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vocal fatigue

TEACH ALL DAY? TIPS TO MAINTAIN VOCAL HEALTH ~

October 22, 2018 by Lynn Swanson Leave a Comment

TIPS FOR TEACHERS

Teachers are at special risk for developing hoarseness simply be cause the job requires heavy voice use five plus days a week, with little time in between to allow the voice to recover. It has been observed that half of all teachers have a voice problem at some point in their careers.

WHAT TO DO?

❖ Take care to be well-hydrated. Begin your day with a full glass of water. 

Water.Glass.

❖ Warm up your voice before you begin speaking and certainly before you enter the classroom. Use efficient speaking techniques as soon as you begin talking. This means establishing a routine for when your feet first hit the floor in the morning. Please see our routine at the bottom of this article.

❖ Use personal or room amplification to minimize voice use in classroom or in rehearsal.

Megaphone.

❖ When you can, use sound makers (whistles, hand claps) to gain students’ attention, rather than a loud voice.

whistle.

❖ Use printed signs or hand signals for messages that you use often.

❖ Minimize using your voice to teach the music. Have the pianist or section leaders demonstrate the part.

❖ Provide recordings for your choir members to learn the music.

CDs.

❖ Avoid talking at the end of your breath. Don’t hold your breath before or between words.

❖ Use deep breathing avoiding shallow breaths before you talk.

❖ Incorporate vocal pacing by taking breaks from talking, both long and short throughout your day whether it is a weekend, vacation or typical work day. Not talking for even 5 minutes will make a difference.

❖ Avoid speaking at long lectures. Get creative with other ways to teach.

❖ If you are ill, cancel your engagements. If your voice is tired, stop speaking! Wear a button that says “I’m on vocal rest.” 

VOCALRESTBADGE_720x.jpg

Vocal Rest Button

❖ Decrease the amount of time you spend on the phone. Use text messaging or email. By all means, avoid loud conversations on the phone.

❖ Improve your classroom acoustics by adding acoustic panels to the ceiling and walls and carpeting to the floors. These materials help decrease the reverberation or echo of sound in the room. Minimize the noise from fans, lights, overhead projectors, and sound coming from other classes. For more specific tips, visit asa.aip.org  for the Acoustical Society of America’s Classroom Acoustics booklet.

Lombard effect: The Lombard effect will cause one to increase their volume due to increased noise levels in the room.  Voices tend to produce a more pressed phonation. For singers, pitch accuracy can become unstable and retention of pitch inaccurate. Do you best to avoid talking over noise whenever possible. Turn off the fan, buzzing lights, computers, etc..

❖ Wear an earplug in at least one ear. It can help your voice in a noisy situations, so that you avoid speaking too loudly. Molded Ear Plugs 

ear.
Uline.com

❖ Morning Vocal Routine:

  1. Light hum on a descending slide starting at about mid-register easily done as you are dressing for your day.
  2. Lip trill on an ascending penta-scale from low register to upper register. Then, graduate to full scales ascending and descending.
  3. Keep the diaphragmatic breathing you experienced all night with slow hisses or “sh-sh-sh”.
  4. Get the articulators going as you’re making your coffee or hot tea with explosive consonants: “ticky-ticky-ticky-too” or “chugga-chugga-choo-choo”.
  5. Move to phonation in the head voice with those great bird sounds of the crow and the owl: “caw-caw” “hoo-hoo”.
  6. Speaking with your established head voice and on the air – mix up some tongue twisters:

 Sally sells sea shells down by the sea shore.

What a wonderful world when we whistle as we walk.

       7. From there, you can move to your chest voice with a “ho-ho-ho-ho”                 and from there to singing in your different registers.

References:

Duke Voice Care Center.  Vocal health information. Retrieved from http://dukevoicecare.org.

Daugherty, J. (2012). Vocal health handout. University of Kansas.  Lawrence, KS.

Parillas, D. (n.d.). Vocal hygiene – part 2: hydrate! hydrate! hydrate! why vocal hydration is important to singing. Vocal Brilliance. Retrieved  from: http://vocalbrilliance.com/blog/vocal-hygiene-part-2-hydrate-hydrate-hydrate-why-hydration-is-important-to-singing

Images retrieved from:

3D  anatomical tutorial on the vocal and vestibular folds: Retrieved from : http://youtu.be/jqTKSorDRJo

 www.3-Dyoga.com

http://www.innerbody.com/image/musco6.html

 www.google.images.com

READ MORE:

Regarding Lombard Effect: For singers, auditory feedback is improved and vocal efficiency enhanced  indicated that when a choir  utilized a spread spacing  arrangement, 95% of  the singers  experienced  a positive difference  than when the choir stood close together. Daugherty, J. (1999, 2000).

[Read more…] about TEACH ALL DAY? TIPS TO MAINTAIN VOCAL HEALTH ~

Filed Under: Developing Voices Tagged With: vocal fatigue, vocal habits, vocal health, vocal tips for teachers

A NEW YEAR ~ A NEW HABIT ~ Avoiding vocal fatigue in the classroom

August 14, 2018 by Lynn Swanson Leave a Comment

Educators can be at unusual risk for developing vocal fatigue and hoarseness. Demands of heavy voice use throughout the week is tremendous with little time for the voice to rest and recover.                               

WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT? 

please refer to References at the end of this article for a more exhaustive list of aids for music teachers.

  • Take special care to be well-hydrated. Begin your day with a full glass of water. If you drink a caffeinated drink, do so without over-dosing.
  • Warm up your voice as soon as your feet hit the ground (and you’ve had your water) Please see Teacher Warm Up at the end of this article.
  • Use printed signs or hand gestures for recurring communications.
  • Minimize vocal use to teach the music. Use your keyboard skills or the pianist and section leaders to demonstrate the part.
  • Use amplification during rehearsal.
  • Avoid talking at the end of your breath. Don’t hold your breath before or between words. Practice vocal pacing by taking breaks from talking, both long and short throughout the day. Refraining from talking for even five minutes can make a difference.
  • Provide recordings for your choir members to learn their part.
  • If you are giving a long lecture, get creative with ways to present other than the constant use of your voice.
  • If your voice is fatigued, stop speaking!
  • Avoid loud conversations prompted by loud restaurants, halls and outdoor events.
  • Improve your classroom acoustics: Add acoustic panels to the ceiling and walls and carpeting to the floors. Minimize noise from fans, lights, overhead projectors, and sound coming from other classes. For more specific tips, visit https://acousticalsociety.org/ for the Acoustical Society of America’s Classroom Acoustics booklet.
    • Lombard effect. The Lombard effect will cause one to increase their volume due to increased noise levels in the room. Voices tend to produce a more pressed phonation. Avoid talking over noise whenever possible. Turn off the fan, buzzing lights, computers, etc. when talking.
  • Wear an earplug in at least one ear. It can help your voice avoid speaking too loudly in noisy situations.
  • Use sound makers (whistles, hand claps) to gain students’ attention, rather than a loud voice.
  • Use amplification when teaching to minimize voice overuse

MUST I ALWAYS WARM UP MY VOICE?

YES! Warming up the voice is not just for singing anymore. You should begin with gentle phonation at the start of your day to reinforce healthy habits.

TEACHER WARM UP

  • Begin with various rhythmic patterns using [Sh].
  • Hiss like snake while pulsing from just below the sternum.
  • Hum softly on glissando five-note scales.
  • Lip trill without phonating.
  • Lip trill phonation while on a descending then ascending five-note scales. Move down by semi-tones.
  • Repeat sequence using a syllable such as [mam] with a relaxed jaw.
  • Sing on [ni] on a bright sound by incorporating rabbit teeth.
  • Repeat sequence on [fu] to ensure use of diaphragmatic breathing with a gentle onset.
  • Transition into the head voice by using bird calls: “Kaw-Kaw”; “Cu-roo, Cu-roo” and sliding down through the mixed voice into the chest voice.
  • Gently speak sentences that begin with [m]: Meet me on Monday.
  • Finally, speak everyday phrases using the same easy production. Your goal is to use this easy vocal production throughout the day.

CHEERS TO A YEAR FREE OF VOCAL FATIGUE!

References:

Duke Voice Care Center.  Vocal health information. Retrieved from http://dukevoicecare.org

Daugherty, J. (2012). Vocal health handout. University of Kansas.  Lawrence, KS.

Daugherty, J. (2015). Graduate vocal pedagogy.  Retrieved from http://cmed.faculty.ku.edu

Erickson-Levendoski, E., Sivasankar, M. (2011). Investigating the effects of caffeine on  phonation.  Journal of Voice. 25. (5). E215-E219. Feldenkrais, M. (1949). Body and mature behavior. New York: International Universities Press.

Acoustical Society of America’s Classroom Acoustics booklet. https://acousticalsociety.org/

Feldenkrais, M. (2015) http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/ART00467/Feldenkrais-Method.html

Killer, S.C., Blannin, A. K., Jeukendrup, A. E. (2014). No evidence of dehydration with moderate coffee intake: a counterbalanced cross-over study in a free-living population. PLoS One. 9 (1). e84154. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0084154

Mathis, B.  Exercises for Voice . Retrieved from : http://www.voiceteacher.com/mathis2.html

Opera Pulse.com http://www.operapulse.com/refine-your-craft/guide-to-opera-training/the-rules-of-singing-mythbustersedition/#sthash.ExglJDbE.dpuf

Parillas, D. (n.d.). Vocal hygiene -part 2: hydrate! hydrate! hydrate! why vocal hydration is important to singing. Vocal Brilliance. Retrieved from: http://vocalbrilliance.com/blog/vocal-hygiene-part-2-hydrate-hydrate-hydrate-why-hydration-is-important-to-singing

Thurman, L. & Welch, G. (eds.). (2000). bodymind & voice. foundation of voice education. (Revised ed.). (Vols. 1-3).The VoiceCareNetwork.

[Read more…] about A NEW YEAR ~ A NEW HABIT ~ Avoiding vocal fatigue in the classroom

Filed Under: Developing Voices, Others Tagged With: educators, hoarseness, vocal fatigue

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