The muscle tone that you are accustomed to having will decrease significantly if you don’t sing. Here’s how to get it back.

I no longer had a reason to sing once the pandemic hit, so I didn’t. Yes, I know, “Use it or lose it.” But this would all be over soon anyway, right? Six months later, the church where I serve decided to conduct services in the parking lot, and I was asked to sing. I found that the muscle tone I expected to have in my vocal folds was no longer there. I had to do some restoration work. Have you ever stopped exercising for an extended time and then had to suffer the experience of getting back into shape? It’s not fun, and neither was getting back into vocal shape.

The primary technique I used was the semi-occluded vocal tract, more commonly called the “straw technique,” developed by vocologist Ingo Titze. Many vocal pathologists and singers have used this technique to repair and maintain vocal health.

Below are some steps and cautions when using the straw for general vocalizing and building back your voice.

• Use a straw that has a smaller diameter than the ones in the fast food chains—preferably .5mm or smaller. Vocal pathologists often use a coffee stirrer, but I’ve found, for me, that creates too much back pressure and can create inappropriate tension, which is not our friend.
• Cut the straw in half. For me, longer straws produce a weird, unpleasant vibration. Plus, it doesn’t use as many straws over the long haul.
• When putting the straw in your mouth, be sure to have your tongue under the straw with the tip of your tongue touching the back of your bottom front teeth. If your tongue is pulled back as if you are sipping a soda, the back of your tongue is pushing down on your epiglottis and partially covering your larynx. This will also create inappropriate vocal tension, which is not our friend.
• Using gentle phonation, hum into the straw at a comfortable pitch range with narrow pitch glides (glissandi) up and down. You can do these narrow glides in your
  low range and middle range.
• Gradually, increase the range distance from the “chest voice” through the mid-range and into the head voice. You can also start in your higher, light head mechanism and do downward glides. As you use the higher registration, allow the vocal folds to thin out. Avoid trying to ram the heavy chest mechanism into the upper registration. The sound you are aiming for is one voice—not three separate voices.
• Repeat. Avoid strain and oversinging.

OTHER VARIATIONS

• Sing simple songs that are in your comfortable range, and then sing them in different keys.
• Sing the songs you are working on in the correct keys.
• Use the straw with the vocal warm-ups your director uses in rehearsals

SOME SUGGESTIONS AND CAUTIONS

• Go slowly.
• If there’s pain, STOP! You’re doing something wrong. Work carefully through the sequence, noting where discomfort begins. Is it tension? Poor technique? Too much too soon?
• Experiment with different diameter straws.
• Keep your tongue forward and your larynx comfortably low at all times, because inappropriate tension is not our friend.

New music…Yay! Now you have to learn it. Rehearsals only occur once every week. What can you do, by yourself, to make progress?
1- Look at the words. Get familiar with them, reading them as a poem and then reading them in rhythm. Are there sections that repeat? Do they repeat exactly or do some words change with each section? Do you understand all the words, or all the references that are made in the song?
2- Tell a story. To sing a song with any kind of conviction, you need to know what you are singing about. If there’s no story obvious in the song, make one up that works for you and sing THAT story, convincingly.
3- Find a recording. There is a wealth of recorded material on the Internet and on cd’s. Find one you like and listen. Focus on the total sound while looking at your music. Then focus on your part while looking at the music.
4- Audiate. Once you’ve learned your part, sing it in your head. If you’re not sure of your part yet, recite the words in your head.
5- Mark your music. Write down what is discussed about the songs in rehearsal, so that you can refer to it when you practice alone. Circle the parts you have trouble with in rehearsal so you can go through them slowly in your own practice.

Sing with a smile and you’ll enjoy your practice and be practicing for a great looking performance too.

As singers, we spend a lot of time standing and sometimes, the legs begin to protest, loudly and painfully.  Here are some possible ways to alleviate some of that leg pain (bear in mind these are coming from a singer, not a PhD):

1-Make Micro-movements.  Instead of standing absolutely still, keep moving, in micro-increments.   Shift your weight, move slightly forward or back; keep the movements easy & natural, and small (unless you want to call it “choreography!).

2-Drink water.  As one very experienced singer/doctor once told me, “Sing wet, pee pale.”   If you get very dehydrated, you may need to replace electrolytes as well (a “sports drink” may be needed as well as water).

3-Some foods that MAY help alleviate leg cramps are quinine (in tonic water) and potassium (in bananas, for one).

4-Stretch out with a good walk or with toe-touch exercises before you know you will be standing for long periods of time.