Vocalist Stamina...

[AnalogBrain]

Hey Y'all,

I am working now with a singer who after about one-one and a half hours his voice gets shot. I know this happens to a lot of singers, but only after hours and hours of intense singing.

No he doesn't warm up. Yes he smokes a little weed before the session. But this sums up almost every singer I ever worked with.

What do you guys consider "normal" time for a singer's voice to start crapping out. What's y'alls experience?

Thanks,
-Neil

By the way... I plan to show him this thread after some responses to help motivate him to warm up!

[dbbubba]

Well, I'll assume that you know that the weed isn't helping at all.
In fact, it is worse for your voice than smoking cigarettes (read data elsewhere or trust me.)

Depending on the style of music you are singing, that is A LOT of singing!
I'd think that would be about all the average singer could do and expect good results.

The more strenuous the style (rock, blues etc...) then the shorter the time before the human voice gets tied.
The closer a vocalist is to using "proper" technique then the longer he will be able to sing.

Drink lot's of cool, but NOT ice cold water while singing.
It helps a lot.

[Never1]

Take breaks!!!!!


On a good day I've done a 3 hour non-stop set, live. My voice was great and I had the right things in my monitors, my voice was warmed up and everything came together.

Your boy's gonna need to find the minimal amount of push required to hit the notes and create the tone he wants. Anything above and beyond what's needed puts extra stress on the vocal shords and fatigue sets in real quick.

I would have him sing for 20 minutes and then take a 10-20 minute break... Drink lots of room temperature water and one great trick is to add maybe a tbsp of Extra Virgin olive oil to a bottle of water. It is an amazing lubricant and keeps the throat area well greased.

[lynyrd]

Every singer is different but I think 2 or 3 hours would be the max I would expect out of a singer, including warmup. I usually warm them up with 3 or 4 passes of the song we're working on and go from there. Usually that gets them in the mood and into the "magic window" where we can get some takes.

[AnalogBrain]

Well,

I guess I got a little spoiled. I recently worked with a singer who warmed up for 45 minutes EVERY day, regardless if he would sing later in the day or not.

He could go for 5 -6 hours easy. But rarely needed that much time since he was so accustomed to his voice. It did whatever he wanted at any given time.

I guess I'm just frustrated doing one song a session.

-Neil

[Kiwiburger]

Nigroids - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This explains the black tongues you see in American Idol ...

Plenty of water. And stop torturing the poor boy.

[Never1]

Originally Posted by Kiwiburger

Nigroids - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This explains the black tongues you see in American Idol ...

Plenty of water. And stop torturing the poor boy.

There's also a product called Mucinex (pill form) which is amazing. I have a bit left but you can't find it in Canada and I've yet to find a similar product.

I may have to see if I can get some bottles shipped.

The stuff really clears you out without drying you out. I would imagine these Nigroids are a similar expectorant.

[BOWIE]

It varys wildly and depends on the style he's doing. I've had a few years of training and I can do classical all day. If it's rock or pop, I can usually go about 4 hours. However, if I go for a grinding rock vocal, I've got about 1 hour before I start to dull and waver off pitch. Everyone's pipes are structured differently. Some can handle abuse and some can't.
Most of the trained vocalists I work with can go for four hours or more. The others get a couple hours if they're lucky. You really don't want to push it because a rough vocal session can take days to recover from.

Weed is terrible for the voice. Dulls it, kills your stamina, and completely screws up your pitch and range. My voice has gotten a million times better since I stopped smoking daily.

[u b k]

Originally Posted by BOWIE

Weed is terrible for the voice. Dulls it, kills your stamina, and completely screws up your pitch and range. My voice has gotten a million times better since I stopped smoking daily.

i'm gonna parse the truth out of your statement, for clarity. when it comes to weed, it may be detrimental to

1) smoke

2) a lot

3) daily.


the formula for the health effects of any potentially adverse behavior is generally something like:

possible damage = ((frequency + intensity) x method of consumption) / genetic constitution.


gregoire
del
ubk
.