5 Vocal Techniques That Relieve Strain in the Singing Voice

5 Vocal Techniques to Relieve Strain in the Singing Voice

The key to decreasing and relieving strain in the singing voice starts by addressing the muscles surrounding the instrument and then establishing the correct support for the voice.

The voice is a sophisticated instrument that, unattended, accumulates tensions that lead to an increase in strain and a decrease in sound and range over time. But that doesn’t have to be you! 

There is a way to keep the voice healthy, and to sing free from strain as well as improve your sound and longevity. One of the biggest issues singers have is wearing out or losing their voices from repeated performance or general weakness at the core of the instrument. 

Here are my top 5 Vocal Techniques to Relieve Strain in the Singing Voice and Improve Overall Sound Quality and Longevity.

1) Vocal stretches to relieve tension in the voice
2) Vocal massage to relieve tension in the voice 
3) Relax the laryngeal muscles 
4) Establish breath support
5) Establish support in the torso 

You’ve heard all of these things but are you doing them? You can now! Move through my 8 Sequences to add to your daily practice that I teach in my Better Voice Challenge Free 4-Day Workshop. Click here to learn more.

1. Vocal stretches to relieve tension in the voice

The right vocal stretches will decrease tension in the muscles surrounding the vocal instrument and help to open up your vocal sound improving tone, resonance and range on the spot. 

So many times in session working with a singer, the key counterpart I’d discover to freeing their voice in 90% of time came down to technical issues that were actually constricting the voice. It’s true that vocal tension in the muscles surrounding the voice constricts and inhibits sound and production and can lead to problems over time. 

The solution to unlocking the voice starts with identifying what muscles are over-functioning and what muscles are under-functioning. 

For example, the jaw may contract when making sound in an effort to control the pitch or tone, when the pitch or tone are not controlled there. So the jaw is jumping in to assist the vocal production because the brain is telling it to. 

During vocal training, we strip away the compensatory muscles that constrict and even damage the voice to provide a freer “Vocal Path” for the voice.

We’ll start with the muscles that surround the voice. Some of these compensatory or accessory muscles that often over-function are: 

• Tongue
• Neck
• Jaw
• Laryngeal muscles (throat)
• Facial muscles; cheeks, eyebrows

As you sing, watch in a mirror closely to see if you can identify what muscles are involved visibly in singing.

• Do you see your tongue moving forward in the mouth, or reach up in the back (tensing) a lot?
• Is your chin reaching forward or upward as you sing higher notes?
• Are the neck muscles tightening or bulging outward?
• Is the jaw tensing as you sing?
• Is the throat tightening when you sing?
• Additionally, notice if the abdomen is drawing inward when you sing? 

These are all signs of using compensatory or accessory muscles that are over-functioning during singing causing constriction or tightness in the instrument.

Learn how to release these common tensions in my Throat Opener Sequences I teach inside my Better Voice Challenge Free 4-Day Workshop. Click here to learn more and grab a free seat.

2. Vocal massage to relieve tension in the voice

When a singer performs a show there is a natural strain and wear/tear on the voice that accumulates. Singing overtime without releasing these tensions particularly in the muscles surrounding the voice results in a high larynx which destabilizes the voice, causes cracking and leads to the loss of voice, range, and tone. 

Vocal massage is one of the tools that works wonders in restoring the voice along with my vocal therapy.

Start with my Larynx Pull Down vocal massage.

• Laryngeal pull down
  • Yawn with your finger horizontal at the top of the throat. Try to yawn more with the back of your throat vs. your jaw. A little of both is good.
  • Did you feel your throat slip downward as you yawn?
  • Now place your forefinger and your thumb at the top of your throat and yawn.
  • Did you feel the throat slip downward?
  • Now repeat that and as you exhale, gently pull the throat muscles downward in a soft massage motion.
  • Be sure to use a gentle and soft motion.
  • This helps to drop the laryngeal muscles creating more space in the throat and helping to create more ease in the voice.

You will find this vocal massage and others inside my Singers Gift Vocal Warmups and taught in depth inside my Better Voice Challenge. 

Click here for more information about the Singers Gift Vocal Warmups. 
Click here for more information about the Better Voice Challenge (Free).

3. Relax the laryngeal muscles 

Celine Dion, who is currently struggling with a new disease “Stiff Person Syndrome” where the muscles of her body spasm and contract recently talked about the methods she is using to try to sing with these new issues and the importance of keeping the throat and laryngeal muscles relaxed during singing. 

