0869 – Your Voice in Winter - 4

2023.05.19 – 0869 – Your Voice in Winter - 4

8. Let Your Mic Do The Work

If you’re on stage in a show, MCing an event, turning on Christmas lights, remember the difference between volume and energy (loads on this from episode 323).

You have a mic for a reason, to make yourself louder, so there’s no need to shout into it and hurt your voice. If you do, you start a spiral effect: the sound team will simply turn down the level on your channel so your voice doesn’t distort over the loudspeakers, and you end up having to shout even more. And that of course will lead to you straining your voice and doing it harm.

Remember ‘volume’ is not the same as ‘energy’ or ‘excitement’. Loudness can come from the levels on the mixing desk, energy comes from, all sorts of things we’ve looked at before: your resonance, pitch, prosody, some of which comes from your knowledge and confidence … and of course how you breathe…

9. Look After Yourself

The basics as always, especially in the hurried and harried holiday season:

·        Hydrate, mate – balancing a festive tipple or pint with water, juice or cordial. Alcohol with a water-chaser if you like

·        A balanced diet

·        Skeletal and articulator warm ups and cool downs to dispel any tension

·        Whether you are a merry gentleman or lady, dear god, rest

Pushing through because “the show must go on”, or taking lozenges, pastilles or sprays which numb your throat – and so mask any pain, and lead you to think you’re OK - may cause serious damage. And remember nothing you eat or drink, suck or munch, chomp or chew, swallow or scoff, ingest or ingurgitate, gobble up or bolt down, … goes anywhere near your vocal folds!  

Never skip your warm-up exercises and focus a lot on your good vocal technique, avoiding any strain or tension. Listen to your body and don’t perform if it hurts, so you don’t cause more harm and so you recover as quickly as possible.

Also listen back to episode 776 – “Help! I’m Getting A Cold!”  

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.