6 Tips for Singers to Take Care of Their Throat

Do you sometimes feel like your throat bothers you when you are trying to sing? Maybe you have a little hoarseness or you feel like you have constant allergies or mucus? Or maybe your voice fatigues early or just doesn’t always feel quite right and it affects your singing voice.

Taking a little extra care of your voice can make some of these annoying issues disappear. If symptoms persist, it’s always good to consult a professional for more advice and an ENT for a diagnosis. Knowing what is causing symptoms will help you treat them effectively.

In my practice as a vocal therapist and technique teacher/coach working with professional singers over 30 years, vocal health is at the forefront of my techniques and advice. My interest and studies in natural health and holistic methods have given me a rolodex of natural methods and remedies that help heal and fix stubborn problems.

Here is my short list that I recommend to take care of your throat for improved vocal health and wellness.

6 Tips for Singers to Take Care of Their Throat

1. Hydration

Water. You’ve heard before how great water is for your singing voice (and speaking voice too). It’s true. The more hydrated you are, the more effortlessly the voice works!
Tea. Herbal teas are soothing for the voice. Teas that include anti-inflammatory properties like licorice root or slippery elm are especially helpful. Throat Coat tea by Traditional Medicinals is particularly helpful.

Water is not the only form of hydration. Watery foods
Green juice

2. Steam

Quick steam: for a quick steam, make a cup of tea or hot water. Cup your fingers over the top and inhale the steam through your nose and mouth.

If you have more time, do the same with a pot of water. Once hot, remove from the stove. Place on a safe surface, cover your head over the pot and inhale the steam through your nose and mouth.

Handheld portable steamer. There are a lot of these on the market and are super helpful when traveling or when you don’t have access to a stove.

3. Vocal Massage

Your voice is a physical instrument inside of your body. Tensions in the muscles surrounding your vocal instrument can cause problems with your voice. I use innovative vocal massage techniques with my Cole Vocal Method to help singers restore their voices or create better flexibility and tone.

You can find these methods in my Singers Gift Vocal Warmups or in my Cole Vocal Method taught in my private sessions or in my Vocal Freedom Circle.

4. Stretching

Just like an athlete, singers need long relaxed muscles – especially those surrounding the instrument – in order to sing well. Stretching helps to keep your muscles free of tension.

I have incorporated the best stretches into my Singers Gift Vocal Warmups to help eliminate vocal tensions.

In addition, I recommend 20 min of yoga 3-4x a week to keep your muscles free from tension.

5. Essential Oils + Balm

I have long used essential oils and balms to help take care of the throat. Essential oils and balms are made from plants, and plant medicine has been used since the ancient times as plant properties have tremendous benefits for health.

My favorite oils for the voice are: Lavender, eucalyptus, peppermint, tea tree. Lavender is anti-inflammatory so good if you have vocal problems. Eucalyptus, and peppermint are great for your respiratory system and tea tree is great for respiratory infections. A blend from Young Living called Valor is great for jaw issues (rub it right into the jaw and joint for relief). There are many more essential oils than I can go into here, but this is a great start.

My favorite balms are: Sunbreeze by Sunrider, Breathe by Doterra or Tiger balm (in that order). Slather them on your throat, neck and upper shoulders prior to warming up or performance. Opens you right up and decreases tensions immediately.

6. Vocal Health + Wellness Regimen (specific vocal therapy cool downs)

Recommended Vocal health routine:

• Warmup exercises
• Vocal therapy exercises
• Speaking voice exercises
• Cool downs for keeping your voice healthy
• Steam
• Balm
• Essential oils

If you are having vocal problems or are recovering from vocal issues, we recommend you check out our Vocal Rescue Kit which comes with vocal therapy, speaking exercises and cool down exercises to reduce fatigue and inflammation that comes from overusing your voice.