Dear Leontine,
I am currently singing in a touring musical theatre show. We are performing 18 shows a week (!) and I’m worried about my voice. It doesn’t feel the way it normally does and I have little vocal stamina. I still have about a month to go and I am not sure how I can sustain this. When I belt (and I have to a lot) it feels strained and not in the right place. Do you have any advice?
–Cassy
Dear Cassy,
Eighteen shows in one week is a tall order for any singer, especially if you have to belt a lot! Belting is a very intense muscular activity for the larynx and the vocal folds. The vocal folds are short and fat when in belting mode so try to balance this activity with plenty of ‘thin fold’ (head voice) singing during warm-ups and cool-downs, before and after each show, to stretch the folds again. Even though you are singing a lot, it’s very important to keep the muscles flexible by regular vocalising. This means that sirening on an ‘ng’ all the way up and down your vocal range is vital. You should also do some scales in head-voice, taking the voice as high as you can without straining. It’s important to do these exercises every day, even if it is only for a few minutes each time. This will keep the muscles healthily flexible, just like a ballet dancer doing stretches before and after a show.
Watch that your belt is placed correctly. It is always a good idea to spend a couple of minutes each day performing tongue exercises; sticking the tongue out and holding it until it aches a little will help to ease tongue root tension. Tongue root tension is a danger for belting as your larynx needs to be in a fairly high position and if the tongue is forcing the larynx down, belting becomes more difficult. Make sure you are supporting like mad and hold back the breath pressure! You need very little air to belt as the vocal folds are closed for around 70% of the cycle, which means that any excess air pressure under the vocal folds will make belting efficiently and healthily much more difficult. If you feel that you have lost a sense of the correct position for belting, it would be a good idea for you to arrange a session with an experienced vocal coach to remind you how it should feel. Singers should be able to sustain a healthy belt, even for a couple of shows a day.
We also need to talk about reflux – watch my column in coming months – but in the meantime read this: How to Trash Your Voice
I hope that helps you Cassy!
Leontine Hass
Vocal Coach
Director of Advanced Performers Studio
-
garymckinney
