[This vocal tip is excerpted and adapted from Jeannie Deva’s 2012 e-Publication: “Singer’s Guide to Powerful Performances,” available on most eBook Readers and as a pdf download from this website.]

During the 2010 European tour of a world-famous female singer, it was difficult for her to stay in tune or have good tone, much less sing the full range of most of her own songs. This was because her voice had not been cared for properly.

You might not immediately associate proper diet, good sleep and adequate exercise with memorable performances, but proper care is integral to the quality and stamina of your voice and the longevity of your career. When the success of your career and your happiness depend on your vocal performance, consistent preventative care takes on new meaning and importance.

Pillar 1: Correct and Adequate Vocal Warm-Ups

To respond well all muscles should be limbered before vigorous use. Vocal warm-ups are essentially voice muscle limbering exercises. They don’t use loud volume, nor are they done in a whisper. Many singers use their first couple of songs to warm-up. Songs are not good warm-ups because they require many different complex movements of your vocal musculature. Your voice should be warmed-up before such demand is placed on it. And frankly, if your vocal technique is not adequate to support all the different demands of a song, warming-up with songs might actually fatigue your vocal muscles and reduce your tonal palette.

Pillar 2: Vocal Technique and Exercises

Through correct techniques and exercises you can achieve vocal strength, stamina, flexibility, resonance, range, and consistency of tone. You’ll be able to sing pitch accurately in a smoothly blended and emotionally sensitive voice that’s uniquely yours. You can find a complete series of techniques in my Contemporary Vocalist: Volumes One and Two. This resource will provide you with the knowledge and exercises to build this important pillar.

Pillar 3: Adequate Vocal Cool-Down after Singing

When you sing, the sounds of your voice are produced from the rapid and highly precise actions of small internal muscles. As with any type of demanding physical activity, circulation increases and the muscles swell with blood. Blood supplies all the cells in the body with three essentials for life: oxygen, nutrients and water. It also performs another vital function; it removes waste products from the cells after they convert these three essentials into energy. This is also true of the vocal muscles, and especially when engaged in a rigorous activity such as singing.

If you don’t cool-down your voice to its normal speaking condition after an intense vocal performance, you could experience vocal fatigue and huskiness for one to three days. This is true even if your voice training and technique are excellent.

In The Deva Method Vocal Warm-Ups and Cool-Downs, you’ll find a number of easy-to-use exercises — including a singer’s massage — that you can customize to your needs.

Pillar 4: Elimination of Harmful and Abusive Substances

There are certain substances that can be harmful to the sensitive mucous membranes of the throat and vocal folds. Recreational drugs such as marijuana, the nicotine and chemicals in cigarettes, as well as alcoholic beverages are poisons with adverse side effects that can affect the tone and function of the voice. Elimination of harmful and abusive substances can make a big improvement in your perceptual sensitivity as well as the quality of your voice.

Pillar 5: Singer Foods and Drinks

I’m not a nutritionist, but many years of experience with numerous diets and thousands of singers have brought to light which foods are beneficial and which are detrimental to the voice. The “foods to avoid” list for singers would be those that stiffen muscles or stimulate phlegm and mucous production in the body and particularly in the vocal folds.

You’ll find the best foods and drinks as well as which foods and beverages to avoid and more, in my comprehensive Singer’s Guide to Powerful Performances digital eBook.

Pillar 6: Physical Exercise

Since singing and performing are physically demanding, routine exercise is recommended. I recommend stretching, aerobic and light weight lifting that does not tighten or bulk-up muscles. You want to be limber and toned, not bulky and tight. Swimming is excellent for this. If you want to move around a lot on stage, conditioning your body and your breathing is vital. You will be more comfortable without getting out of breath when moving or dancing on stage.

Pillar 7: Adequate Rest

Your body and your voice need rest in order to function at their best. Your voice is generated by muscle action and when you sing with a tired body and fatigued muscles, you’ll generally use excessive effort to accomplish what a rested body would do more easily. Effort generates strain and tension, which, distracts from the quality of the performance, and may lead to vocal blowout.

Pillar 8: Spiritual and Emotional Well-Being

Chances are you’ve noticed that it’s more difficult to sing when you’re distraught than when you’re happy and at ease. Your voice is affected by your state of mind and your emotions, particularly if you tend to bottle up your feelings. While we certainly cannot control everything that happens, we can influence events in either a positive or negative way.

Treating others in a friendly, respectful and considerate manner is good advice for anyone, but it is particularly important for a performer. Performing is a profession that requires people skills. In a successful career you will work with producers, agents, managers, radio hosts and sound engineers. Each of them potentially advances or impedes your career.

You’ll find that the more you improve your communication skills, and develop harmonious relationships with others, the greater percentage of successful outcome you’ll enjoy. This success brings about a happier state of mind, which results in an upward spiral into an even higher quality of life.

May you be empowered with this information and be the singer you want to be!

Wishing you success,

Jeannie Deva