Hello. My name is Rhonda Hackworth.
I'm an Associate Professor of Music at the Mason Grove School of the
Arts at Rutgers University. The topic that I have
in this video I have named the top ten
ways to improve your vocal health. This is
all opinion-based based on research that I've read
but there is hard research on this topic that I've presented
in the other video about vocal health
and research, and I would encourage you to watch that one first
because it will help maybe make some of these ten tips
make more sense. So when I speak at a conference I've got a lot
of practicing teachers in the room, usually, and
also a lot of pre-service teachers. What they want to know is
tell me what to do. What do I need to do to save my voice?
I have come up with a top ten list
- it's certainly not exclusive.
It's not scientific really, these are just my
opinions. They're based on all the research that I've done and the experts that I've
spoken with and I think they could make a difference. So number ten.
Warm up. Vocalists warm up before they sing.
Instrumentalists all warm up before they
play. It's interesting. Why don't teachers
warm up before they are going to speak all day long?
I'm not really sure, and I will confess that I have been guilty of this in the past.
The speech pathologists tell me
that most of the problems that they see start
in speech - it's not the way that we sing.
It's what we do in our speech.
It's what started all of this research. Quite often I was not warming up before I
talked all day long, lecturing or speaking
engagements, and often when I was speaking, I was not
breathing very well or supporting as I would
if someone suddenly told me to sing. I would completely change
the way that I approached it. I've realized now
that even speech when it is prolonged
needs to be treated the same way that we treat singing. So I usually
suggest if you've got time, try to do a full vocal warmup
in the morning. At the very least,
when you are driving to school in your car, you can hum
or sing along with the radio and that's at least better than nothing.
You've warmed up a tad. Number nine is practice
good posture. Your posture is connected to your vocal
health. You need to pay attention to not only
your standing posture, but your sitting posture.
This is something that I have started taking note of.
Occasionally at my desk when I'm over my computer,
I realize that my posture has deteriorated as I am
very carefully looking at - or if I'm on the phone with someone
and my neck is twisted. I have to take a break and think
"I really need to sit up straight and stretch."
All of that kind of thing. I usually tell teachers, consider something like
yoga or Alexander technique or anything
that makes you mindful of your correct posture. Sometimes just
practicing yoga or Alexander or any other type of
posture related practice will help you think about that
in a different way. Number eight is take vocal
rest breaks. Avoid talking
during these breaks. Sometimes I have come across teachers who
will talk for their entire lunch period
and/or their entire planning period. Taking that time
to be silent and rest your voice can be very helpful.
Number seven: use nonverbal commands.
They can really extend the life of your voice
and there's some research that shows that using nonverbal commands is actually more effective
with students than verbal commands.
I kind of laughingly say it's like Charlie Brown's teacher
syndrome. After a while the only thing
that students here is the "wah, wah, wah" that
Charlie Brown's teacher often does in the cartoons.
But somehow they perk up and pay attention when the
challenge comes that they need to be able to try and figure out what your nonverbal command means.
Make a habit of using your nonverbal commands before
your voice gets tired and you can really extend the life of your voice.
Number six: never use your voice
as a discipline tool. Do something else. Use
something nonverbal, have a signal.
Whatever works for you - I have had teachers
in my life who sometimes the quietest
teachers were the ones who were the most effective at
discipline. I'm thinking right now of Mr. Owens,
my seventh grade math teacher, who was kind of scary.
He would stand at his desk with his
book and his pencil and he would look around the room and we all wondered
what is this man writing down? And we were very careful to try and
not get our names in that book. He never raised his voice, not once.
And he was a very effective disciplinarian.
Think about that. Number five: pay attention when your voice gets
tired. Stop. Stop talking. Stop
singing. Give yourself a rest. A complete rest.
Even if it's only for a half hour, an hour -
give yourself some time for rest, especially once you notice that your voice
is getting tired. Number four: be aware
of things that irritate your voice and limit your exposure
to those. Those could be anything:
I'm very sensitive to smoke. Other people have
allergies. Some people are allergic to pets
or certain kinds of plants, or you name it.
You have to know what your body can
tolerate and what it cannot, and if you know that you're going to be in a situation
especially if you have something important coming up where you need to use your voice
for a performance, a long rehearsal, whatnot,
you would want to try and avoid those irritants as much as possible.
Number three: practice healthy speaking. What I mean by that
is what I've said earlier. Warm up before you teach and practice
proper posture, and don't forget to
breathe. Take a full breath in between sentences.
As you can tell from my speech,
I am a Southerner. I grew up in the South and
we spend a little bit more time talking down there. I live in the Northeast
now and I'm kind of a novelty up here but what
I have noticed is that my friends here in the Northeast speak
quite fast. Some of them speak so fast that they don't
take any time to breathe until all of a sudden they
have spoken so much so quickly so fast and they're completely out of breath
and *gasp* they have to suck in a big breath
of air in order to continue. I'm not saying that everyone needs
to slow down as much as Southerners but taking that breath in between can be really
important. Support your speaking just
as you would for singing or playing a wind instrument. Use your support mechanism
and then I always like to throw in this, it's a West African
proverb, and it says "speak softly, and carry a big
stick. You will go far." And I specifically say that
in terms of discipline. If you speak softly and you have something
that represents a big stick you will be more effective than if you speak loudly.
Number two is hydrate regularly.
If you're not drinking a lot of water,
I would suggest that you gradually increase your intake.
Don't flood your system, but gradually increase that.
A good goal from all that I've read is about six to eight
cups per day, and that's eight ounce cups. I haven't found
a 100% agreement between medical professionals
on exactly how much water is
acceptable but I would say that
six to eight cups a day is a good goal and that's a good place to
begin. The experts that I've read have said that water
is really the best hydrating
but other non-caffeinated beverages can suffice.
And one expert that I read
who's quite prominent in the field suggests that if you drink caffeine
that it should be one cup of water for
every cup of caffeine. And I've tried to use that
as a benchmark. Number one - the number one
suggestion that I have for good vocal health is to seek help.
If you need it, if you are already experiencing a vocal problem,
you really need to seek the help of a professional.
Specifically, a laryngologist or a speech
language pathologist, and you need to see this person
as soon as possible to prevent any further damage.
Sometimes students that I have here ask me
about seeing a doctor who is a ear nose and throat specialist, and they're also
a good resource. Just keep in mind that an ear nose and throat
specialist has a wide range of areas that they
treat. A laryngologist only treats
the voice. Speech language pathologists who
specialize in speech will be the most
concentrated there. If you're having a severe problem I would suggest
going right to a very specialized professional.
Don't wait. So your vocal health is yours.
It is your vocal health. It's very personalized. You are
the one who knows your body, knows how it
feels. You need to be the one who is the most sensitive to it.
You cannot ignore it. This is what I often say
to a group of musicians. If we're in the room and there are a lot of
instrumentalists in the room I will ask what instruments are represented here?
It always runs the gamut.
The most expensive of the
instruments I say, for instance, this piano,
a tuba, a double bass - those are very
expensive instruments. However, there is a place where you can buy one.
You can save money and buy another if something happens.
Your voice, if it is your instrument, even if it's not
your instrument, you're still using it for teaching. If it is damaged beyond
repair, there is no place to buy another.
It is up to you to take care of it
- if you are a student, think about it now, before you start teaching.
If you are currently teaching, think about how you
can adapt and really take care of your voice.
The ten steps that I presented here for vocal health, as I said earlier,
they're just opinions but they are opinions that are based in research.
You be the judge of what works for you.
Take the ones that you think will work best for you.
I would try to change maybe one thing at a time. Help
yourself to have better vocal health.