Tag: vocal health

PAJAMA MOVES – it’s the small moves that can make the biggest difference.

EXERCISE! Thoughts of pain, time, and hassle? It doesn’t have to be that way.

Change the thought of EXERCISE to MOVEMENT and feel good just about all the time.

You don’t need to move your body fast and work hard in order to experience great benefits. You do not have to go to the gym or to a class. You do not have to buy cute work-out clothes.

A healthy body is a healthy voice ~ Keeping your strength, endurance and range of mobility helps not only the body but also the voice – benefiting the respiratory, laryngeal, and vocal tract coordinators.

Every function of every organ and system in your body is enhanced by body movement. When they are activated, your:
1. Respiratory and circulatory systems deliver more oxygen and glucose to the muscles that enable more cognitive sharpness.
2. Metabolism increases.
3. Glands of the immune systems are better supported and protected(1).

The most important thing is to be consistent and use appropriate movements. This does not have to involve heavy weight lifting, aerobic classes, or even a personal trainer.

3 PAJAMA APPS – STAY IN YOUR JAMMIES AND STAY AT HOME –

Down Dog Yoga App

Down Dog: My absolute favorite app in the world. It is rated the top yoga app in the app store.
Best feature: User friendly
Important features: FREE at least until May 1. If you are an educator, it’s free until July 1: downdogapp.com/schools If you are a healthcare worker, it’s also free until July 1: downdogapp.com/healthcare

Sworkit App

Sworkit: Quick workouts, varying levels. Free trial, but then you have to pay to play.
Best feature: Designs 6 week plan for you based on age, gender, weight and skill.

Tai Chi: Chinese martial art practiced for both its defense training and health benefits. The term taiji refers to a philosophy of the forces of yin and yang. Free, but
Best feature: Lovely traditional Chinese music in background.
Great features:

Worth checking out online:
Babette Lightner

THE LIGHTNER METHOD:

  • Ease common chronic physical pain such as knee, back and shoulder pain.
  • Shift frustration, anxiety or worry to clarity and calm.
  • Transform effort, strain in moving to light, lively mobility.
  • Experience
  •  Experiencing your current capabilities rather than always try to improve/change.

THE ANCIENT ART OF MINDLESS WALKING:

Walking.Mindless.

THE TAKE AWAY
You don’t need to carve out an hour a day or even a few days a week. You can do small twelve minute sessions of any movement to receive great benefit. Those twelve minutes make a vast difference in stamina, outlook and focus.

I hope you’ll give it a try!

Footnotes:
1). Thurman, L. & Welch, G. (2000). bodymind & voice: foundations of voice education. The VoiceCare Network, USA, Book 3, 639-640.

Images: https://www.google.com/search?q=pajama+moves&newwindow=1&safe=active&rlz=1C1CHZL_enUS761US762&sxsrf=ALeKk00MxY3tpm_d0lXTSEXrsGJYUrp1aw:1587563043471&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj_ro6alfzoAhUCna0KHbPWDDEQ_AUoAnoECAwQBA&biw=1422&bih=624#imgrc=_pwpT1HKrtcpzM

TEACH ALL DAY? TIPS TO MAINTAINING VOCAL HEALTH ~

TIPS FOR TEACHERS

Teachers are at special risk for developing hoarseness simply be cause the job requires heavy voice use five plus days a week, with little time in between to allow the voice to recover. It has been observed that half of all teachers have a voice problem at some point in their careers.

WHAT TO DO?

❖ Take care to be well-hydrated. Begin your day with a full glass of water.

Water.Glass.

❖ Warm up your voice before you begin speaking and certainly before you enter the classroom. Use efficient speaking techniques as soon as you begin talking. This means establishing a routine for when your feet first hit the floor in the morning. Please see our routine at the bottom of this article.

❖ Use personal or room amplification to minimize voice use in classroom or in rehearsal.

Megaphone.

❖ When you can, use sound makers (whistles, hand claps) to gain students’ attention, rather than a loud voice.

whistle.

❖ Use printed signs or hand signals for messages that you use often.

❖ Minimize using your voice to teach the music. Have the pianist or section leaders demonstrate the part.

❖ Provide recordings for your choir members to learn the music.

CDs.

❖ Avoid talking at the end of your breath. Don’t hold your breath before or between words.

❖ Use deep breathing avoiding shallow breaths before you talk.

❖ Incorporate vocal pacing by taking breaks from talking, both long and short throughout your day whether it is a weekend, vacation or typical work day. Not talking for even 5 minutes will make a difference.

❖ Avoid speaking at long lectures. Get creative with other ways to teach.

❖ If you are ill, cancel your engagements. If your voice is tired, stop speaking! Wear a button that says “I’m on vocal rest.”

Vocal Rest Button 

VOCALRESTBADGE_720x.jpg

❖ Decrease the amount of time you spend on the phone. Use text messaging or email. By all means, avoid loud conversations on the phone.

❖ Improve your classroom acoustics by adding acoustic panels to the ceiling and walls and carpeting to the floors. These materials help decrease the reverberation or echo of sound in the room. Minimize the noise from fans, lights, overhead projectors, and sound coming from other classes. For more specific tips, visit asa.aip.org  for the Acoustical Society of America’s Classroom Acoustics booklet.

Lombard effect: The Lombard effect will cause one to increase their volume due to increased noise levels in the room.  Voices tend to produce a more pressed phonation. For singers, pitch accuracy can become unstable and retention of pitch inaccurate. Do you best to avoid talking over noise whenever possible. Turn off the fan, buzzing lights, computers, etc..

❖ Wear an earplug in at least one ear. It can help your voice in a noisy situations, so that you avoid speaking too loudly. Molded Ear Plugs 

    ear.   ear plugs

❖ Use personal amplification or room amplification when teaching to minimize voice overuse.

Morning Vocal Routine:

  1. Light hum on a descending slide starting at about mid-register easily done as you are dressing for your day.
  2. Lip trill on an ascending penta-scale from low register to upper register. Then, graduate to full scales ascending and descending.
  3. Keep the diaphragmatic breathing you experienced all night with slow hisses or “sh-sh-sh”.
  4. Get the articulators going as you’re making your coffee or hot tea with explosive consonants: “ticky-ticky-ticky-too” or “chugga-chugga-choo-choo”.
  5. Move to phonation in the head voice with those great bird sounds of the crow and the owl: “caw-caw” “hoo-hoo”.
  6. Speaking with your established head voice and on the air – mix up some tongue twisters:

“Sally sells sea shells down by the sea shore.” What a wonderful world it is, when we whistle as we walk.”

  1. From there, you can move to your chest voice with a “ho-ho-ho-ho” and from there to singing in your different registers.

References:

Duke Voice Care Center.  Vocal health information. Retrieved from http://dukevoicecare.org.

Daugherty, J. (2012). Vocal health handout. University of Kansas.  Lawrence, KS.

Parillas, D. (n.d.). Vocal hygiene – part 2: hydrate! hydrate! hydrate! why vocal hydration is important to singing. Vocal Brilliance. Retrieved  from: http://vocalbrilliance.com/blog/vocal-hygiene-part-2-hydrate-hydrate-hydrate-why-hydration-is-important-to-singing

Images retrieved from:

 3D  anatomical tutorial on the vocal and vestibular folds: Retrieved from : http://youtu.be/jqTKSorDRJo

 www.3-Dyoga.com

 http://www.innerbody.com/image/musco6.html

 www.google.images.com

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