Managing Vocal Fatigue & Hydration
Tips on how to prevent strain, maintain vocal health, and stay hydrated for optimal vocal performance.
Vocal fatigue can leave your voice feeling weak, hoarse, or strained after extended use. Recovery and proper care are essential to maintaining vocal health, especially for senior singers.
Immediate Steps for Vocal Recovery
✅ Consult a Medical Professional
If you experience pain or a hoarseness that doesn’t resolve after a few days of rest, consult an ENT.
Keep your GP informed as well.
✅ Rest Your Voice
Reduce speaking and avoid whispering (which can strain the vocal folds).
Use a notepad or text-to-speech apps to minimize vocal effort when necessary.
✅ Hydrate Deeply
Drink water throughout the day.
Consume hydrating foods (cucumber, watermelon, broth-based soups).
Use steam inhalation (bowl of hot water with a towel or a warm shower).
✅ Practice Semi-Occluded Vocal Tract (SOVT) Exercises
Lip trills, straw phonation, and gentle humming help rebalance vocal fold vibration.
Blow air through a straw while phonating to reduce tension and increase efficiency.
✅ Apply Gentle Massage & Relaxation Techniques
Lightly massage the larynx, jaw, and neck to release tension.
Perform shoulder rolls and neck stretches to ease muscular strain.
Long-Term Strategies to Prevent Fatigue
✅ Avoid Overpressurized Breathing
Barbershop singers are chronic over-breathers. Only take the quantity of air required for the phrase being sung.
Practice inhalation with released abdominal muscles.
✅ Monitor Your Vocal Load
Space out rehearsals and performances with vocal rest days.
Alternate singing tasks (full-voice vs. lighter vocalizing).
✅ Adjust Repertoire & Range
Select songs that fit your comfortable range without excessive strain.
Use alternative voicings or harmonies to avoid overuse.
✅ Keep a Vocal Health Journal
Track how your voice feels after rehearsals and performances.
Note patterns of fatigue, hydration, sleep, and vocal strain.
✅ Seek Professional Guidance
Consult a vocal coach or speech therapist for personalized exercises.
If hoarseness persists beyond two weeks, see an ENT.
Semi-Occluded Vocal Tract (SOVT) Exercises for Senior Singers
SOVT exercises are excellent for reducing vocal fatigue, improving breath support, and increasing vocal efficiency. These exercises partially close the vocal tract, creating back pressure that helps the vocal folds vibrate more efficiently and with less strain.
1. Straw Phonation
- Variations
Try using the straw in water. Experiment with different water quantities and cup/bottle types and sizes.
Different straw lengths and bores can affect the resistance. Experiment and find what works best for you.
- How to do it
Sing through a straw (not hum), keeping the sound steady.
Maintain a firm seal on the straw.
Try singing simple exercises or a melody while phonating through the straw.
2. Embouchure Exercises
- Variations
Using lips: lip buzzes, tongue trills (rolled r), raspberry, V (as in victory), ZH (as in treasure), ool (as in pool), puffed cheeks
Slightly opened mouth: ng (as in sing), nn (as in nine)
- How to do it
Relax your lips and blow air through them to create a fluttering sound while phonating.
Try singing simple exercises or a melody while phonating.
6. Articulated SOVTs
- Variations
Cup (perforated) singing, hand over the mouth, ventriloquistic singing
- Benefits:
Creates additional back pressure
You are able to sing words in this set of SOVTs