5 Secrets of Vocal Health: How to Sing Without Hurting or Losing Your Voice

Vocal health is everything.

Without it – no voice. No performance. No audience. No career.

The voice is an instrument that needs the right care and training.

If you want to keep your voice for your lifetime you need to learn how to use it properly and to protect it from future injury or damage.

Here are my top five secrets for how to keep your voice healthy and avoid injury or damage. 

1. My Ultimate Hydration Plan, Part I + II

Hydration is the foundation of vocal health. The voice can’t function well, hit high notes or sing without fatigue without water. 

One of the ENT’s I work with in New York told me that if his clients drank enough water he would lose over half of them. Read that again. 

Yes, vocal issues and problems are often traced back to a lack of hydration along with environmental issues (diet and allergies, reflux etc), as well as deep contractions in the muscles of the voice which cause deeper problems.

Your Daily Hydration Goal: Drink half of your body weight in water. For example, if you weigh 120 lbs, half of your weight is 60 oz. 

  120 lbs = 60 oz of water 

Morning: 24 oz.

💧1-12 oz glass of water with a 1/4 squeeze of lemon

💧1-12 oz water before lunch 

Lunch: 💧1-12 oz green juice, vegetable salad 

Afternoon: 27 oz 

💧1-12 oz glass of water w/4 cubes of melon. 

💧1-4 oz glass of water with electrolytes 

💧1-12 oz glass of water or vegetable/beef broth 

Total: 64 to 75 oz of hydration per day

See my full hydration plan Part I and Part II on Instagram see links below:  

Hydration Plan, Part I: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cfl2XzklGBr/

Hydration Plan, Part II: https://www.instagram.com/p/CgmM07AuOOH/

2. A Technique with Vocal Health at the Foundation 

You only have 2 vocal cords and they can’t be replaced. It’s important to learn a vocal technique that has vocal health at it’s foundation.

I hear stories all the time of singers training with techniques that PUSH the voice and they end up injuring their voices. Here’s one that just came in from a new student who just joined my Vocal Freedom Circle yesterday.

“After I had Covid, I lost the upper notes of my range. So, I signed up for singing lessons online with a group who do not stress vocal health (as Cari does) and got into trouble with a lot of throat pain trying to push the high notes. I went to a laryngologist and a vocal therapist and found that Cari covers all that the therapist was doing —but also gives [vocal technique and natural health] routines.”

My method (The Cole Vocal Method) has vocal health baked into the foundation. The technique regards the health of the voice in every exercise we do. This is the way to achieve a voice that can stand up to the wear and tear of singing professionally without accumulating damage or injury.

“It is imperative that singers train or they are going to inevitably end up with vocal problems. And you will want to avoid all of that.”

~ Cari Cole

Find out more about The Cole Vocal Method in our Vocal Freedom Circle or in my private sessions.

3. Opening and Freeing the Voice Physically 

Your voice is an instrument inside of your body. The way to get a better sound and more flexibility and resonance out of your voice is to physically open the muscles surrounding the voice. The muscles surrounding the voice can constrict the instrument and cause issues with tone, range, and overall sound and production. 

In my method, The Cole Vocal Method, we start with my Singers Gift Vocal Warmups that are designed with a series of vocal stretches, massages and diaphragmatic breathing that open the singer freeing the muscles, the voice and the breath. 

Many warmups make the mistake of using big wide vocal scales to warm the singer up. This is a mistake and only wears the singer out. The key to warming up the voice is to warm up the muscles, and the vocal instrument and then do a specific series of vocal exercises designed to open and free the voice preparing you to sing. 

Learn more about The Singers Gift Vocal Warmups here. 

4. Conditioning Exercises

It’s actually challenging to stay in good vocal shape. It is challenging to prevent damage, stay healthy and continue to escape the dreaded “vocal surgery.” And, while a solution, it’s not something you ever want to happen, because your recovery time can be a month or two and in some cases even longer. That’s a long time in the life of an entertainer.

The voice is too sensitive of an instrument to not take extra care. As I said earlier – you only have 2 vocal cords and they can’t be replaced.

In my Cole Vocal Method, I have a series of conditioning exercises that keep the voice conditioned. They help recover from almost any situation – sometimes right away, or within a few days. They can be used when you are recovering from oversinging, a respiratory illness or having issues with hoarseness or fatigue. They are great on tour to use post-show and even pre-show to reduce inflammation and get the voice out of the throat. 

To learn more about vocal therapy and conditioning exercises click here. 

5. Natural Health Methodologies

Given that your voice is an instrument inside of the body, the state of your body affects the state of your vocal health. I use many natural health methodologies to help singers improve their sound, stay healthy, and to deal with issues that arise like allergies, reflux and other problems such as dysphonia or tension-related issues. Here is a quick list of some of the methodologies I use that really helps issues that arise: Alexander Technique, Structural Integration, Craniosacral Massage, Acupuncture, Functional Medicine, Naturopathy, among others. 

I also use natural remedies that really help the voice including herbs, essential oils, homeopathy and natural supplements. 

To learn more about the natural remedies I use, click here. 

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Wondering how to ensure your voice is ready, conditioned, and healthy no matter what comes your way? Check out my Singers Gift Vocal Warmups. Rated the best vocal warmups on the planet by many singers and are used by Grammy winners! Experience these transformative vocal warmups to warm up, eliminate vocal tension and free your voice. Comes with 17 vocal warmups on audio and video, including cooldowns to condition your voice post-performance.