Unfiltered Thoughts

2023.02.24 – 0785 – Jaw Massage
Jaw Massage Let your jaw drop slightly and put the balls of your hands just under your cheekbones. Rub firmly into the hollows of your cheeks as you let the lower jaw drop into a more open position.
Temple MassageWith the tips of your fingers, massage your temples as you open and close the jaw, circular movements in both directions. As you close your mouth you will feel a bulge of the associated muscles.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.02.23 – 0784 – The Toffee and Chipmunk Jaw Exercises
The JawIf you experience a popping or clicking in their jaw, it’s a possible sign that you are tensing or clenching it too much. But of course, you need to be able to drop the jaw when you speak, to allow the tongue to move freely and the sound to come out. Some of the muscles that close the jaw fan out towards the temple and skull, the ones that open it are linked to the neck and larynx, so any tightness here can affect a large area.·        Relax your jaw and keep your lips closed. Let it hang loose for one minute.·        Then do each of these for a count of five:o  With your lips still closed, stretch your jaw as far open as you cano  Carefully move your lower jaw from left to right…o  … and then up and down.Now, open and relax your mouth with your lips apart, a ‘gormless’ look, and repeat the exercise.·        Chew big, slow and exaggerated, letting your mouth open as you do so, for 30 seconds[1]·        Then quick and small, chipmunk-style
[1] Some people chew actual gum for a few minutes before a studio session to relax their jaw, although doing it for too long will make it ache.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.02.22 – 0783 – The ‘Silent Laugh’ Vocal Exercise  
The Silent LaughImagine you’ve just been told a joke but you’re not allowed to laugh out loud, instead do so silently and gently inside your throat with no sound. If you find this tricky at first, laugh vocally, and sense what is happening inside your mouth and throat and replicate this, silently. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.02.21 – 0782 – The ‘Yawn Sigh’ Vocal Exercise   Throat The Yawn SighYawning opens and stretches muscles at the back of your throat.·        Stand up and inhale as you yawn, a full-bodied one, wide and deep. Get your whole body involved: open your mouth, keep your tongue relaxed and gently touching your lower teeth, soft palate raised, stretching and widening at the back of your throat, scrunch your face, stretch your arms over your face and really let it all go. Consciously feel your diaphragm as you breathe air into the very bottom of your lungs; a good stretch of your throat. Sigh your breath out as silently as you can.
The Yawn Sigh – with soundThis work-out exercise will help increase your pitch range so you do not sound quite so flat.·        Repeat the Yawn-Sigh exercise, but this time make a gentle sound with your voice as you sigh, gliding down in pitch from high to low like a siren. Repeat 5 times.·        Keep the yawning ‘ahhh’ sound, but stop short of it starting to ‘gravel out’ as you run out of breath. Repeat this five times, each time projecting slightly more with the sound coming from your chest, not from your throat.
The Closed YawnClose your lips and then yawn. Be conscious of the space and air contained in your mouth and throat. Repeat 5 times.
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2023.02.20 – 0781 – The Ubiquitous Panting Exercise PantingYour vocal folds make a tense and strained sound if they are closing too tightly over the airflow, but a pleasant and easy sound is made when the folds meet and vibrate, stimulated by air passing over them. In this exercise we’ll first work on ‘aspirant consonants’ which are produced with the vocal folds open and not vibrating at all.·        You can let more air through, by making a breathier sound such as ‘h’: panting like a dog or ‘her her her’ with lots of air and no ‘r’ sound. (Monitor your feelings so you don’t feel dizzy during this exercise.) ·        Now, a breathy ‘ahhh’ up the scales as a glide (it doesn’t matter if you are in tune!).  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.02.19 – 0780 – Tarzan and The Wake-Up Hum    Let’s start with the larynx. Larynx Your voice needs to start slow, so we’ll start by awakening the cords with humming, a great go-to for easing-in your instrument.The Wake-up HumBe sure that your jaw is loose and your teeth are separated to create more room for resonance. Humm from your throat and chest in your usual register. That is, not from your lips. SireningNow gradually move up a register. Don’t stop and reset, but glide up and then return to your ‘home’ tone. Then glide up further, and back down, and so on, through the pitch-range. Return to your usual register, and repeat the exercise going down in register. Do not force your voice to approach anything that starts to hurt.  Tarzan HummingTake a breath and, as you breathe out, gently beat your chest with your fists while letting out a single, long ‘ahhhh’ sigh-sound. Repeat with an ‘ooooh’ sound. