[Jonathan[_5_]]

On Friday, March 2, 2012 9:29:12 AM UTC-5, Frank Stearns wrote:
PStamler
writes:

On Mar 1, 8:27=A0pm, Mxsmanic wrote:

What are the main things that a singer should _not_ do, if he wants to
preserve his voice?

1. Don't scream through a tight throat. In fact, don't sing anything
through a tight throat.

2. Don't sing with your head thrown back. Pete Seeger did for years,
and now his voice is almost totally gone. (This is really a sub-set of
1., since throwing your head back tightens your throat.)

3. Don't drink coffee, coke, red wine, Scotch whisky, or real tea
before you sing. If you're going to drink wine, make it white (but see
5.), and not too much; if you're going to drink tea, make it herbal,
preferably lemon.

4. Don't neglect vocal warm-ups.

5. Don't sing drunk. You'll numb any pain you're feeling, and cause
damage.

6. Don't forget to use monitors to hear yourself so you don't try to
push through the instruments. Let the mic and PA do the hard work.

7. Don't try to sing outside of your comfortable range.

Good points all, and there's also this: correct training will help you learn how to
support your voice from the diaphragm. It's a bit like learning to lift something
heavy by using your legs and keeping the center of gravity near your core. Too many
singers do the equivalent of lifting cinder blocks at arm's length by bending their
back (shudder; makes my back hurt to even visualize that!)

Correct training can also help you learn to find all the assets your particular
voice has; the correct resonance, the correct range, etc. It will also help give
you the most air efficiency and control in your voice.

From all these things you'll find the best tone, use little air to make a lot of
tone (without hurting the voice), maintain good intonation through good control,
etc.


Frank
Mobile Audio

--
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One thing nobody mentioned is throat clearing.
Over time this is damaging to the vocal cords.