“The Basics of Vocal Health”

As a “reluctant stage mom” I have, by default, learned many many things about subjects that never occurred to me as requiring much thought. One of these subjects is vocalizing. You have a child, he/she works through the developmental stages with encouragement and excitement from you, and by the time he/she is 3 or 4 years old you have a child who talks. If your children are anything like mine, you often wonder why on earth you ever thought encouraging them to learn to talk was a good idea! Nevertheless, it has been learned. I never gave much thought to the mechanics behind it. Even as a practicing physical therapist I never thought about the muscles or structures used to produce a voice, the physiological needs of a voice, or how posture can impact the voice. Of course these are things I think about daily at work but not for my children…until Zack came along.
As I have mentioned before Zack is a singer. The kid just sings. It comes naturally to him. The pitch, the tone, the harmonies, all of it. Unfortunately, because we come from an area that does not promote vocal training or education for children under 10 years old, he developed some bad habits very early. These habits didn’t demonstrate any real negative impact until he started to perform more regularly and then his voice would become raspy and “tired” at times. This indicates the presence of some inflammation of the vocal codds. I wish we had understood how important great vocal health would be for him as he progressed along this path so we wouldn’t now be encountering these periods of frustration as he is performing professionally.
This week I’m going to share with you some of the basics of good vocal health. I would ask that if any of our vocal coaches out there happen to read this and feel like chiming in to either correct me or to add to what I am saying that they PLEASE feel free to do so!
There are some basics we have learned. Hydration is number one on the list! Actually may be numbers 1, 2 and 3!! This, for a long time, was the hardest thing for Zack. He is not naturally a water drinker, he isn’t a big drinker of anything really. The difference in his voice when he’s hydrated is undeniable. He, at 12 years old, can totally appreciate the improvement. This has to become just a regular daily habit. The hours before a performance you can’t just chug a liter of water and expect miracles.
Your voice is created from two vocal cords, sometimes also knows as vocal folds. They are two membranes that stretch across your larynx, the top of your wind pipe, that move together as you exhale to create different sounds. The material of the vocal cords is somewhat similar (basically speaking) to the material of your lips. Think about how miserable your lips feel when they are dry and chapped. When you stretch them to talk or smile they will even split. They tend to get chapped from weather impacting them externally or when we have a cold and switch to mouth breathing with air constantly flowing past them. If we are well hydrated and our mouth is moist our lips tend to feel less dry and chapped. Your vocal cords are the same way. When you are hydrated your vocal cords are moist, mucous is thinner and easier to move, and the vocal cords move with improved fluidity and without the irritation that can be created when two pieces of tissue are rubbing together. With your lips you can apply Chapstick as an external lubricant. This is not an option for your vocal cords. They are at the top of your airway which is quite cranky when anything other than air gets near it. Lozenges, hot drinks, etc…can feel soothing, but they are not directly impacting or improving your vocal cords. You can’t drink water and superficially wet your vocal cords. Your body with reject that with a fit of coughing and choking only further irritating the cords. You also can’t drink water and direct it to your vocal cords. The only way to ensure your vocal cords are moist and lubricated is to drink enough fluid to keep you whole body hydrated. You want to avoid caffeine; most of us with young children discourage them from drinking caffeine anyway, as it can act as a diuretic, which encourages more fluid output and is ultimately less hydrating. Sugary drinks often contain caffeine so be careful of these as well. We us a lot of caffeine free tea and honey.
The one external way you can impact the moisture of the vocal cords is through air quality. If you are in a cold climate with dry heat or constantly have the AC running, this can be very drying. Using a cool mist humidifier can be very helpful. The other way is by the use of a personal steamer. Vicks sells one for short money at almost any local pharmacy and many of the kids on tour with us use this version. We found that Zack is so busy looking around and chatting that the open steamer really doesn’t work that well for him. We invested in the Mypuremist steamer with the face mask that was recommended by a speech language pathologist he works with, and have noted a dramatic improvement.
Another important basic for good vocal health is establishing a good posture that allows you to use the breathing muscles with the least amount of strain. If you picture your wind pipe as a tube of toothpaste and your voice as the paste then you know that when your tube is straight you can squeeze out the toothpaste with little trouble. If the tube gets bent or twisted it takes much more effort to get the paste out and it can get messy and harder to control. Good posture is good for easier flow. It is also important, mechanically, to allow the necessary muscles to work with less effort and to make sure you are calling the correct muscles to do the work. A child who hears a favorite song on the radio will automatically mimic the song the way they hear it using whatever they find within themselves to make it sound the same. Much of the time they are using throat , shoulder, neck, and tongue muscles to do this….and yes sometimes eyebrows and nostrils too…I am speaking from experience.
The fact is that most of the muscle effort should be coming from their diaphragm and their core strength. Children typically don’t have the best core strength naturally. Their bodies haven’t matured yet and are constantly changing making it necessary to constantly revisit their posture and strength to ensure the best technique. There are, as always, exceptions to this, but just speaking generally. Good posture combined with good stretching and strengthening to reinforce the posture as well as recruiting the correct muscles is key. The younger they learn this the better.
People often talk about diet and vocals. Sure there are some fast and true rules. Dairy is not great to ingest before a performance. It can cause an increase in and thickening of mucous. Some swear vitamin C can thin mucous. Ultimately you will find what does and does not work for your child. Good overall health will work for everyone all the time. Make sure your child has a well balanced, healthy diet with plenty of fruit and veggies. While traveling on tour place to place and being exposed to so much we have chosen to give Zack a daily vitamin C supplement and are constantly reminding him to wash his hands. A cold can really take the fun out of performing.
Those are the very basics of vocal health. If you have a child who is truly a singer I suggest finding a vocal coach to work with sooner vs. later. Skype works for us! A good coach is going to focus on all aspects of vocal health, building a great foundation and habits for your child as he/she grows. Make sure the coach has experience working with children too! It should be fun work not misery.
As always please feel free to ask any questions or add any comments.