- We all wanna get the most out of our singing voice.
And we all want to avoid voice injury at any cost.
Singing technique certainly plays its part
in helping the singer to avoid vocal damage,
but there several other exercise physiology principles
that every singer needs to observe to sustain vocal health.
What are these so called Exercise Physiology Principles?
Let's find out.
- [Technician] Sound check.
(feedback whining)
Check one, check two. (crowd cheering)
(feedback whining)
(upbeat, melodic music)
- G'day, welcome back to Voice Essentials
where everybody sings.
My name is Dr Dan
and I'm the contemporary Singing Voice Specialist,
so it probably comes as no surprise that I am
particularly interested in helping singers
to avoid vocal injury where possible.
I'm a great believer in prevention is better than cure,
so today I wanna equip you with some practical know how
that will hopefully help you to care for your voice,
which in turn should have you singing better and for longer.
I'm going to be allowing a great little article
by Mary J. Sandage and Matthew Hoch
to guide our video today.
Titled, Exercise Physiology: Perspective for Vocal Training,
Sandage and Hock's article
discusses the role of the vocal warm-up and cool-down,
topics that we've covered in previous videos.
So as always, I'll leave links to those videos
in the description section below
for those of you who haven't seen them before.
The emphasis of this article is outlined by Sandage and Hock
when they write, "To be clear, if we are to apply
"exercise physiology principles to voice function,
"the focus is on the muscular aspects
"of the laryngeal function."
They define the scope of the article further
by stating that, "Aspects of vocal fold cover fatigue
"or wear and tear
"are not within the scope of the application
"of exercise physiology evidence to voice function."
Essentially, the article
and what we will cover in this video,
targets the management of muscular fatigue
as well as those strategies
that enable the singer to recover from acute injury quickly.
Under the heading,
Principles and Adaptations with Training,
Sandage and Hoch state that,
"The body wants to work efficiently and to that end,
"muscles adapt in times of physical challenge,
"upregulating various mechanisms
"to help the muscles work more efficiently."
The opposite is also true.
You may have noticed how,
after an extended period of vocal rest,
I'm talking weeks and months here, not days,
your voice will lose
what I often refer to as match fitness.
A reduction of acoustic tone, laryngeal agility
as well as a general lack of vocal stamina
all seems to come as a result of prolonged vocal rest.
Sandage and Hock note that there are three principles
that administrate the tissue plasticity of the vocal folds:
The SAID principle;
Overload principle;
and the Reversibility principle.
- [Technician] Sound check.
(crowd cheering) (upbeat rock music)
(feedback whining)
- The SAID principle is an acronym for
Specific Adaptations to Imposed Demand.
If you've been following
the Voice Essentials channel videos for a while now
you'll have heard me use the term, task specific,
many times in relationship to voice training.
Well, task specific and the SAID principle
are essentially the same thing.
For example, if you're a contemporary singer
whose vocal demands include rock and pop,
then learning classically orientated technique
will most likely not equip the voice
with the task specific skills
demanded by your chosen contemporary genres.
The specific adaptations do not meet the imposed demand.
The second consideration for the adaptation of training
is the Overload Principle.
Sandage and Hock write that, "If a muscle is to develop
"beyond its current level of functioning,
"it must be challenged at a level
"beyond which it is used to working,
"hence the Overload principle."
Again, we discussed this in previous videos
when I've encouraged you
to always take your singing exercises
to the extreme of your range, plus one or two semitones.
Requiring more of the voice
and encouraging it to go beyond its limit of comfort
employs the Overload principle.
Interestingly, Sandage and Hock note that,
"For the first four to eight weeks
"of muscle strength training,
"neural adaptations will be the predominant mechanism
"for strength gains before muscle hypertrophy,
"muscle volume increases, are obvious."
This reinforces the need
for regular, consistent practice over time.
If you're searching for singing exercises
that employ the SAID principle
and also offer the opportunity
to involve the Overload principle,
then you might like to download Dr Dan's Voice Essentials.
The exercises are task specific
and they work the contemporary voice over an extended range.
It won't surprise you to learn
that my exercise CD also activates the third principle,
the Reversibility principle.
Sandage and Hock summarize
the Reversibility principle nicely stating that,
"Once trained up for a given singing role
"or a vocally demanding occupation
"it is easier to stay in shape than get in shape."
It's a simple case of use it or lose it!
Many of my subscribers are watching this video
for the first time,
at the start of the northern hemisphere summer.
A time of holidays and rest.
It can also be a time of singing silence for many vocalists
while they become distracted by outdoor activities.
Neglecting the exercise of the voice
for extended periods of time
can lead to a reversal of all your hard work
during Autumn, Winter and Spring.
Sandage and Hock are even more explicit, writing,
"It could be hypothesized
"that voice rest lasting more than four weeks
"or a total vocal load reduction
"of more than 70% of maximum load
"for more than about four weeks
"will result in a down-regulation of muscle mechanisms
"that were previously upregulated."
Again, use it or lose it.
Not that you can't regain it again,
but you can avoid a whole lot of hard work and frustration
by simply maintaining what you've already achieved
with regular vocal activity.
And there you have it!
Three exercise physiology principles
that will help you to maintain better vocal health,
SAID, Overload and Reversibility.
Or, in laymen's terms
make sure your singing exercises are task specific,
requiring the voice to safely step beyond its comfort zones
on a regular and consistent basis.
You might like to explore these three principles
in more depth, so I've put together a playlist of videos
that will provide you with practical skills
for better Exercise Physiology.
You can click on this link here
or the link in the description section below.
I hope to see you again soon in a moment,
I'm Dr Dan, sing well.