 13 March 2006 03:42 (eighteen years ago) link

sixteen years pass...

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2009-06-09-0906080327-story.html

― Jean Arthur Rank (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 7 September 2022 01:11 (one year ago) link

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