Protecting your voice

ANATOMIE DU CHANT

These small divine wings are fragile and deserve special care. Lifestyle habits, hydration, prevention: Adeline Toniutti's advice for nurturing your instrument every day.

PREVENTION OVER CURE

Protect your voice

Invisible to those around us, our vocal cords depend on our general emotional and physical state. Adeline Toniutti opens the chapter she dedicates to them in Anatomie du Chant:

"Our vocal cords are well hidden in our throats, invisible to those around us, yet so powerful! Their vibrations can lift the crowd of an entire stadium. These small divine wings are fragile and deserve special care."

Adeline Toniutti, Anatomie du Chant (Marabout, 2024)

It is better to prevent than to cure, and to alert a specialist immediately when you notice a change. This page gathers daily prevention habits: lifestyle choices, hydration and listening to early warning signals.

LIFESTYLE HABITS

Nurturing your instrument

The voice is the singer's instrument and, as such, it must be preserved and kept in good health. Taking care of your voice means taking care of yourself and paying particular attention to your lifestyle: getting quality sleep, eating healthily while watching the acidity of foods, and staying properly hydrated means taking care of your digestive system and your respiratory system.

Practising sport is also an asset when done correctly, with respect for the body. Many great artists work with sports coaches who adapt their training in preparation for touring. When faced with the aches and pains that follow a performance, rest is absolutely essential whenever possible: planning a recovery phase is crucial because the stage is demanding.

"To take care of your voice and your body, each person must find what works for them and build their own magic toolkit. Remember that anything digestive, respiratory or muscular can influence the voice."

Alternative medicine, such as naturopathy or homeopathy, is often an interesting option. Adeline herself regularly calls on osteopaths and masseurs to help her body recover more quickly.

THE EXPERT'S VIEW

Massage: a singer's ally

"Massage allows the oxygenation of the connective tissues known as fascia and promotes their elasticity. The singer needs a breathing, vibrating body, hydrated mucous membranes and precise postural alignment for a wide respiratory range. Massage does not replace good vocal technique, but it ideally supports an artist's recovery and helps develop greater suppleness to sustain the voice in performance."

Marie Zheng, Qi Gong master, in Anatomie du Chant

DRINK BEFORE EFFORT

Anticipating hydration

Hydration is essential for a singer. Osteopath Jean-Marie Lege shares a fundamental insight in the book: food is more of a restoration, allowing the body to compensate after effort. Hydration through drinking must, on the other hand, be anticipated before effort. Since water takes six hours to be absorbed, you need to drink well in advance to meet the body's demands.

"A singer should therefore anticipate drinking around half a litre at least two hours before a one-hour singing performance. For example, I drink 2 litres of water before 2 pm when the show is at 8 pm."

Adeline Toniutti, Anatomie du Chant (Marabout, 2024)

DID YOU KNOW?

On a plane, the voice dehydrates

During a flight, where the cabin air is very dry, the body is required to expend a significant amount of water through perspiration and especially through the vapour produced by breathing: half a litre per hour and a half of flight. You must therefore prepare for a long flight by drinking an extra litre and a half of water, on top of your usual intake, in the six to two hours before the flight. And you must continue drinking during the flight.

It is common for stress and changes in environment (air conditioning, temperature, weather) to affect the hydration of the mucous membranes. Singers often report discomfort during their performance due to dryness in the nose and mouth. How can this be remedied?

  • Hydrate your body with water in advance.
  • Use a small inhaler nebuliser, making sure to clean it properly.
  • Opt for certain homeopathic products, such as aloe vera nasal sprays, which hydrate the mucous membranes very effectively.

LISTEN TO THE SIGNALS

Preventing fatigue and pain

Every singer is responsible for their vocal cords, and must be alert when something is wrong.

"The sooner a problem is identified, the sooner it can be addressed. Prevention is always better than cure."

During the lesson. If your throat hurts or you feel discomfort during a lesson, you must say so immediately: it means there is a parameter in the vocal gesture that needs to be corrected. You must not continue an exercise that causes you pain. It is the responsibility of the vocal coach or singing teacher to ensure that the technique taught respects the vocal apparatus, but it is the student's duty to report any problem. When you repeatedly experience throat pain during a lesson, it can cause a lesion within 24 hours.

When a lesion appears, it manifests through symptoms in the voice and/or in the vocal apparatus: this is referred to as dysphonia. The main signs to watch for:

  • a reduction in vocal intensity;
  • a reduction in vocal range (ambitus);
  • a change in vocal tone;
  • difficulty speaking or singing (the vocal cords vibrate with difficulty).

After the lesson. If the voice remains abnormal 24 hours after a singing lesson, something went wrong during the lesson. When there is a lesion on the vocal cords, a minimum of 48 to 72 hours of vocal rest is needed for the vocal apparatus to return to normal naturally. Without improvement after this rest period, it is important to consult an ENT specialist. Avoid self-medication: repeated use of cortisone is strongly discouraged and must be subject to medical advice.

Voice conditions (oedema, nodules, polyps, laryngitis) are detailed in our dedicated pages: vocal cord diseases and dysphonia.

IN PRACTICE

Lida's recipe

In the book, nutritionist Lida Serrano shares her home preparation for caring for the voice.

RECIPE

Goal: care for your voice

Ingredients: ginger (organic), turmeric, lemon, oregano, rosemary, thyme, cinnamon, cold-pressed virgin coconut oil. Aim for a fairly thick paste.

  • Mix the peeled roots of organic ginger (or ginger powder) and turmeric with the lemon juice. You can add a piece of lemon with the skin, which is rich in essential oils and vitamins.
  • Then add the oregano, thyme and rosemary, fresh or dried (about 1 teaspoon of each), then the cinnamon powder and finally the coconut oil. Dilute with a little water if needed. You can add honey (preferably mountain honey) to soften the raw taste of the ingredients.
  • The paste keeps in the refrigerator for several days. For the herbal tea, use a tea ball or filter bag and let it infuse for 5 minutes.
  • You can take a little coconut oil after the tea to lubricate the throat mucosa. Apply warmth to your chest and stomach: this will do your vocal apparatus a great deal of good.

RECOVERY

Could sea air be beneficial?

After her vocal cord operations and an imposed period of silence that was a real ordeal, communicating with a small chalkboard, Adeline went to the seaside to breathe the iodine-rich air.

"I noticed that sea air seemed to create a form of hydration for my mucous membranes and that the sight of the horizon brought me a sense of hope and renewal after months of difficult medical uncertainty. That is how the air of Saint-Malo became an indispensable part of my vocal and mental recovery."

Adeline Toniutti, Anatomie du Chant (Marabout, 2024)

TAKE CARE OF YOUR VOICE

Get support for your voice

A persistent discomfort, vocal fatigue, or simply the desire to build a solid vocal hygiene routine? The CALYP Voice Clinic team is here to support you. And to go further, find all of this advice in full in Anatomie du Chant by Adeline Toniutti (Marabout, 2024).

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