Anyone who has ever had to give a whole day of speeches or presentations knows that it doesn't take much to wear out your voice. Talk too long in a loud voice and you're going to end the day with a dry croak in your throat.
Losing your voice can be disastrous for salespeople, teachers, and lots of other professionals.
We spoke with three Canadian opera singers and one professional voice coach to obtain their tips on we can all do to keep our voices strong and clear even during the most challenging workdays.
WARM UP
Soprano Jennifer Taverner, currently touring with the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony's production of Die Fledermaus, says the first bit of advice she would offer anyone who has to do a long speech or presentation is to begin with a warm-up.
Taverner says no one would ever ask a singer to sing without a warm-up because that would be like telling a runner to just step out the door and begin sprinting; their performance is going to be sub-par.
So just as an athlete would warm up their leg muscles, so should singers and public speakers warm up the muscles that power the voice and breathing.
A vocal warm-up could include some deep breathing, some humming, singing scales, doing trills -- anything that gets your breathing muscles warm means you won't have to strain your voice to be heard, which could tire out your voice too early, leaving you hoarse.
If possible, use a microphone so you don't have to strain your voice, because over time, that could put you at risk of a vocal injury. Regular yelling and straining can lead to vocal nodules or polyps, which are like calluses on the vocal cords and cause pain and hoarseness. The treatment is typically complete rest -- which would be disastrous to anyone who makes their livelihood from their voice.
So don't mistreat your voice, says Taverner, because "it's a delicate little instrument."
Soprano Jennifer Taverner in the role of Laurette in Bizet's operette 'Le Docteur Miracle' (Photo by Nicola Betts)
PROTECT YOUR VOICE AT ALL TIMES
Singers don't just protect their voices when they're on tour; it's something they have to be mindful of all the time. For that reason, many professional singers no longer go to noisy bars, restaurants or social events where they know they will have to raise their voices to be heard.
That can mean turning down invitations for outings but a small sacrifice for their craft, says baritone Jesse Clark, who has performed numerous opera and oratorio works over his career.
"Once you're a professional and you're being paid to use your voice, you have a responsibility to your voice much like an athlete has one to their bodies," he says.
Canadian tenor Colin Ainsworth, who will be performing in the opera Iphigénie en Tauride in Lisbon, Portugal next month, says hockey games are not the same for him anymore since he became a singer because he now as to stifle the urge to yell his head off at the players.
"Now, when I go to games, I just do a loud whistle; I don't scream. Or I clap. I learned my lesson that I can't do that (yell) anymore," he says.
Vocal coach Elaine Overholt (Photo by Denise Grant)
GET TRAINING
All the singers we spoke to agreed that the best way to learn how to take care of your voice and use it well is to invest in some vocal coaching -- which they insist is not just for singers..
"I think for anyone who speaks in any public way, that's worth doing, because learning to connect your breath to your voice is really important," says Clark.
A professional coach can teach speakers about how to use their abdominal muscles to move their breath efficiently over their vocal cords, rather than relying only their throats to push out the sound, thus straining their voices.
"Even non-singers can learn resonance exercises, which is how to get your voice out of the throat and into the resonance spaces in the front of the face," says vocal coach performer Elaine Overholt, who runs Toronto's Big Voice Studios.
Ainsworth notes that no opera singer is born with the ability to sing over top of an orchestra and make their voice heard across a 2,000-seat auditorium without the aid of microphones. But he says it's a skill that can be learned with training.
Just as a runner can build enough stamina to run a marathon, speakers can learn how to strengthen the muscles needed for a strong voice. But Overholt says it requires practice.
"A lot of people just want you to tell them what to drink or what potion to take," she says.
But there are no magic elixirs, she says. Good vocal technique requires education about vocal resonance as well as regular exercise to build up the vocal cords' ability to withstand stress.
Clark agrees that many who do presentations as part of their job could benefit from vocal coaching.
"It's worth going to lessons if you have to speak for a living. It's worth going to see what you can learn," he says.
