Hello Singers,
Often times I am asked about vocal health in Springtime. Yes, some of us suffer from seasonal allergies and even asthma potentially posing issues for singers during Spring.
Ensuring that one gets plenty of rest, water and sunlight (yeah) vocal chords require great posture and warmup to work their best. Posture is important to correct daily. I do so by leaning my back to a wall and trying to line up my spine straight against the wall as close as possible this including my heals to the baseboard. Sometimes it takes me a few tries but eventually my body and spine align. If I am tired I use a yoga mat and while lying on my back I bring my legs up the wall for a while to bring proper blood flow to my heart and extremities and realign my posture. I enjoy singing in this lying down position when warming up.
In vocal warmup I often just begin by using my breath consciously and doing count breaths say 5 seconds in, 7 seconds out etc.. I vary the breath counts to assess my own breathing. I also warmup my vocal chords by using my voice at a singing level, meaning a little more than speaking. In this manner my diaphragm is engaged in the process of supporting my singing at a medium soft volume. At this volume I am able to crescendo as I wish with ample breath support and comfort. If it feels good – Keep doing that!
Happy Singing Singers! Happy Spring!
