How should my voice feel the day after a performance?

guitarbrother

Okay so I'm going to be completely honest here, the day after I've performed when I go through my vocal workout I'm finding my voice quite airy as I ascend in scale (lower notes are no different but the higher chest notes, passagio and head voice is where the problem is) and doesn't have no where near the agility it did the day before a performance, I'm not sure if it's hoarseness (it could be) but is it normal for your voice to feel like its tired, used and/or airy on the higher notes the day after a 4 - 5 hour performance? 

Joel

highmtn

@guitarbrother,

Yes, it is normal for you to feel a little worn out the day after a performance if you are new to KTVA or even if you haven't ever studied KTVA.  That's because you haven't yet trained and built up the stamina that you will eventually have.

You will have a new "normal" after you have steadfastly worked the KTVA program for a sufficient length of time.  Your results will be in direct proportion to the time, focus, and energy you apply Ken's instructions from now until the day you decide to stop singing.

This is a long-term course.  Some of the improvements come very fast, but there are a number of things that you will learn only if you stick with the program long enough for those effects to build up.

Stretching chest voice will take you considerable time.  Each KTVA Volume will take as long as it takes to build each component of the voice up to the level of that Volume.  Most students take a minimum of six to twelve weeks per volume, and if you're really serious about this you will take as long as it takes for YOU to get every ounce of benefit from each step in the process.

There is a lot of stamina to build, and that just takes time.  Learning and building support can take considerable time.  Glottal compression (even without distortion) takes a lot of practice to get right.

Once you learn these techniques and IMPLEMENT them in your day-to-day singing and onstage, you will find yourself driving home from your gig with your voice fully warmed-up, but just as fresh as if you had not yet started your gig.  I know.  It took me a long time before I went from knowing how all of this worked to actually DOING it all at my gigs.  I'm a little bit slow and methodical.  We're so ingrained with our old ways of getting to the high notes and all, that we tend to revert back and blow out our high notes.

Once you REALLY GET this stuff, ALL of it, IT WORKS!  Ken is not promising something that he can't deliver.  WHAT HE TEACHES WILL SAVE YOUR VOICE.  Not only that, but it will build it beyond anything you've ever been able to do vocally before in your life.  Much of the fine-tuning of your voice will take place only after you have gotten through the entire course AND let it all sink in to the point that you are naturally DOING all of the techniques out of muscle-memory, without having to think so much about it.  You will have to remind yourself sometimes.

But don't expect that you will watch all of the DVD's and just be able to do it all.  It takes a lot of practice, learning, implementation, and time to grow.  I knew a lot of this stuff before I actually found myself doing it, faithfully, every night, at every gig, all the time. 

Taking all of this from knowledge to DOING is a big step in the excitement of a live situation.   

Once you truly replace your old methods with the new ones that Ken teaches and you fully understand and fully implement them, all the way down to management of your breath, support, vowel mods, etc, AND you have done the exercises faithfully for sufficient time to build your musculature and stamina, YOU WILL BE ROCKIN' and your voice will be like the ROCK of GIBRALTAR!

A four or five hour gig will be like a good workout in the park.  Fun, exciting, rewarding, and you would be able to go for another three hours if you want. 

I do exercises on the way home after four and five hour gigs, and I do them better than I did warming up on the way TO the gig.  Every time.  I've learned how to take care of my voice from KTVA.  I've learned to build my voice from KTVA.  I'm the guy in my band that tackles all of the hard rocker songs, as well as the tender, melodic ballads.  I would never be able to do what I do now routinely if I had never studied KTVA and stuck with it long enough to experience the true growth that keeps on happening as time goes on.

I used to be totally hoarse driving home from a gig, and the next night my voice would be shot.  Not now.  

Stick with it.  You'll see.

: ^)

Bob

blythe

Bob, I just loved reading this so much. I've only just started the program, but I work as a singer, and as I started the exercises, I found myself wondering how tricky it would be to incorporate the methods in a live situation after so long singing a certain way- and when you jump and dance around a bit, too. Not very comparable to sitting at a piano doing scales.
The idea that I could do a 4-set gig of ROCK songs and finish the night with my voice just as cool as it was before the gig fills me with wonder and excitement. I loved reading that once upon a time, your voice couldn't cope with the high demands of a hard singing gig, but now it doesn't get hoarse. YAY!

highmtn

Yes, @blythe, it just keeps getting better. I had a 4-hour gig earlier this evening. I've had a sore throat for the past couple of days, since I took an airline flight. It's sore in the back of the throat, and in the sinuses, along with some congestion. I felt a little cruddy. I did some warmups before the gig, and had no problems all night with hoarseness. I would say that I had about 95% function of my voice or better. The soreness wasn't on my cords, just the throat itself. My range was still far better than it ever was before I started KTVA. I got more applause this evening than I have for a long time. Nobody knew I was a little bit ill, including the band.

When my bandmates have sore throats, they often want to drop the key a couple of steps. I don't go for that.

You'll see.

All the Best!

Bob