I was rehearsing a client who had a keynote speech to deliver at a conference. It had been a long day of meetings, and his speech was the next morning. We had just grabbed a bite to eat backstage, and were about to do a final run-through at 10PM. The problem was that his voice was just about gone from so much talking. What to do? He needed the time on stage and running through the talk because he had not had a minute to think about it all day. The stakes were high for this to be a great presentation. I looked at our drinks and suddenly remembered a great way to get his voice feeling much better so that he could still do the run-through and have a better chance of being ok in the morning. All I needed was a straw.
This is an exercise that I saw on YouTube. It was created by Ingo Titze, a prominent vocal scientist, and Executive Director of the National Center for Voice and Speech at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. He’s the one you see on the video.
More techniques to revive a tired voice when you must keep talking:
Hydrate your voice., when you are tired, drinking water may revive you in general. Drink water.
Drink warm liquids. They will soothe your throat and promote blood flow to the larynx, while also hydrating you.
Keep the weight out of your voice. To do this, you will need to work with the pitch of your voice. You may need to speak a little higher than you are used to speaking. Raise the pitch of your voice a little until you feel that it “takes the pressure” off your voice; it will feel just a little easier to talk. And put some energy into your voice by using more air.
Of course, the best thing you can do for your voice is to rest when it feels tired. Take a break. Speak to no one. Drink some tea. Contemplate your intention for awhile.
Not too long ago, someone called me asking for help with his voice. He wanted to sound like Rod Stewart. Without batting an eye, I said, “You don’t need a lesson. Just yell a lot, smoke a couple packs a day and don’t get any sleep.” He thanked me and hung up. How about that? I actually like Rod Stewart, but I wouldn’t want to sound like him, and I don’t usually coach people to ruin their voices. However, I believe that a person has the right to sound the way they want to sound. So, with that in mind, here is a list of ten things you can do to ruin your voice, or make it sound like someone who has ruined their voice, however you see it. (By the way, if you DON’T want to ruin your voice, take this as a list of things NOT to do!)
Smoke. Smoking does terrible things to your voice and your body. It’s certain that it will make your voice less flexible, dry and crackly, lower than it used to be, and may even cause laryngeal cancer, in which case your voice will be eliminated. Perfect!
Scream. My kids used to assure me that there were secrets that their favorite “Screamo” artists used to keep their voices completely healthy in spite of screaming every night on stage. If you know any of these secrets, please let me know, because screaming is still high on my list of guaranteed voice wreckers.
Avoid drinking water. Since water is the lubrication for your vocal folds, without it you will need to clear your throat all the time, which will irritate the cords and make them more likely to become red and puffy, which may eventually lead to nodules or other permanent damage.
Pitch your voice as low as you can get it and force the sound out. To help you with this, there are several websites that promote a sexy low voice, so you can even get some help from someone who is not a vocal practitioner
Get help with your voice from someone who is not a vocal practitioner.
And if you use one of those on-line solutions, ignore the notice that says you may hurt yourself doing this!
Push that sound out until it hurts. Don’t take breaks when your voice starts to feel tired. Instead, push it to the limit and then more. As we say in the voice world, “no pain, no strain.”
Eat a big meal just before going to sleep. Acid reflux is one of the best ways to destroy an otherwise healthy voice, and if you do this night after night, you may even develop esophageal cancer.
Attend parties and try to speak over all the noise. You cannot produce a sound you cannot hear, so you are sure to strain your voice trying to speak loud enough to hear yourself.
The next time you get laryngitis, go to the doctor and get some steroids. Then continue to speak as though there were nothing wrong. In fact go out and sing karaoke, and impress all your friends with your low sexy sound. A few days of this, and you may ruin your voice for a good several months, or even permanently!!
If you have more suggestions, I’d love to hear them. What’s going on with your voice?
I was rehearsing a client who had a keynote speech to deliver at a conference. It had been a long day of meetings, and his speech was the next morning. We had just grabbed a bite to eat backstage, and were about to do a final run-through at 10PM. The problem was that his voice was just about gone from so much talking. What to do? He needed the time on stage and running through the talk because he had not had a minute to think about it all day. The stakes were high for this to be a great presentation. I looked at our drinks and suddenly remembered a great way to get his voice feeling much better so that he could still do the run-through and have a better chance of being ok in the morning. All I needed was a straw.
