Questions about vocal fatigue

deadmenink

so unsure if actual fatigue or just nerves closing down my throat, but while i dont have a pain when swallowing, i find it ever so noticable compared to absolute normal. it hasnt effected my singing loud or soft in any noticable way, but its a thing i'm keeping an eye on. keeping up on my liquids and such of course. i know the difference between backing off singing and stopping are not the same thing. so if i back down to just my vocal workouts and maybe a lil karaoke every now and then, back off of anything too super heavy, should i be ok? any advice for this kind of thing appreciated.

highmtn

You need to monitor yourself when it comes to the volume at which you sing. Practicing or performing with live bands can cause you to sing too loudly in order to be heard. Also, some students sing with more volume than they need to, especially when reaching for higher notes. You need to guard against that.

That said, it is normal to feel some fatigue after doing any kind of exercise. If you are building stamina, that can be tiring, because you have to work out to gain strength. It is important to relax as much as possible while singing, especially in the throat. That's why KTVA insists on learning proper support and taking much of the load off of the vocal cords, placing the workload instead on the diaphragm to resist excess force on the cords.

There is no such thing as totally stress-free singing, but you can manage the stress through monitoring yourself and reducing the tendency to react with excess tension while singing. It's called the relaxation response. You feel tension build, you monitor and allow relaxation instead of straining to overcome tension.

You should reduce the intensity you are singing with and find a better balance that does not leave you feeling that your throat is closed-down.

You should be practicing open throat singing, which means you base your voice on an Open AH Vowel, and keep that throat open like the beginning of a yawn, rather than clamping down to get to high notes. The more open you can keep your throat, the less you should feel like your throat is closing down.

bentk

I have questions regarding what you said here @highmtn
When you sing a demanding song, and actually get tired instead of using bad technique, is there a tendency that you let your throat start coming into play?

I seem to have this issue sometimes. That after some demanding singing, or during a demanding song, that the throat kind of creeps in. You get a little tired of supporting and keeping everything open (the throat/cord closure etc.) sometimes.

I wonder if it's OK if it happens now and then.

highmtn

When you get tired from singing a demanding song, it is what it is. At the end of Painkiller, you can see that Ken is winded. But that's a really extreme, intense song. And he recovers pretty quickly, really. AND he isn't giving up support or clamping down instead of keeping the open throat... but yes, it's taxing.

Again, it's not the absence of tension, it's the management of the tension that you can either take responsibility for or go "hey, I'm tired. I think I'll just clamp down, or strain away..." but that will get you into trouble. Not that we don't ever bite off more than we can gracefully chew. We're all growing at this, and we will have our hills to climb.