current issue vocal fatigue
ibrahim244
Member Posts: 8
Current Issue
I’ve been following the full Ken Tamplin program and my recorded exercises still sound strong and technically solid.
The problem shows up after I finish the routine and start singing high-range songs that need sustained mix and belting—like Like a Stone or I Was Made for Loving You.
About halfway through the song I feel my bridge and belt tiring out quickly.
They still sound pretty good to the ear, but the physical effort increases a lot compared to how it felt before.
Interestingly, during the summer when I took a long break, these same songs felt effortless—my bridge felt naturally powerful and I could belt without thinking.
I’d like advanced feedback on:
Why my mix/bridge and belting stamina drop faster after a full routine, even though the sound quality stays solid.
How to organize practice so I keep progressing without this mid-song fatigue.
Tips to maintain endurance for high-range songs while continuing the KTVA program.
I’ve been following the full Ken Tamplin program and my recorded exercises still sound strong and technically solid.
The problem shows up after I finish the routine and start singing high-range songs that need sustained mix and belting—like Like a Stone or I Was Made for Loving You.
About halfway through the song I feel my bridge and belt tiring out quickly.
They still sound pretty good to the ear, but the physical effort increases a lot compared to how it felt before.
Interestingly, during the summer when I took a long break, these same songs felt effortless—my bridge felt naturally powerful and I could belt without thinking.
I’d like advanced feedback on:
Why my mix/bridge and belting stamina drop faster after a full routine, even though the sound quality stays solid.
How to organize practice so I keep progressing without this mid-song fatigue.
Tips to maintain endurance for high-range songs while continuing the KTVA program.
Comments
The KTVA exercises are both excellent AND demanding. When I've done a full session, usually
about 2 hours, of whatever combinations of Vol 3, 4, or 5, I'm generally totally spent, vocally. The best
thing I can do to move forward is to stop for the day, have a collagen shake, and get as much rest as
possible before starting up again. Depending on the intensity of the exercise session, I may even take
a full rest day before resuming. Upon return, my voice is almost inevitably better, improved, and raring
to go. Same goes for long breaks like you're describing but only more so. I start singing and things
are so good I wonder what all the fuss was about before.
What I cannot do, personally, after a full workout is proceed to perform or record at a high level. Maybe soon, as Ken has described, but I have some work to do before I can do one right after the other.
I think what all your questions and experiences have in common is the need for some kind of strategic rest after
singing or exercising with intensity. Because of this, if I'm performing or even need to be on a zoom call or a lesson, I will no longer over-do my warmups. I sing MUCH better when purposefully limiting my warmups to 15-20 min ONLY and have ruined zoom calls or performances by warming up so long that I'm vocally too tired to demonstrate actual abilities.
Some of this may be a matter of the sheer number of hours sung in chest voice rather than mixed voice, which is well-developed now but less than three years old in that developed state.
Hopefully, the above addresses much of your first question. Now, onto the next two. Try warming up briefly until you have a good connection, and then proceed DIRECTLY to what
you want to work on for the day. Whether it's a song, some component of your voice, or
a recording...proceed directly towards it and do the work while you're fresh. Separate your intense development days from your must-perform-well days and get good
quality/time rest between them.
Think of days when you do the vol 3, 4, AND 5 exercises back to back as the intense and
demanding exercise days they are. Expecting to walk onstage and perform well after all that work is like a marathon
runner doing a 20-mile preparation before beginning a 26-mile race.
There were a few times on the KTVA road where I was stuck and went to rather extreme lengths to discover
The optimal amount of rest I needed to get unstuck. The most I got up to was a 3-day rest before hitting another Vol 3-4-5 exercise day. That may sound extreme but not so much if you think of each intense exercise day as a concert and the days between as welcomed rest before the next performance.
It's not always easy to distinguish purely personal experience from what may be universal but I hope some of this helps.