How To Train Like A Vocal Athlete

Whether it’s a regular gig with your band or several shows a week in a musical, you’ve got to train like an athlete. Not only will this help you perform at an optimal level, but it will also help reduce the risk of vocal injury.

HERE’S WHAT TO DO:

1. Mind your vocal health.

This includes keeping up on your physical fitness as well as your regular vocal workouts. Maintaining your cardio fitness will help you with your endurance and stamina while on stage.  You’ll quickly get out of breath if you’re not used to moving around much while singing. 

Try practicing your songs while walking in place or dancing the way you would on stage. You can even practice singing while walking on a treadmill, so you can get your heart rate up and learn to maintain your breath.

Don’t forget: your body is your instrument. Check out my blog on tips to keep your voice healthy. 

2. Hone your songs.

Make sure you work on any problem spots in your songs with a coach to know how to sing them in vocal balance. We can all tend to push the envelope a bit, especially when we are performing. The key is not getting so far out of balance that you can’t find your way back. 

If there’s a section of a song you always find yourself straining on, it’s a bit like getting a pebble in your shoe. If you don’t take it out, i.e., get back in vocal balance, you’ll eventually be limping. So, work on those problem spots of your songs so they don’t throw you out of whack for the whole show.

You should not feel like you can’t sing for three days after you do a gig. You might feel a little tired from exertion, but you shouldn’t feel like you hurt yourself.

3. Choose the order of your set wisely.

This doesn’t apply to a musical because you can’t choose the song order. So, for my MT folks, minding your vocal health is especially important.

However, if this is a gig where you have some control over the order of your set, then use that to your advantage. Notice how you feel after some songs. If you have a few that are particularly challenging, by all means, don’t put them right next to each other. Give yourself a break by putting something less demanding in between so you can catch your breath and find your balance.

4. Warm up.

You want to warm up the voice to get the blood flowing to the vocal folds and get the voice in balance. You wouldn’t see an athlete go out to compete without first warming up their body, and you don’t want to do this with your voice.

Please don’t overdo it by doing an actual workout.  That’s too much.  I personally like to do a couple of short warm-ups on the day of a performance.  I do a little bit in the morning, maybe 10 minutes, and then another short one closer to my performance. I might also gently run any sections that need some reinforcement, but I don’t overdo it.

I also use some semi-occluded vocal exercises (SOVTs) in my warm-ups because they are gentle on the voice, and if you are doing them correctly, they will help you find vocal balance.

5. Cool down.

Most singers (and athletes) seem to know to warm up, but it’s always surprising to me how many don’t cool down after a big performance or rehearsal.

Semi-occluded vocal exercises work really well for both warming up and cooling down. Straw singing, lip trills, and humming are all great for this. Doing these on gentle slides and descending scale patterns will work well. You want to reset the voice back to vocal balance gently.

You’ll be amazed at how much faster your voice will recover with a 5-10 minute cool down. You’ll be ready to sing again the next day!

NOW THAT YOU’VE GOT THAT AWESOME GIG, LET’S KEEP YOU HEALTHY AND SINGING AT YOUR BEST! 

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