Waking up with a frog and a hoarse

February 17, 2009 9:51 AM

I've noticed my voice is hoarse in the mornings after an evening spent in any noisy environment. After an hour or two of speaking with a louder-than-normal voice, I'm croaky the next day.

I've also noticed that my voice is "breathy" when I'm singing, particular in higher registers. It loses power and control, and the only way I can hit higher notes is to "power" through them, which feels damaging, and limits my control. While I like the quality of a breathy voice, I'm concerned that I'm slowly losing range, power, and control.

I'm not overly worried that I have anything like vocal chord nodules, although I may go for a check-up. I may explore the Alexander Technique, since it was invented by a public speaker for just this sort of problem.

Ideally I'd see a speech therapist and a singing coach, but time and cash are against me. For now.

So does anyone out there have any suggestions? I'd prefer tested, practical tips from singers or vocal therapists on how to train my voice, if at all possible. I'd like to make myself heard in a noisy pub at the weekends without waking up with a frog in my throat; and I'd want some basic exercises for improving control and vocal range while singing. My singing style is pretty middle-of-the-road -- pop, folk, rock, nothing too extreme. And I record, but don't perform publicly, at the moment.

I shall be following the advice in these previous threads, but any specific advice would be gratefully received:

http://ask.metafilter.com/68129/How-can-I-sound-like-Wilson-Pickett


http://ask.metafilter.com/36589/Blargle-graaaah-ruggl-RAKZCH-BLAHHHH

http://ask.metafilter.com/14967/Voice-Care


Thanks, Hive Mind.

posted by ajp to Health & Fitness (6 answers total)

I've been singing since I was very young, and I can tell you right now that anyone who has to talk very loudly for hours is going to to be a little hoarse the next day. When I read that part, it struck me like, "Hey guys, is there any way I can drink liquid without ever needing to urinate?" would. That's not very concerning.

As for singing, though: The only thing I can tell you using text is that you just need to keep practicing to increase your range, and that if you feel pain when you try to sing higher, then you need to not be so tense. It sounds like you're tensing up when you try to "power through," as you put it, and you should not be doing that. Ideally you want the power to well up from your chest area, and for it to feel free. This is difficult to describe because that doesn't mean that you must sing in your chest, only that your breaths need to drive the notes and not your throat muscles.

Also note that once you get that down, you won't get those higher notes immediately. That still takes practice. What happens to me, and a lot of people, is that they just sort of let out a breath without much of a sound. If you keep practicing, though, especially scaling up from whatever highest note you can hit, one day a note will be there. Warming up in general is pretty important; there's a whole half octave I can't hit when I start, but after ten minutes I can hit it and it sounds bad. After about fifteen I can hit it and it sounds good. Don't fret just because you can't hit a note immediately, and definitely don't try to just hammer it through.

But that's easier said than done. Get a voice coach if you can. They can pick up a lot just by looking at your posture -- namely the tilt of your head and the muscles in your neck -- while you sing. They can also hear tension in your voice if your body is good at disguising it.
posted by Nattie at 10:23 AM on February 17, 2009

I'm not a doctor, and I'm certainly not saying that this is your problem, but I had laryngeal polyps. My symptoms were just as you describe but year after year they got worse. Mine were due to acid reflux slowly eating away at my vocal chords, once I started treating the GERD the polyps stopped growing. Mine were already so large and painful that they had to come out, but if yours are GERD related then getting treatment now might prevent surgery later.
posted by Pollomacho at 10:34 AM on February 17, 2009

I don't sing, but I've started taking lozenges (preferably Ricola) before bed after a night of heavy speaking. It helps.
posted by valadil at 11:23 AM on February 17, 2009

If you know you're going to be speaking loudly for an extended period of time, you can do some vocal warmups first, and that will help you not to hurt yourself. Before I teach (talking for a few hours straight), I do basic warm-ups like those described here. You can also find plenty of vocal warm-up tutorials on YouTube. And if you know any singers or actors, they may be able to show you a warm-up or three.

Also, remember to drink lots and lots of water (especially if your "noisy environment" is a bar and you're drinking alcohol). If you're dehydrated, your chords dry out too. This can cause temporary raspiness, which can potentially lead to nodules.
posted by ourobouros at 11:41 AM on February 17, 2009

Ha. I guess your "chords" will dry out in some kind of metaphorical sense, but I meant your vocal cords.
posted by ourobouros at 11:44 AM on February 17, 2009

This may or may not help you depending on how you use your voice presently, but I would suggest exaggerating your pronunciation. Like, REALLY EX-AGG-ER-AT-ING; your mouth moves like you're yelling, but you're not making any more sound than normal. Don't push your voice out and try and make it louder. The majority of North Americans (you don't say if you are, but it's probably generally applicable) have learned to be sloppy about their pronunciation, which means that they're really not using their voice efficiently; they're doing way more work than they need to in order to get more volume, because some things that should resonate don't. They're not really engaged in making any sound; they're just hanging in there.

Exaggerating and emphasizing your pronunciation is the kind of thing that sounds ridiculous in normal everyday speech, but if you're in a noisy environment, or you're performing it doesn't come across that way.
posted by '' at 3:47 PM on February 18, 2009