HOW TO BUILD VOCAL STAMINA
To build vocal stamina, do the following:
(1) First know your vocal range and make sure you are stable in it and then go further to do other higher notes and then do lower notes too. Do various high and low notes.
(2) Sing on various voice range of different (artistes) voices. It will help you to sing on different tones. You will always be ready to do any song no matter how high or low it is.
(3) Sing through scales (Tonic sofa)
Do tonic sofa (d - r - m - f - s - l - t - d) at least two octaves up and two octaves down.
Take it up and sustain the high octave 'd', sing it backwards to the lowest octave 'd' and sustain the low octave 'd'.
4. Do vocal exercises
There are some wonderful vocal exercises on this blog that i wrote. They will help you gain vocal strength. Do the exercises and strengthen your vocals.
5. Do breath control exercises.
Breath control exercises also help to strengthen your voice. I've also written on breathe control exercises on this blog. Work with them and strengthen your voice.
5 mins – Warm down/notes for journal/next practice/reflection
Warm ups and technical exercises should be given to you by your vocal coach once they know your voice and what your goals are for your voice.
2. Vocal Rest
Make sure you schedule rest days in between intensive practices.
It could be a full day of vocal rest, like NO SPEAKING and this is hard to do but is a good reminder of what life will be like if you push yourself too hard vocally and end up on vocal rest for a long period of time.
You can also do a modified vocal rest period of 15-20 minutes after any high voice use including talking for long periods.
3. Singers Technique Toolkit
Singing with excellent technique in itself is the key to improving your vocal stamina.
If you are singing efficiently, you should be able to sing 4-6 days per week without too much stress on your voice but you should be incorporating rest days as well.
One thing singers tend to do that leads to fatigue is working the vocal folds too hard and using very high effort levels without adjusting based on the task at hand.
Some key tips for singing to instantly help with this:
- Monitor your effort levels. Try to perform the same phrase with less effort. Assign an effort number on a scale of 1-10 and adjust based on how you are feeling on the day plus to develop your control at varying effort numbers.
- The high notes require less air pressure, the low notes require more air pressure. Pushing or reaching for high notes will exhaust your vocal folds.
- Learning how to use your breath effectively, your filter/resonance as well as voice qualities to make singing easier are must-do’s for improving technique, stamina plus overall enjoyment in singing.
4. Consistency
Consistency will really help shift the dial for your voice.
Getting the practice in and sticking at it will improve your vocal stamina.
The best way to get better at singing is more singing!
Use your practice plan to focus your attention when you are increasing the frequency of your singing.
5. Review
Once you have a solid practice plan and have maintained consistency with your practice routine, begin to make time to review your practices and performances to reflect on how you can improve all elements of your singing.
Challenge yourself with new vocal exercises and songs outside of your chosen genre.
Recording yourself singing and constructively ‘critiquing’ your performance or letting someone you trust critique you, is a great way to improve your singing.
You could approach it like a “before and after” singing vid.
Tackle a song you find tricky as part of start your regular practice schedule, go at it for a month, then record yourself singing the same song again to see the improvements
Remember to also prioritise vocal health as a foundational element of improving your vocal stamina.
A healthy voice is a happy voice that can have all vocal techniques overlaid onto it.
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