The concept of “online church” and livestreaming worship and sermons used to be reserved for the hip, youthful, tech-savvy (and usually larger) churches… but now it’s what everybody’s trying to figure out FAST! But if you think that “online church” is just a short-term thing… if you’re just hoping to survive through these next (hopefully) few weeks before things “go back to normal”… think again.
As much as singers often don’t want to hear this… it matters what you put in your body. Your voice is directly impacted by the food that you fuel with. Not indirectly, and not just a little bit. Directly. And in a big, big way. Here are 7 things to fuel with that will make your voice very, very happy.
Most singers assume that my online vocal courses and private lessons will spend copious amounts of time working on breathing exercises… and then are surprised when I don’t talk about it much at all (gasp… say what?!). I choose to focus on other, more important things.
Improper singing technique causes your vocal cords to become irritated and inflamed—and when we speak or sing on inflamed cords, the sound becomes distorted… what we call a “hoarse” voice. The real issue comes when you keep singing or even speaking on a hoarse voice… a constant cycle of inflammation leads to cysts, polyps and nodules on the vocal cords (believe me, you don’t wanna go there)…
I know many of you already serve on your local worship team (maybe you auditioned a long time ago and made it on, or maybe there wasn’t an audition process you had to go through!), BUT… I meet so many of you who WANT to be on your worship team, but the thought of auditioning sends you back under the covers!
But what about singing SONGS?! Don’t worry… I know you want to sing… which is the reason I make you buzz your lips and sound like a crazy person saying GOO and NAY in every lesson I teach. But… if you truly understood that these things are the key to unlocking that incredible singing voice that you want… you would NAY NAY NAY all day long.
You’re singing your song, your voice is feeling great… and then… UH OH… here comes that high note, and… you freak out! Maybe you miraculously hit the note (PHEW!) or… like most of us, either your voice ends up cracking awkwardly or… you push and strain and you do hit the note, but it’s flat (and feels terrible!). I get it! High notes can be intimidating! Anything is scary when we don’t have the tools and techniques to go after it with!
If you’re anything like me… you know what it’s like—we want our voice to sound better… NOW! I want to hit that higher note, sing that challenging song, have better tone, not have such a tired voice on Sundays… whatever it is. I want it… Right. Now. Yes, vocal training takes time. Mastering your vocal instrument takes time, patience and diligence. There’s no way around that. But… there are things we can do to improve our voice… FAST.