Many singers in the pop world who are untrained, tend to sing from their throats which tightens and constricts the sound over time. This also leads to vocal problems long term.

To keep the voice muscles relaxed during singing you need the fuel of the proper breath and the correct training so you don’t overuse the throat muscles and ruin your voice. 

Try this:

• Breath deeper into ribs to accumulate more breath to support the voice.
• Don’t push the air outward while singing. Keep the air accumulated inside the lungs and ribcage to support the voice.
• Don’t squeeze the throat, instead use the pectorals and a lifted chest to support your sound.
• Don’t lift your chin up for high notes, instead, keep it level and watch how much easier the notes come out. 

4. Establish breath support

Establishing the right support starts with breathing and getting the diaphragm to drop so you can access the deeper breath in the lower triangles of the lungs. 

The lungs are shaped like triangles, and the only way to access this area is to open up the intercostal muscles that wrap around the ribs. This allows the ribs to expand outward upon inhalation, allowing room for the diaphragm to drop.

Singing is a coordination of air and muscle and the proper balance between the two. 
When you overuse or squeeze the voice using the compensatory or accessory muscles (neck, tongue, jaw etc), you end up squeezing the voice instead of maintaining the proper balance of air and muscle. 
This constricts the voice limiting tone, movement, overall sound, and range.

Once we establish the right function of support in the body, starting with the breath, singing occurs more naturally and easily to the singer. 

Try this:  

• Place your hands on the lower rungs of your ribcage
• Exhale and squeeze the ribs together
• Now slowly inhale against this pressure
• Do you feel the ribs swing out?

This movement is the start to opening the ribs and accessing the lower triangles of the lungs which is true diaphragmatic breathing. 

Open your breathing with my Breath-Opener Sequence, which I teach in my Better Voice Challenge Free four-day Workshop. Click here to learn more and grab a free seat.

5. Establish support in the torso 

Many singers struggle with a lack of sound, power and endurance in singing. The voice, unsupported by the correct movements, training, technique will only peter out and burn out within a short amount of time with repeated singing. 

Without the right methods that align and anchor the voice the singer not only burns out but never reaches their full potential of what is possible for their voice. It’s like an athlete. Imagine that athlete without the right technique or coach to bring them to their height in performance and execution? It’s the exact same process for singers. Singers are athletes of the small muscles of the voice and breathing and without the right alignment or anchoring of the voice in the body, the singer is vulnerable to vocal burnout, hoarseness, and even injury over time.  

Alignment Test

• Stand naturally. Notice what side of your body is working more than the other.
• Look at your feet. Are you standing on the outsides-insides? More to the front or back?
• What areas feel tight? Legs, hips, shoulders, back, neck?
• Are your knees locked? Make a note to soften them.
• Is one hip tight? Make a note.
• Tighten your buttocks and then release. 

Alignment Adjustment

• Stand evenly in the center of both feet
• Soften your knees so they are not locked
• Scarecrow: Head sitting on top of spine
• Tuck your pelvis slightly underneath you
• Pull up tall out of the waist
• Shoulders at rest (heavy): down and back
• Lengthen the cervical spine (neck)
• Lift the base of your skull towards the ceiling
• The head is level + placed over your body (not in front of)
• The chin is slightly tipped down to achieve a level head position and a long cervical spine.

Next:

• Elongate and lengthen the back of your neck. Pick up your hair at the base of your neck and pull upward lengthening the back of your neck and cervical spine.
• Tip the chin slightly downward to maintain a neutral position. This helps provide space for the sound to resonate instead of constrict. This motion also helps to keep the soft palate naturally lifted which helps produce better high notes. 

Practice this alignment before singing and during singing to sing better high notes and to produce more resonance.

The CVM Breathing and Movement Sequences taught inside my The Cole Vocal Method are based on biomechanics and over 40 years of vocal science and over 100 years of application. The method is a complete master holistic vocal method that builds a world-class voice based in Bel Canto from the Italian school of singing. Get your seat inside my FREE Better Voice Challenge to start learning these sequences and add them to your daily practice to open up your voice and vocal sound! Click here to learn more and grab a free seat.

Learn more about my Cole Vocal Method and how to dramatically improve your singing voice. Click here to learn more.