5 practical exercises to take care of your voice

Before giving talks, introducing yourself to someone important, there is a detail that often goes unnoticed: the need to take care of your voice so that it does not betray us.

As before doing sports we warm up our muscles, it is essential treat our vocal cords with the pampering they deserve and preparing those little muscles for the work they have to do. Of course, singing in the shower is an excellent way to warm up, but maybe some of these others that I explain below in case, before going on stage or giving that conference, you did not have access to she.

The objective is, through a good use of our voice, avoid overload and vocal fatigue to prevent injuries such as aphonia, polyps in the vocal cords, etc... at the same time that we find our own precious voice and give it longevity.

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Exercises to take care of the voice

Although some people have unique vocal cord vibration patterns that make them fitter for performance, imitation or song (as they move faster and close with more force than habitual),

we can and must take care of the voice and develop it until its optimization. In addition to the exercises listed below, protect your neck from the cold, drink warm drinks (especially tea ginger or hedgehog) and avoiding alcohol and tobacco before using your voice for a long time are tips to keep in mind. bill.

These exercises come from my learning as a soprano, they helped me and still do every day. Not only do they improve the voice... they also relax and increase concentration. In addition, they are quite discreet, so they can be done at any time without attracting attention. For example, before going to teach, give a lecture...

1. Stretching

With the feet apart, aligned at the height of our hips, and the knees slightly bent, we direct the coccyx forward and raise our arms to the ceiling, grasp a wrist with the other hand and pull it towards above. We repeat changing hands. About three times per hand will be enough to stretch the intercostal muscles and help the diaphragm relax.

Now we massage our neck, trapezius area and shoulders to soften the muscles. We put the arm over the head and place the palm of the hand over the ear, pulling gently on the head, stretching all the muscles well. We can intensify it by stretching the opposite hand towards the ground.

Then we rest our chin on one shoulder and we rotate our head downwards with our chin always touching the body up to the other shoulder and always rotating back downwards.

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2. Facial relaxation

With the tongue, we press the walls of the mouth as extensively and strongly as we can. Then we pinch our cheekbones and cheeks, the area of ​​the ciliary arch, we pull our ears... and we press again with our tongue. You will notice that now the tongue is able to go much further with less effort. Repeat two or three times. Once we have warmed it up, tongue out, stretch down and forward, wait 15 seconds and relax inside.

If it bothers (at the base, not at the frenulum) repeat until it no longer bothers. The same to the sides: tongue out, stretch down and right side, hold for 15 seconds and relax inside. The same to the left side. Repeat until it doesn't bother.

3. Heating the diaphragm

Feet hip-width apart, tailbone forward, knees slightly bent, inhale in full breath and expels air with a lot of pressure through the almost closed mouth, emitting sound F while controlling with your hands the amount of air that is emitted from the abdomen. With practice it is very easy and helps greatly to learn to manage the air that we use when speaking. It is one of the most useful exercises to take care of the voice.

4. Warm up the vocal cords

With floppy, duck-billed lips, open throat, and bowed head with chin pressed to the chest, breathe in through the nose without nasal noise and breathe out through the mouth soundly imitating a horse and thereby making the lips vibrate. Repeat 5 times.

You place the incisor teeth on the lower lip and make a soft sound come out by exhaling a lot of air, imitating the buzz of a bee with the letter V. Do it another 5 times.

Chewing with vertical jaw movements, tilt your head down and add the vowel O, repeating MO, MO, MO. 5 times.

5. Place the voice

To do this, in the “singing” (or speaking) position that you already know: legs apart feet at the height of the hips, tailbone forward, knees slightly bent, we lower our chin towards our chest and say a sentence. The voice has to resonate in the upper palate and vibrate in the incisors. Repeat the phrase until you make sure your voice is in that position, and you can even rehearse the speech, text or lesson that you are about to present.