Voice Building Techniques to Strengthen Your Voice and Last on Tour

Voice Building Techniques to Strengthen Your Voice and Last on Tour

Many vocal techniques consist of warming up the voice for performance. The idea of voice building techniques are new to the market, but not new to me. I have been teaching them for over 30 years from my studio in New York City.

In real vocal training, the singer undergoes various aspects of voice that address the different needs and functions of the vocal instrument from a technical perspective. All are important to develop the voice to it’s fullest potential.

Without it, singers just end up in a continual process of warming up without building real vocal strength, or conditioning the voice to take care of vocal health and longevity and can burn out or lose range and tone easily.

Inside of my Cole Vocal Method, I teach the five main components that build the voice, strengthen the actual instrument all while preserving the voice long term. Click here to learn more about The Cole Vocal Method.

To tour successfully and avoid vocal strain, voice building is the solution to build a strong and resilient instrument that will maintain the health of your voice and prevent vocal fatigue and burn out on tour.

Here’s a quick outline of the topics covered in today’s blog:

• What is Voice Building, and How Does it Differ From Warmups?
• The Art and Science of Voice Building
• The Key Components of Voice Building (legato line, bridge, belt, overtone series)
• How to Use Voice Building to Prepare for Going on Tour (or Recording an Album)
• How Do You Practice Voice Building?

Let’s dive in!

1. What is Voice Building, and How Does it Differ From Warmups?

Many techniques and coaches practice exercises solely focused on warmups. No one talks about voice-building —primarily because they don’t know about the power it has to build the foundational tone, timbre, strength, and resiliency in the voice.

Vocal warmups are to warm up the voice before singing. To “warm up” the voice to performance.

On the contrary, voice-building exercises actually “build the voice.” They are a separate set of exercises, in a series, that lay the foundation for a strong and healthy voice. The first part of the series consists of exercises that target the middle of the voice (the weakest area) to build strength in this region, where tone, timbre, and range are established and improved.

2. The Art and Science of Voice Building

Voice-building is not new to true pedagogy, but has lost it’s message in the flurry of social media. It is a serious practice that I start all singers on right away because it holds the keys to true vocal development.

Singers are athletes of the small muscles of the voice and breathing. And like an athlete, the practice of building the voice will improve strength and endurance as well as build the tone while connecting the registers and increasing range.

My voice-building techniques are taught inside the Cole Vocal Method – click here to learn more about how to learn it.

3. The Key Benefits of Voice Building

There are many components and benefits of voice-building for singers at all stages of their vocal development. If you have never practiced voice building, a tremendous amount of development and improvement awaits you.

Here’s a quick snapshot of some of the benefits of voice-building:

• Builds the legato line which is the connections between your notes
• Builds the overtone series which improves tone and resonance
• Smooths and strengthens the register shifts
• Extends the range in both directions
• Improves the overall strength and endurance of the voice
• Protects the voice from vocal injury or damage
• Increases longevity

4. How to Use Voice Building to Prepare for Going on Tour (or Recording an Album)

Voice-building is extremely important for full development of the voice. Especially in preparation for tour or recording an album.

I like to start as much as 6-12 months prior to build the voice in preparation for tour or recording to build up the core strength so the singer can get more sound out of their voice while improving endurance, especially for tour.

Touring is quite grueling on the voice. Singing night after night at the top of your voice is not an easy feat, and singers’ voices often break down or experience vocal loss.

Dr. Peak Woo (an internationally recognized laryngologist, clinical research scientist, and author of Stroboscopy) said that the physical effect of a 45-minute vocal performance is equivalent to a 2-hour football game for a linebacker.

The impact of a live concert, the strain on the voice, is irrefutable. Like athletes, is imperative that singers train or they are going to inevitably end up with injuries or issues. You can avoid all of that by learning how to take care of your voice and practicing voice-building to keep your voice in peak performance condition and not lose your voice on tour.

In addition, I recommend practicing Conditioning exercises taught inside the Cole Vocal Method in my Vocal Mastery Program (for recovery, clarity and advanced warmups for touring singers to keep their voices in peak condition)

5. How Do You Practice Voice Building?

The best way is to study a method that includes voice-building in their curriculum. I have been teaching voice-building exercises since the beginning of my career as I was trained early in these true methodologies

My voice-building techniques are taught inside the Cole Vocal Method – click here to learn more about how to learn it.

It is a recommended practice of 20-30 minutes a day, five days a week to build up your voice to prepare for tour, or in preparation for an important recording. In general voice-building will help any singer at any stage in their development to step into the full potential of their voice. It is never too late to practice these techniques to improve and maintain the quality of your voice.

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