What you should and shouldn't do before a gig.
This is a list of ideals as it would not be realistic to expect you to do all of these, but if your voice is unpredictable when you gig then you might want to try these out, Over time you will get an idea of what you can and can't get away with, and you will be able to shorten your list!
Remember we are all different, so what works for one person may not work for another, and of course as you get older you will be able to get away with less too.
Do
- Warm-up your voice and body before singing
- Get lots of sleep
- Drink lots of water throughout the day and only warm water when you are singing.
- mark the music when you are rehearsing a lot to protect your voice
- Rest your voice if your throat feels fatigued
- gargle warm salt water, helps to clear phlegm
- warm-down after singing
- Healthy diet ( heart burn can effect the vocal folds, especially at the top of your range).
Don't
- Sing from your throat
- shout if the monitor mix is too quiet, get the sound engineer to turn it up!
- consume dairy products
- Smoke
- shout or talk loudly, when at a gig especially after a performance
- Sing with a breathy tone as this will aggravate your throat
- eat spicy food
- take drugs
- Cough (try gargling to clear the tickle).
- Clear your throat too heavily (try some water and swallow strongly to clear the phlegm).
- Eat a big meal before you sing (you will find it hard to get a good deep breath, and thus hold a note).
The monitor Mix
I would just like to go over the second point on the don't list, if you shout because you can't hear yourself, the chances are that everybody else can hear you just fine so when you start to shout people will wonder what is going on, but worst of all you will start to go out of tune, the dynamics of the song will be lost and people will think that you are a bad singer.
If on the other hand you learn to feel what right singing feels like you will know when you are singing, so make the sound engineer aware that you can't hear yourself, but do not start to raise your voice. If people can't hear you now they will blame the sound engineer and not you!
Stage Fright
We all suffer from nerves a bit, it's good for you, keep's you on your toes, gets the adrenalin pumping which helps you to give that bit more on the night, but when you get it so bad that you are sick that's not a good thing. I have found the following to be very helpful in calming me down; you can use this whenever you are feeling anxious, not just before singing:
- Sit, stand comfortably (not hunched over) or lie on the floor.
- Close your eyes, just listen to your breath going in and out of your body.
- Now inhale as if breathing in the scent of a rose for the first time, notice how deep into your lungs the air goes it should feel like your stomach is filling with air (although it's not).
- Breathe deeply and slowly in through the nose, and then slowly out of the mouth just listen to the breath and forget everything else, if your mind wonders off that's fine on the next breath bring it back
- Now as you breathe out (Exhale) focus your mind on where your jaw connects to your skull (the two joints at the sides of your skull) and as you exhale let your jaw just melt into the ground do this until you notice that your jaw is slightly open, this is your jaw relaxed for the first time. Remember a closed jaw is under tension, and that's not good for singing.
- Now start to focus on your shoulders and as you breathe out just let them sink into the ground, do this until your shoulders feel really relaxed.
- Then concentrate on your neck and then go through your body one part at a time checking for any tension, when you find some use this technique to get rid of it.
When you do this right you will feel really relaxed, I mean REALLY RELAXED, but try to stay awake! This exercise is a great why for you to get in touch with your body, after doing this for a while you will be very aware of any tension in your body, and you will know how to get rid of it.
