Voice Going Hoarse

SeanTM

So I haven't been singing all that much in the past few months or really at all to be completely honest, and I noticed when starting to practice in general again recently the longevity of my voice is much less than it was before. It seems to go hoarse pretty quickly (especially my lower register) and feels much more easily strained than before even though I'm using all the same of Ken's techniques (obviously it shouldn't strain at all). Could this simply be because the muscles in my throat have been laying pretty dormant for quite a while and it will come back with time and starting a regular practice schedule again? Or could it be something else at play? Any answers are appreciated.

Skylar

It could be that your muscles have taken such time off that you need to rebuild the strength. Support overall is important, but something I've noticed with hoarseness is it can often be a result from using too much air when singing.

SeanTM

Yes one of the things I need to regulate more is the amount of air passing through as well. Thanks for the feedback!

Chris82

Hoarseness is not normal and a sign that you're probably doing something incorrect in your singing. Hoarsness is caused by inflamed vocal folds. It's important as singers that should our voice go hoarse that we give our voices plenty of rest (like seriously not even talking, vocal silence if possible) and drink lots of water until they recover. Sometimes this can take days or more. If we use our folds while they are so inflamed we risk permanent vocal injury and you don't want to go down that road.

I think it would benefit you if you were able to post some of your singing here (either some recent recordings or wait until your vocal folds recover) so we might hear what the issue might be that is leading to this hoarseness (scales would be best). It could just be you're singing with a really airy tone at all times that is drying out your folds and causing the hoarseness. But it could be you're doing the opposite and grinding your folds together far to violently. A recording would help.

v_n4

One of the biggest things I’ve learned is to not sing before warming up. Give yourself 10 -15 min of scales to get your voice nice and primed for singing. You also need to make sure you’re support is good and your using glottal compression cutting back the air. When I do my workouts and/or sing, I bring a big water bottle to keep my throat nice and moist.