subject: The Run-away Voice [print this page] Where is it going? Where is it going?
If you have been unfortunate enough to be around me lately, I must have driven you crazy when we watch the television and encounter someone speaking off her vocal cords- usually resulting in a harsh and dry, hoarse and airy, "floaty" tone. I immediately grab my throat, cover my ears, or utter a sound indicating my at-the-moment low tolerance level - or, all of the above! You wonder, as you quickly push the TV remote to change the channel, "What's the big deal?"
The big deal is that I know the voice- I know how to use it as a classically-trained singer, which I have been doing professionally for some 20 years. On top of that, in my "day-time job as a director of a sales&marketing company," I used my speaking voice as the means of making a living through giving speeches & lectures, and teaching for many years. I am aware of the voice, and the voice knows who its boss is!- so it bothers me when people take it for granted and have failed, therefore, to give it the proper attention and care it needs in order to prevent injury and damage down the road.
We are taught to take care of our bodies. We stay away from fatty and junk food because we want to prevent potentially dangerous diseases, for example. We do warm-up exercises before we run or perform other physical activities, and we even warm down when such activities come to an end. We 'd rather prevent than take risks with cure-methods.
But it's never brought to our attention, at anytime through our lives, that the voice is also as important as other bodily functions- at least not until we get into trouble from NOT being able to use it. And by that, I don't mean the occasional and gradual abuse due to lack of knowledge, but the end- when drastic measures must be taken to fix the vocal mechanism. Unfortunately, in such cases the voice is never the same. Now, that's no prevention!
The voice is the means of communication. Now, why is it that we take for granted something that is obviously so very important? Why is it that we are aware of the brain, the heart, the kidneys- and the list goes on- but we don't even know, or are even curious, about the vocal cords and all the vocal tissues?
Of course, we are taught about how the heart works, for example, for the obvious reason that without its constant beating, we no longer live. On the other hand, you can still survive with damaged, broken, or even permanently shut-down vocal cords (and their surrounding cartilages and tissues): but without the voice!
Being here without being heard is a real disadvantage!
Now that I've gotten your attention turned toward vocal (cord) awareness, it's only nice to give you a few general guidelines about Care of the Voice:
1. Watch your food and drink intake. You know what's good for you and, I hope, what's bad. Be kind to your body.
2. Watch your social habits. Partying late, smoking, drinking, having long phone conversations, gossiping, etc.
3. You need your 8 hours of sleeping through the night as much as you need to sip water throughout your waking hours. (That's right: I did not say drink your 8 glasses of water. I only say to sip water, so long as you do it throughout the day. Also, remember that not everything clear is water- you know that, right?)
4. This is the most important factor, but one we all ignore- Why? Because it's a given.
REMEMBER TO BREATHE. If you don't know "how" to breathe, LEARN HOW TO BREATHE.
5. After you know how to breathe, now you can speak on the breath.
-And so concludes my little guidelines.
When a new student joins my studio, the first two things I bring to his attention are: preparing his posture for the breath, after which I'll move on to reminding him "how" to breathe.
I wish this matter was as funny as it sounds; when, in fact, there's nothing to laugh about. Again, just like the voice, breathing is something we take for granted.
I'd like to get back to my topic now. Why, and how, does the voice run away?
Run-away voices occur when we mistreat our bodies (according to the guidelines, for example), often resulting in an illness such as a cold. It is common for a cold to become a sinus infection, ear infection, or throat infection- tonsillitis or laryngitis.
When it gets to that stage we feel very uncomfortable, as it's hard to breathe or swallow. Our ears burn and itch, and our throats are irritated and feel like the hot sand from an Arizona desert. You know, those cold symptoms that make your doctor tell you to sit it out, and when even taking prescribed antibiotics mean you still have to wait for it to run its course.
Some of you- especially the ones who use your voices to make a living, and this is by no means limited to singers- will be asked to take a "vocal rest." Now, to "rest" your "vocal" literally, this means stop -really STOP! If you can truly follow this instruction, this advice is excellent. Perhaps, in a week or two, your voice will come back along with your health. No harm's done.
But most of us cannot avoid talking- since we use our voices to communicate- so we can't really take a "vocal rest," can we? This is when trouble can really begin, and it can snow-ball from here on.
With the term "vocal rest" in mind, we figure that we'll just speak "gently" when we have to. When we think "gently," we think "softly." For most of us, though, the way we produce a soft sound is to back off the air we use, or to stop it entirely. When we speak off the air- the breath- we are no longer relying on our body muscles to support the sound, and we consequently speak with no support. The sound will come off the cords. This, together with weak cords due to a cold, causes the voice to feel weak, despite the pressure we put on our throats to muscle-up the sound.
My voice students are asked to stay away from my studio when they are sick. But, as soon as they are out of the contagious stage, and even when their voices are not fully recovered, they are encouraged to resume their voice lessons. Why? Proper use of the vocal mechanism will help the body get rid of the symptoms more quickly, as well as help the vocal cords regain their healthy stage. To shy away from the voice when one is sick only reinforces the body's tendency to forget what it's supposed to do when it's healthy. Just as in any physical activity, the voice needs to be re-trained.
