Student HealthThe University of Tennessee at Martin

Department of Music

Vocal HealthAs singers, your voice is your instrument. As humans, it is your means of communication. It is the only voice you get, therefore it is imperative that you take care of it. But what does that mean? It means consciously avoiding those things that are detrimental to your voice and embracing those things that are beneficial. Below are two lists. One list contains items that, at best, can fatigue your voice and, at worst, create major vocal trauma. The other list is a list of things you should do to take care of your voice (both while healthy and while ill) to keep it working properly for as long as possible.

Vocal Health

Vocal Don’ts• Overuse• Not properly

warming up• Yelling• Screaming• Coughing• Clearing the

throat• Whispering

Vocal Do’s• Vocal Rest (Most important!)• Drink plenty of water• Exercise• Get plenty of sleep• Bundle up in cold weather• Use a humidifier• Gargle with warm salt water• Drink warm tea• See a doctor when you start to get sick• Wash your hands often

Vocal HealthHere is a links that you can follow for further guidelines

and assistance with vocal health:

The Texas Voice Center

Brass Health

• Noise induced hearing loss and hearing protection

• Musician's earplugs 1

• Musician's earplugs 2

Hearing Health

Brass Health

• Yoga

• Alexander Technique 1

• Alexander Technique 2

Body Usage

Brass Health

• Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

• Stephen MR Covey, The Speed of Trust

• Tommy Angelo, Elements of Poker

• James E. Loehr, Mental Toughness Training for Sports

Mental Health and Stress Management

Brass Health

• Wayne Dyer, You’ll See it When You Believe It

• Barry Green, Inner Game of Music

• Irmtraud Tarr-Kruger, Performance Power

Performance Health

Brass Health

• Fearless Performance Seminars

Other Resources

Hearing Health

• What is hearing health?

• Hearing Health Rap

Woodwind Health

• Michele Gingras. “Musicians’ Health.” Chapter 6 in More Clarinet Secrets: 100 Quick Tips for the Advanced Clarinetist.

• Larry Guy. Hand and Finger Development for Clarinetists.

Print Resources

Woodwind Health

• Practice and Performance Related Injuries

• Overuse Syndrome

• Musicians and Injuries

Online Resources

Woodwind Health

• Haely Kate, Owner of Martin Yoga and clinician on posture and breathing

Local Resources

Piano Health

• Movement Retraining is the Key to Recovery

Citations• Duke Voice Care Center (Most Comprehensive: Downloadable pdf)

http://www.dukehealth.org/repository/dukehealth/2010/12/22/13/57/10/0598/DVCC%20vocal%20health.pdf• Mia Olson (Professor, Berklee College of Music), Musician's Yoga: A Guide to

Practice, Performance, and Inspiration