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Singers - Are there times when you can sing one day and not the next?
Here's some tips that can help.

1.) Always warm up before a show - A good hour is the best. Find a tape or vocal warmup cd.

2.) For those ruff nights when you feel scrachy - try this mix.
a.) Buckwheat honey
b.) Throat Coat (follow directions)
3.) drink plenty of water
4.) don't talk
5.) plenty of rest
6.) no suger, dcalf only, no beer or liquor

Anyone else??

Learn to sing correctly using your diaphragm.

For hoarseness - cut an onion lengthwise (WITH the grain - end to end)...boil 1/2 it in a bit of water...toss the onion out & drink the water with honey...it isn't as bad as it sounds

or

Try "Clearvoice"...a product that you can get at some music stores...it's a fine mist ya spray in yer throat...it's expensive but works at tha gig

always warm up, also before rehaersals and do not forget also to always do a "cooling down" can be the same exercises.
make sure your shoulder and neck muscles are relaxed, stretching can help and yamning and stikcing out your tongue, as far and wide as you can, several times (to get all the tension out of jaw and tongue as ell, which should always be relaxed) and do not oversing and make sure the sound in your monitor is correct. So you can hear yourself. Communicate with soundpeople.

When rehearsing a lot, do not always go maximum. You can rehears and save the best for the show.
O yeah do not rehears or at least not too much on the day of a show. Just vocalise, warm up, do stretches, physical exercise for stamina, eat healthy, no diary or not too much, not too much food, breathing exercise, meditation all that but do not rehears (too much) on the day of!! save it for the show
ALWAYS DRINK PLENTY OF WATER MORE THAN YOU WANT PEE CLEAR IS SING PEE YELLOW OR DARK UNCLEAR = DO NOT SING, DEHYDRATED DRINK PLENTY PLENTY AND MUCH MORE OF WATER
REST A GOOD NIGHT SLEEP IS AS IMPORTANT AS ALL OTHER GOOD VOCAL HABIT AND HYGIENE.
DO NOT SING TOO MUCH WHEN SORE THROAT OR COLD (better not to sing at all but soetimes you just do have to show u sp go, but save yourselves
APPLEJUICE OR CRANBERRY JUICRE IS EXCELLENT FOR CLEARING THROAT

DO NOT CLEAR THROAT (you know those grunting ugh ugh trhoat clearings they are very damaging and can cause nodules) just drink plenty of water and juice and swallow that MUCUS and cut down on dairy, cheese and all that stickey stuff


WHEN AREA IS VERY DRY SOMETIMES ADDING A BIT OF OLIVE OIL TO YOUR WATRE WILL HELP A LOT

Good Luck
O DON'T DRINK ALCOHOL, WHEN STICKEY THROAT WANTING TO CLEAR TRY CRANBERRY JUICE OR APPLE JUICE
LIMIT CAFFEINE
AND ERH.....JUST RELAX AND ENJOY!!!!!!


I have done an acoustic cover of Losing My Religion (R.E.M.) I also have lots of originals, but I just really really loved this song, please tell me what you think...I have it as a video, solo and acoustic...you can find it on my profile in video section,
..Love, peace & music
Lony

lots of different singers claim to know the dos and donts when it comes to singing...ive heard them all and i have to say that there is only one thing i do to help me sing a gig....i dont eat before a gig...thats it

i used to do vocal warm ups but ive found over the years that i dont have to anymore for some reason....after one song im ready to sing for two hours....

i drink guinness before during and after all my gigs....ive never been a fan of honey and hot water or any of that type of stuff and i never feel the need to drink anything special to aid my voice...once im not bone dry i can sing anything i want...but it has taken me along time to realise that i didnt need any of the "voice aids" to sing well...i think most of it is "mental" and if your in the right frame of mind nothing can make you sound any better or worse than you already sound most of the time...

on top of this i also smoke....ive tried to quit so many times but ive learned that i can sing just as well if i smoke compared to when i stopped smoking....

so to close i do alot of things you shouldnt do if you want to be a good singer...any vocal coach will warn you not to do any of the things i do but i believe that singing is nothing more than a release.....if you believe your not going to sound good when you open your mouth it wont sound good...but if you believe in what your saying and get your point across it should sound amazing...thats how it is for me....

it is importaint to look after your voice but i dont go for the "not talking" and wraping your voice in cotton wool...if you want to sing opera well yes you must really look after your pipes but your lifestyle dictates how you sound...and most of the best rock singers have added to there voice by mistreating it....i say whatever works for one doesnt work for all....singing is the most personal of all forms of music... and every singer has there own way of singing but forget the rules every now and then and you never know where you will end up.

slain.

I read that the singer from System of a Down uses throat coat teas and the like. He still can't sing!