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.02.18 – 0779 – Why Warm Up Your Voice?     Warming upThe intensity, speed and duration of any voice-over work can cause vocal fatigue. Not warming up will lead to a longer recovery time and possible ongoing injury. These exercises will improve your vocal flexibility and eliminate unnecessary levels of tension in your body and voice.  The Exercises These easy-to-learn exercises are ones that you can do at home, in the car, in the shower or in the toilet at work. Do them regularly to get the most out of them, not just on a ‘studio’ day. They are presented in the same order as ‘the voyage of your voice’, from larynx to lips, including the nasal cavity.Note that main breathing and skeletal exercises are later, although there may be elements of them combined with exercises here. We’ll do one or two exercises a day, that way you can go away and practice yourself for 24 hours before we move on to another one. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.02.17 – 0778 – Vocal Exercise Advise    A quick health warning:·        Like at the gym, always do a warm-up before you do a work-out·        The first part of the warm-up (see below) should also include physical and mental work, which in this book you will find in separate chapters·        Pace yourself. Vocal exercises should be challenging in a similar way to going to the gym is challenging and when you stop you should feel better than when you began. You should not end up feeling sore.·        Before you try any new exercise, note how you feel and perform first. Then during the technique, monitor what’s happening, your feelings and your performance. And after (both immediately and after several days of this routine), gauge again what difference it is making to your sound and strength.·        These exercises are generic. They were not designed for you specifically. If you can’t make a certain sound, don’t worry!·        If you feel dizzy, something hurts or doesn’t feel right, stop and seek professional help Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.02.16 – 0777 – Vocal Work-Outs, Warm-Ups and Winding Down    %VOCAL WORK-OUTS, WARM-UPS AND WINDING DOWNA dance or sports person wouldn’t dream of performing without a warm-up, or suddenly stop at the end of a race without a cool-down regime. To do otherwise would risk temporary or permanent injury to their muscles and ligaments, and they would not be working to the best of their ability. You are a ‘vocal athlete’ and you too need training, warm-ups and proper rest to lead to greater vocal health, more stamina and less injury.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.02.15 – 0776 – Help! I’m Getting A Cold!    Help! I’m getting a cold! (Or blocked nose, sneezes and sniffles, itchy mouth, catarrh, sore throat, dry cough, headache, hoarseness and general feeling of being unwell… it’s all literally a pain in the neck.)
During this period your voice will sound deeper, rougher and may almost disappear, because swollen vocal cords vibrate more slowly and unevenly. With a blocked nose, your sound will be nasally because of reduced resonance. And you will have less projection. Coughing will be slamming your vocal cords together at high speed.
Prevention - Using anti-bac hand gel on hands and surfaces, and not sharing cups and cutlery and so on will help. As will being physically fit in the first place with a good diet and exercise regime.
If you’re already infected:Keep your nose and throat warm and wetDrink plenty of water or hot drinks, and keep well hydrated to thin down mucus and wash away any inhaled irritants Use a water-only steamer to reduce swelling of the mucous membranesTurn off air-drying systems such as air con and air convection heating and keep the room humidBeware OTC meds: they are ok in an emergency but decongestants don’t last long; medicated lozenges literally don’t touch the problem (although can help produce helpful saliva)Some say gargling with salt water can help
Cancel any immediate studio work and begin complete voice rest - Talking can delay recovery even longer, affecting vocal stamina and quality for several weeks or even months. Don’t whisper!Avoid irritants such as alcohol and smoking (including other people’s smoke)Sip water and inhale steam to rehydrate and flush out the bugsInstead of coughing (which irritates the throat even more) sip a drink or do a hard swallow Mental and physical rest – to give your body a chance to recoverEat plenty of fruit and vegetables
In ‘recovery mode’, short periods of talking but stop if your voice feels hurt or tired and build in plenty of vocal rest. Do some gentle voice exercises with lots of air such as ‘woos’ and ‘yawns’ (see below for more warm-up exercises).
Taking a couple of days to develop, it may be two weeks before you properly sound and feel yourself again. And for a pro, if your voice is unreliable, work may be significantly affected or simply impossible, which knocks on to your earning-power.
If your voice isn’t back to normal within 3 weeks, seek professional help. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.