Help with a problem

[Consumingfire39]

For the last two days I have been having a strange sensation. All of my sound is getting stuck in my throat. No matter how hard I try, the front of my throat is constricting to where I cannot even hold a note. The weird part is that I can hum, siren and do any kind of warm-up with full range and very little strain without it being in my throat. As soon as I open my mouth, I can hardly make any notes.

I just started singing every day for the last two weeks and and a couple of days ago I sang for about an hour and a half and then had a 3 hour conversation on the phone with my Mom, whom I had not talked to in a very long time. Do you think I just need to rest my voice? It is frustrating because I can vocalize and warm-up as good as I ever have. Usually when I am fatigued, I feel it while trying to do anything related to singing.

Anyone gone through anything similar or have any advice on the situation?

[VideoHere]

if right after singing for the hour and a half you went right to the 3 hour conversation you may have tired the voice.

take a day off from singing.

try some gentile lip bubbles, gentile humming, and try the singing through the straw. these have a restorative and soothing effect on the vocal folds. stay away from the high notes for the time being.

as a habit, try not to speak after vocalizing.

[ronws]

Although it's okay to practice singing every day, as Bob would often advocate, I've noticed a number of teachers would say to not practice for so long at each practice. Because you do get tired, and start compensating, and then you are building bad habits. Better to practice correctly, even for a short time.

It works for old dogs like me, as well. It's easier to break a bad habit with short bursts of intensely focused work on what you are trying to change.

[Guest]

I may not know all that much about singing and the techniques involved by I do know about training and practicing. I have to agree with the above statement about developing bad habits.

I see so many people who go at practice like warriors and I have to give them credit for the effort, but IMO it is the wrong approach. You shouldn't try to get everything done in one session. It's not about quantity it is about quality.

If you practice in small doses, spread out over time with rest in between, your body gets the messages better and then builds the pathways embedding them into the CNS. Practice in shorter sessions and let your muscles get the hang of the message and remain fresh. If you go beyond this and start to fatigue, as mentioned above, technique starts to break down and now the message that is being embedded is wrong. You are training your muscles to do the wrong thing with every repetition you do after that.

The other thing I notice is that people practice for the sake of practice as if their body knows what they are trying to accomplish. It doesn't work that way. When I do lip trills I don't just do it for the sake of doing it. Just making my lips vibrate and bubble does nothing. I have to focus on what the purpose is and for me I try to work on regulating air and support. With every warmup exercise I do I have to think of why I'm warming up. And for every exercise I do, what is that particular exercise trying to accomplish. I can't just get hold of a CD and copy the sounds made. That does nothing.

There is a term called "deliberate practice."

I see too many people training in many things all wrong. You have to know what you're training and apply the practice with a purpose.

[VideoHere]

Although it's okay to practice singing every day, as Bob would often advocate, I've noticed a number of teachers would say to not practice for so long at each practice. Because you do get tired, and start compensating, and then you are building bad habits. Better to practice correctly, even for a short time.

It works for old dogs like me, as well. It's easier to break a bad habit with short bursts of intensely focused work on what you are trying to change.

ron, i take one day off to do the laundry...lol....no seriously, i pace myself, but i also have days where i really work hard..