Ah dang it, I thought you said "swingers"

back up to the top for a second. i would always clear my throat because i thought it helped me strech. i go from clean to screaming and back to clean. so i need to be really loose... yah i coughed up blood at a practice. they say i might have nodes i cant afford to go see the doc yet. but for all you hardcore singers If ROUGH isnt your natural voice BE CAREFUL
they say many times damage cannot be undone. wouldnt you like to be able to put out a nice acoustic album 20 years from now? ALWAYS good to have a vox coach if you are a screamer. they wont like it, but they want to help. God Bless yall

Absolutely number one is warm up! Make simple warm ups. Start with the body( I tend to do some sit ups to get my diaphram working), then lips(buzzing them together gets them working) Then move to simple warm ups that get the support going in your diaphram. Something as simple as i i i i i on one note(that sounds like "ee" when sung) Then to some arpeggios and simple warm ups to get the range going.

My vocal coach wrote down the exercises she likes to me to work on, and I make sure I do those at least 30 minutes every day and prior to singing anything. I refuse to sing without warming up.

The absolute best thing I have ever found to get rid of mucus or gross allergies is Mucinex. I thought it was only for the lungs, but it clears the head and throat too. I love it. That and water are the two best things ever for singers.

I wouldn't recommend not eating before anything. But, I also dont recommend eating something heavy. A bit of protein is good, because you dont want to be hungry and pass out on stage or something from the excitement. I get the shakes if I don't eat at least something small before singing. Adrenaline+empty stomach=no good. Just don't eat ice cream or dairy!


and don't belt without support...that's just not good for anyone's throat...

I don't do anything. No warm ups, etc. I just don't drink ice water.

All this stuff is silly. No acids or sugar (which turns into acid) or salty food. They tend to dry up your throat and your mouth.
Don't have honey, onions or whatever the hell people recommend. Just relax. Stretch your vocals.. hit the highest notes you can hit comfortably, then go up gradually. Do the same for the lower or deeper notes, and you're set.
Be confident and enjoy it

back up to the top for a second. i would always clear my throat because i thought it helped me strech. i go from clean to screaming and back to clean. so i need to be really loose... yah i coughed up blood at a practice. they say i might have nodes i cant afford to go see the doc yet. but for all you hardcore singers If ROUGH isnt your natural voice BE CAREFUL
they say many times damage cannot be undone. wouldnt you like to be able to put out a nice acoustic album 20 years from now? ALWAYS good to have a vox coach if you are a screamer. they wont like it, but they want to help. God Bless yall

Well since screaming isn't singing, why are you messing with it?
If there just has to be screaming in your music, make someone else in the band do it. Then they can cough up the blood.

always warm up, also before rehaersals and do not forget also to always do a "cooling down" can be the same exercises.
make sure your shoulder and neck muscles are relaxed, stretching can help and yamning and stikcing out your tongue, as far and wide as you can, several times (to get all the tension out of jaw and tongue as ell, which should always be relaxed) and do not oversing and make sure the sound in your monitor is correct. So you can hear yourself. Communicate with soundpeople.

When rehearsing a lot, do not always go maximum. You can rehears and save the best for the show.
O yeah do not rehears or at least not too much on the day of a show. Just vocalise, warm up, do stretches, physical exercise for stamina, eat healthy, no diary or not too much, not too much food, breathing exercise, meditation all that but do not rehears (too much) on the day of!! save it for the show
ALWAYS DRINK PLENTY OF WATER MORE THAN YOU WANT PEE CLEAR IS SING PEE YELLOW OR DARK UNCLEAR = DO NOT SING, DEHYDRATED DRINK PLENTY PLENTY AND MUCH MORE OF WATER
REST A GOOD NIGHT SLEEP IS AS IMPORTANT AS ALL OTHER GOOD VOCAL HABIT AND HYGIENE.
DO NOT SING TOO MUCH WHEN SORE THROAT OR COLD (better not to sing at all but soetimes you just do have to show u sp go, but save yourselves
APPLEJUICE OR CRANBERRY JUICRE IS EXCELLENT FOR CLEARING THROAT

DO NOT CLEAR THROAT (you know those grunting ugh ugh trhoat clearings they are very damaging and can cause nodules) just drink plenty of water and juice and swallow that MUCUS and cut down on dairy, cheese and all that stickey stuff


WHEN AREA IS VERY DRY SOMETIMES ADDING A BIT OF OLIVE OIL TO YOUR WATRE WILL HELP A LOT

Good Luck
O DON'T DRINK ALCOHOL, WHEN STICKEY THROAT WANTING TO CLEAR TRY CRANBERRY JUICE OR APPLE JUICE
LIMIT CAFFEINE
AND ERH.....JUST RELAX AND ENJOY!!!!!!


I have done an acoustic cover of Losing My Religion (R.E.M.) I also have lots of originals, but I just really really loved this song, please tell me what you think...I have it as a video, solo and acoustic...you can find it on my profile in video section,
..Love, peace & music
Lony

Thanks Loni, great info. I never knew that about clearing the throat.

what is nodes?

Drink battery acid, it even helped IA. lol