Simone Niles, Mandy Bryant and Jermaine Jones share their top tips on vocal health for singers of all genres.

Simone Niles

Vocalist | Transformational Coach

Mandy Bryant

Voice Teacher | Choir Director

Jermaine Jones

Singer-songwriter | Producer

We asked Singdaptive instructors about their top vocal health practices. Today, we hear from leading vocal and performance coach, Simone Niles, voice teacher and choir director, Mandy Bryant, and singer-producer, Jermaine Jones.

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Simone Niles on Vocal Rest

Tips from The Team Transcript: My number one vocal health tip is to rest your voice. As singers and vocalists, we are constantly vocalizing and because we use our voice to speak as well, we have to consider that we’re using our voice constantly in our singing context as well as just communicating with others. It gets a lot of work! And so vocal rest is really, really important and I think it’s not emphasized enough. It’s important to plan a day where you’re silent, that you come into a space where you can give the muscle time to relax and come back to full recovery so that it’s at it’s optimum for the next performance.

Just like an athlete wouldn’t constantly run and not rest, you need to make sure that you implement a resting practice too. So for example, very often I’ll warm up six days a week and then completely stay silent and really relaxed on the seventh day. It doesn’t have to be the weekend – I know that’s often when we gig, but whenever you need to and can, make sure to take some rest. Don’t let your voice ask you for it through damage or through not being able to work for you in the context you need. Plan it, make it happen, and your voice will serve you and help with the stamina when out there gigging and singing. So, rest your voice.

What is your Number One Vocal Health Tip?

Mandy Bryant on Avoiding Stressful Situations

Tips from The Team Transcript: Now, this one is hard because there are so many vocal health tips that are very important for good vocal health! I’m just going to narrow it down to one or two.

So one thing is to remain hydrated. One of the biggest mistakes I see a lot of singers doing is they don’t drink that much water generally, but then when they’re performing, they drink a ton of it. That’s actually not the best way of doing it. Keeping your body hydrated throughout the day, week and month is going to do amazing things for your vocal cords. If you are just drinking water in the moments that you’re about to perform, you’re just keeping it lubricated. Whereas if your body is actually hydrated and you’re putting in the time to do that throughout your day-to-day life, you’re actually creating hydration within the vocal folds and within your body. Your body will definitely thank you for it.

The second tip is to avoid situations where you put a lot of stress on your voice. By situations, I mean things like being in a really noisy bar or at a noisy party where you have to yell over top of the noise; or being at a sporting event where you’re yelling and screaming. Those are the times where I feel the most stress on my voice and I can feel it the next day. Those are the only times where my voice feels stressed and tired.

What is The Best Vocal Health Habit for Singing?

Jermaine Jones on Resting and Hydrating

Tips from The Team Transcript: My number one vocal health tip is to sleep, drink water, and then sleep again, because it’s so important that you get rest. It doesn’t matter how hydrated your voice is, how rehearsed you are, or how warmed up you are, if your body is tired, it’s going to show in the sound and quality of your voice.

The second thing I like to do is I like to drink at least, at a bare minimum, two bottles of water a day. The first bottle, I take it straight to the head. I drink the whole thing from beginning to end. Then the second bottle I sip on periodically throughout the day. If I need more, then I’ll take more. But at a very minimum, I start at two bottles of water. Those are my top vocal health tips.

What is Your Number One Vocal Health Habit?