Long-term hydration is far more important than short-term hydration, so chugging water the day before a performance will not help you Drink, at minimum, 8 glasses of pure water — not tea, not soft drinks — every day. [2] X Expert Source Patrick MuñozVoice & Speech Coach Expert Interview. 12 November 2019. Avoid dehydrating drink that contain alcohol and caffeine. Drink extra water to compensate for alcohol or caffeine if you drink them. Avoid all carbonated drinks, even uncaffeinated ones, if they give you reflux.
Sip your 8 glasses of water throughout the day instead large amounts at once. This will ensure consistent external hydration. Chew gum and suck on hard candies to keep our salivary glands engaged. Swallow saliva from time to time to clean out your throat without clearing it, which is bad for your vocal cords. Maintain a humid environment. If you live in a dry climate, you can purchase a personal steam inhaler at a pharmacy or hold a hot wet towel over your mouth and nose for a few minutes.
If you practice or perform three days in a row, take one day off. If you practice or perform five days in a row, take two days off. Avoid speaking unnecessarily on a day-to-day basis if you have a rigorous singing schedule.
Avoid dairy products that create excess mucous that causes you to clear your throat. Avoid excessive caffeine or alcohol, both of which dehydrate the body[6] X Expert Source Patrick MuñozVoice & Speech Coach Expert Interview. 12 November 2019. Eat enough protein to handle the workout your vocal muscles are wearing out through regular use. [7] X Research source Exercise regularly, both to keep your weight down and to improve your lung capacity and breath control.
Inhale slowly and deeply, feeling the air move downward through your mouth and throat and into your body. Imagine that the air is very heavy. Visualize pushing it all the way down below your belly button before letting yourself exhale. As you go through repetitions, inhale more quickly. Continue to imagine the air being heavy and pushing it down into your stomach. Feel how your abdomen and lower back expand. Place one hand on your chest, and the other on your stomach. When you inhale, make sure the hand on your stomach moves more than the one on your chest — you should be pulling air down deep into your body, not shallowly into your chest.
Inhale slowly and deeply through your nose, making sure to draw your breath down into your abdomen like in the previous exercise. Try to hold it for a count of seven, then exhale. Repeat several times. Over time, try to increase the length of time you can hold your breath comfortably.
Inhale deeply through your mouth, pushing the air deep into your abdomen. Instead of letting the air rush out at its own natural rate, keep your diaphragm engaged so you can control the rate of exhalation. Take eight seconds to expel all the air from your chest. Once you’ve exhaled, contract your abdominal muscles to push any remaining air from your lungs. One of the most important parts of improving our breathing is making sure we exhale completely.
Humming is a good way to ease into full-throated singing. Before you begin singing, practice some scales in a hum. Lip trilling warms up the muscles involved with exhalation to prepare them for the controlled breathing required by singing. Keeping your lips pressed together, push air through them to create the sound we associate with being cold: brrrrrrrrr!. [13] X Research source Move through your scales in this manner.
Listen to Youtube videos to make sure you’re matching your pitch appropriately to the actual notes you should be hitting. [14] X Research source Practice singing scales higher and lower than your most comfortable octave to increase your range.
