5 Secrets to Build Vocal Stamina to Last at Shows and On Tour

To build a strong and healthy voice that can last on tour, click here to: Learn more about the Cole Vocal Method

Let’s dive in!

Vocal Health Practices that Improve Stamina

Keeping your voice healthy with vocal hygiene and techniques to reduce tension and the inflammation that comes with singing helps to manage your overall vocal health, stamina and endurance.

Try this:

• Steaming before a show is the quickest way to hydrate the vocal cords and moisturize the throat area reducing mucus and improving overall sound quality and endurance at your shows,
• Add chunks of melon in your water pre-stage. An NYU study with Elton John and Eric Clapton, discovered that melon keeps the throat area hydrated longer than drinking water.
• Warming up before your show, but with warmups that open the voice and decrease tension in the throat. In my Singers Gift Vocal Warmups we do specific throat opening exercises and vocal massages that reduce tension improving sound in performance. Learn more here.
• Regular vocal technique practice to strengthen your overall instrument. The stronger your instrument, the less burnout.

To build a strong and healthy singing voice click here: Learn more about the Cole Vocal Method based in 40 years of vocal science

Breath Control to Last Longer

The key to singing well without burning out early depends on your breath control.

Contrary to what most technique teach, it’s not the abdomen that is so important, true diaphragmatic breathing starts in the ribs. The secret to unlocking the diaphragm and getting the breath into the lower portion of the lungs which unlocks a deeper breath capacity. The key to diaphragm descension is in the movement of the ribcage.

The lungs are shaped like triangles with the wider part of the triangle at the bottom. When you breathe into the chest or top of the triangle it is a very unsatisfying and shallow breath. And the diaphragm sits up inside the ribcage in a resting position.

To draw breath into the lungs the diaphragm acts as a bellows pulling air into the lungs as it descends.

One of the biggest mistakes in breathing is to ignore the expansion of the ribcage. If the lower and middle part of the ribcage doesn’t swing outward upon inhalation you never release the diaphragm to move downward.

To unlock the deeper wider part of the triangle, the ribs must expand outward to make room for the diaphragm to descend.

What most people fail to understand is that the diaphragm sits up inside the ribs. The ribs are surrounded by 28 muscles called the intercostal muscles. In most people those muscles that assist us in standing upright tend to be tight.

Also it’s important to avoid tucking your stomach inward to support your sound. You will often hear the incorrect suggestion to tuck the stomach in to support the sound. This is incorrect and immediately tightens the throat causing more constriction. It doesn’t actually support the voice, it tightens the vocal muscle. Ribs that go in when one breathes in or go out when they exhale are respiratory faults.

Let’s do a quick exercise.

•  Put your hands on your ribs.
• Exhale.
• Now hold your ribs firmly with pressure and breathe slowly into your hands.
•  Do you feel the ribs slowly expand and swing outwards into your hands?
• The trick is to breathe slowly and not too fast to gently feel the ribs move outward in small increments. The slower you go, the more you will release the ribs and breathe more deeply.

This is the beginning of breathing diaphragmatically.

If you’ve been doing my Singers Gift Vocal Warmups for a while, you’re probably a bit ahead of the curve — because we get you started breathing diaphragmatically into the lower triangles of the lungs where you will find true support.

Click here to learn more about my Singers Gift Vocal Warm Ups and Diaphragmatic Breathing exercises inside.

Cooling Down Post Show

Cooling down is the practice of specific vocal techniques performed following performance to maintain vocal health and reduce the inflammation that occurs with normal singing.

Long before anyone was talking about cooldowns for singers, I introduced them to the market. As a part of my early training as a voice teacher, I was taught exercises based in vocal science that helped to reduce inflammation at the vocal folds. After using them for many years, I renamed them “cooldowns”.

They are used post-show to reduce inflammation and prepare your voice for the next day of singing. They reduce hoarseness and help any mucus on the cords slip off.
I teach these specific Cooldown exercises inside my Vocal Rescue Kit or a deeper dive inside my Vocal Freedom Circle (these exercises are only found here).

You can find both on the Shop: https://caricole.com/shop

Pre-show Conditioning

Alongside establishing Cool downs to improve vocal health and recovery post shows, I have recently developed a new series I am coining “Conditioning” exercises.

Vocal Conditioning is the practice of a series of exercises that use a similar technology found in the cool downs that are used pre-show to reduce inflammation at the vocal folds, slough off any lingering mucus, and prepare the voice for singing. The build tone and clarity while also recovering the voice from anything lingering for the show.

These exercises are taught inside my Vocal Mastery Program or private sessions  to reduce inflammation at the folds and keep the overall vocal tone improving the overall health and longevity of the singing voice.

Learn more about the Vocal Mastery Program here.

Learn more about my private sessions here.

To build a strong and healthy singing voice click here: Learn more about the Cole Vocal Method based in 40 years of vocal science

Voice Building Techniques to Strengthen Your Voice Long-term

The way to really build a confident and consistent voice is to train with voice building techniques. Voice-building is a specific set of techniques and exercises that build the strength, tone, range and power of the voice.

I teach the voice-building techniques inside The Vocal Freedom Circle. This exercise set is 38 exercises that build the overall strength, tone, foundation, range and endurance of the singing voice.

In this method, we focus on specific positions used on specific exercises that strip away the compensatory muscles and strengthen the core muscles. The result is a much stronger voice that can hold up well and deliver performance consistently.

Learn more about The Vocal Freedom Circle here.

Join me on YouTube – where I discuss content on the blog, voice, and artist development. Feel free to leave a note or question in the comments that I can circle back to.

To build a strong and healthy singing voice click here: Learn more about the Cole Vocal Method based in 40 years of vocal science

This post helps you get started, but it’s only the beginning. What would it feel like to finally reach your vocal potential and feel an actual transformation in your voice in 8 weeks? Come join the thousands of singers who have already transformed their voice and vocal health with the Cole Vocal Method™. Set your voice free in only 20 minutes a day with these transformative vocal techniques found only here! Click here to find out more.