NEVER EVER Over Sing!
June Moris April 3, 2009 - 3:00 pm .
How Fabulous ! The first search result of 71 MILLION pages on Over Singing shows a video on how not to Over Sing and gives no advice on how not to. Instead a person shows you how to do a humming exercise. As all good teachers she does the right thing by showing you how to do the exercise by doing the exercise herself while a tape plays the notes on a piano. The only problem is that she doesn’t master her breathing technique and has no control over her voice singing every single note out of tune.
So let me give you this little advice onn how not to over sing.
Introduction.
After 5 years of vocal training one day I woke up and prepared for my daily vocal workout. After some warm up I was ready to sing some songs. On singing a bit higher suddenly my voice made a scratchy noise and I could not sing any note beyond that pitch.
I thought my voice only tripped but when I tried again the same note gave no more than this scratchy harsh noise. It was quite scary and I had no clue what was going on.
I didn’t feel uncomfortable or pain as a sign I did something wrong so to find out what was happening I went to see an ENT doctor who looked at my vocal chords with a camera and told me there was a cyst on my vocal cords.
He told me not to sing for 3 weeks and avoid speech. I was quite upset because singing had been part of my day to day life for several years. I needed it.
Nevertheless I had no choice if I wanted my voice back and I did exactly as I was told and 3 weeks later my voice was there again better than ever.
Now what happened? I remembered that for a while I had been doing a new exercise and I thought this would give extra thickness and power to my voice but instead a few months later I lost my voice.
When the doctor told me I had a cyst I instantly knew this must’ve been the result of the new exercise and I realised that I had actually been over singing.
What is over singing?
When you sing in a band and the band is so loud you have to consciously and constantly sing louder because the volume of the microphone cannot be increased without giving feedback that’s when you over sing.
Over singing puts pressure on the vocal cords because the extra volume doesn’t come from the breathing technique. The more pressure the sooner you will lose your voice. If you give all you have for about an hour or so the next day or even the same day after singing you might be hoarse or have no voice at all.
If you put some pressure but didn’t give everything you had you might not notice anything instantly but over time-and that could be up to several months later-you will get vocal problems. Possible problems are nodules, a cyst…
The right breathing technique and being a trained singer won’t spare your voice from vocal problems.
It might actually make it worse as your voice has built up reserves. Your voice is stronger but it doesn’t mean you can’t damage it. You just won’t get that instant hoarseness or loss of voice the next day. You might not notice anything for months and so you won’t be alerted you are doing something wrong. Nevertheless within time problems will rise if you keep over singing.
How to avoid over singing?
You should always feel comfortable in your throat and not feel tired or any sort of hoarseness or pain is a signal that you’re doing something wrong. When singing in a band make sure you sing exactly the way you sing without a band. A microphone should make no difference to the way you sing. Some people start singing louder. That is the microphones’ work. If your voice can’t be heard the band has to reduce the volume of their instruments.
What to do when you did over sing?
Always keep your singing in check whenever and wherever you sing. No matter how trained you are don’t take your technique and experience for granted. When you realise you’re over singing instantly correct yourself: Stop, relax, center your energy and start over.
Try to develop hearing yourself from inside yourself without having to cover one ear rather than hearing your voice back through the speakers. If you can do that it will be unlikely you will over sing.
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