Vocal Care During the Super Bowl (and other sports events)

I’m temporarily veering aside from my blog series to address a very important subject: The Super Bowl!

This will surprise those who know me because I am usually oblivious to football.  However, Master Chorus Eastside is located about 15 miles east of Seattle, so many of my singers will become raving maniacs on February 2^nd and potentially trash their voices for several days.  After all, Seahawks fans are known to be the noisiest in the league, and have, in fact, created small earthquakes, detectable on seismometers, during games.

So, in order to avoid bringing down the wrath of the choral gods upon your heads, below are some tips on vocal care for the big day.

After all, you don’t want your vocal folds to look like this, do you?!

Scary, isn’t it!

The vocal folds are made of delicate layers of tissue, so don’t abuse them!

So, to my singers, and to singers everywhere:

·         Warm up your voice before the game, just like we do at the beginning of rehearsal

·         Do not try to talk over loud noises, such as a roomful of screaming fans.  Walk up to the person you need to communicate with, get their attention, then talk to them in a normal voice.  The folds vibrate 100-200 times per second under normal talking conditions; imagine what happens when talking loudly!

·         Do not, do not, do not—and let me say again, do not—under any circumstances, scream or yell.  It tears at the vocal folds.  Think of clapping your hands; clapping softly is fine; hard, prolonged clapping makes your hands turn red, begin to hurt, could even cause blisters, which turn into calluses.  Just like those vocal nodules in the photo!

·         Use a noisemaker.  A whistle, rattle or small horn works well

·         If you must use your voice, do a short whoop or hoot, or a brief variation of the sirens we do in rehearsal.  This sends it into the head and it makes a fair amount of noise without hurting the voice.

·         During breaks, use straw phonation to rest your voice.  For singers who don’t know this technique, it’s a great way to stretch and relax the vocal folds.  Take a straw, hold it lightly between your lips, and hum easily up and down through your vocal range several times.  Here is a video on the technique.

It’s true that shouting during one game is not likely to permanently hurt your voice.  However, if any of my singers show up at our rehearsal on February 3 saying, “I can’t sing,”…

OR

If I can tell from the sound that you all have been screaming the day before…

You may find one of the conductor’s spells called down on your heads!  (see August 2013 blog)

Dr. Linda Gingrich

Artistic director and conductor

Master Chorus Eastside