How to sing without damaging your voice?

Question

I am the lead singer of my band, and we were practicing a few covers. The next day I had a horrible sore throat. I have had no formal singing lessons, but I'm good at keeping pitch, so that's why I sing for the band. Anyone know any tips or techniques for not losing your voice? I just don't get how lots of rock singers scream their heads off at a show, and they do it almost every night, and some of them aren't even very good singers.

Answer 1

Hi, im a trained soprano and often give tuition to others and although its a very differnt style of singing from what you probaly do with your band, singing is singing regardlesss.

There a number of things you absolutely must do prior to singing. First you need to practice basic facial and mouth movements, which might sound odd, but they help unhinge your mouth, neck and vocal chords. Try making wide yawning sounds and saying the vowels (a,e,i,o,u) in a very exgerrated voice.

Next try some basic vocal excercises. Scales are really good and they allow the voice to to go from low to high registers gradually, thereby easing your vocal chords into it. Sing the scales to the vowels again. Some people find humming for a while prior to singing is also useful.

Like what the other answers said, do drink plenty of water. Try mixing warm water with lemon and honey and drink that for a few hours prior to a gig. If you have a gig coming up, don't strain your voice for at least a week before hand, just save all your energy for the big night.

Finally, and you probably don't want to hear this, but screaming your head off, as you say, is just too much for some voices. if you find that after all these tips that your throat still hurts or you still loose your voice, maybe you should just resort to something a bit more mellow, just in case you end up doing permanent damamge to your vocal chords.

Best of luck, hope this helps :)

Answer 2

How To Become A Singer like all your favorite famous singers? The Superior Singing Method is the course ou need! It's the perfect course for anyone that love singing, it has been bought from thousands of people with great results! check it here http://improvesinging.keysolve.net The Superior Singing Method is like having a personal vocal instructor showing you exactly how your voice works, and how to work with each muscle group in your voice to get the results you want. Discover how to become a Better Singer in just days: http://improvesinging.keysolve.net In just 5 minutes a day, You could start singing with incredible control, power, pitch, and more freedom than you ever imagined.

Answer 3

My advice to you is to drink a LOT of water while you sing. Whenever me and my band do gigs, I normally have about two to four bottles of water ready. You can also use honey-tea. The other singer of our band does most of the screaming whenever we put that into our songs, and I think I've only seen her with a sore throat once. You could also try singing with a coughdrop in your mouth, but that's not something I'd advise until you're very experianced. My friend has been singing for a good twelve years now (40, but still great at his stuff), and he sings with a coughdrop under his tongue. I'd wait for that, even I won't try it because I'm not sure I trust myself enough to not choke on it.

Good luck. ;)

Answer 4

as a singer my voice coach told me to never scream....not even at a game....we are suppose to protect our voices.....maybe that's whya lot of rock singers are not good singers.....plus you might be singing above your range.....if you have to hit some high notes in certain songs, try to save those songs for the end of practice, and only sing them a couple of times, so you don't strain your voice.

Answer 5

Dear, "marbleintheoatmeal", everybody here has some good advice, but one thing I want you to remember, is, your vocal chords are a muscle, treat them as you would any other muscle, in exercising, don't overdo it, because you could strain them,or overwork them, what you want to do is build them up, as you would any other muscle,!! A little at a time , is better than too much at one time ! !

Answer 6

Try less talking after talking. Also try singing from your stomach instead of your throat. You need to give your throat and voice rest.

Answer 7

Try singing in each octave! each day try to do one more! If you can't reach the octave, then try it over and over! that is what I do to warm up!

Answer 8

Try gargling hot salt water.

Answer 9

lemon tea with honey...honey has some antibiotic properties too.