A Healthy Voice

Rui 'Trovatore' Pires · Mon 15/08/2005 09:09:49

Thanks go to Dave Gilbert for hosting this!

I have in my possession a guide which is all about keeping your voice healthy - how and why you should even bother. It's nothing you can't find elsewhere on the net, of course, but it IS a crapload of good, concise info.

It's in Portuguese, so I translated it into English. I hope I did a good enough job on it. ANyway, I just thought I'd share. Do pay close attention to the first pages, you'll find good reasons to be aware of your vocal system.

http://www.davelgil.com/Voice.doc

EDIT - Fixed, sorry, Geof.

Gregjazz · Mon 15/08/2005 09:22:19

File not found?

Phemar · Mon 15/08/2005 14:51:53

Hey thanks for this, mate. Really interesting and helpful.

LGM · Mon 15/08/2005 15:03:50

Holy shit I needed this. I have auditions in two days o_0

Rui 'Trovatore' Pires · Mon 15/08/2005 15:05:42

Break a leg!

Potch · Mon 15/08/2005 16:53:44

Thanks. There's some really great info in there. Being a singer, I'm always looking for better ways to protect myself.

And actually, I have a call back for a musical tonight, so this should help!

Haddas · Mon 15/08/2005 18:56:52

My dream is to sound like Tom Waits and this isn't helping!

* Haddas stomps the .doc

EDIT: This is the kind of transition I want in my voice over the next years!
http://www.tdrdesign.net/uploads/30yearsofcheapboozeandnorthstatecigarettes.zip
(Songs used in example by Tom Waits - Ice cream man and Tom Waits - God's away on business)

BorisZ · Mon 15/08/2005 19:10:41

Quote from: Haddas on Mon 15/08/2005 18:56:52
My dream is to sound like Tom Waits and this isn't helping!
* Haddas stomps the .doc

You are stealing my thoughts, man. I hate this fine and healty voices, give me Waits or Captain Beefeheart any time!!!

Rui 'Trovatore' Pires · Mon 15/08/2005 20:04:36

My dearest, dearest friends, shut the feck up and think about what you're saying. I've only heard Waits' "The Piano Has Been Drinking", so I can't comment on him, but let me take Leonard Cohen. He began with songs like Suzanne and So Long Marianne. A long time later, he covered Suzanne live. Aye, he covered it - he damn well couldn't SING it! That guy's lucky that his voice happens to still sound pleasing, but he CAN't sing anymore, he wrecked his voice so.

Also, there is no ending to what sort of problems these guys may be courting. You have no idea how easy it is to bruise your vocal c(h?)ords.

And now let me tell you something. I asked my teacher about something, I asked him whether Leonard Cohen's voice had indeed gone to hell. He said it had, and then he added something which has stuck - there are ways, HEALTHY ways, to get those effects. You know, ways that don't ruin your most precious instrument called "voice". So "fine and healthy voices" doesn't necessarily spell, say, Sarah Brightman or Grace Bumbry or CaballÃ©. Freddy Mercury had a very healthy voice. Heck, if he didn't, if he didn't know how to keep his voice healthy, there was NO WAY he'd be able to keep singing.

There, I got over-excited about it. But please, think about these things before you say those things, because, my friends, THINK you did not.

Phemar · Mon 15/08/2005 20:12:09

I think they were joking, Rui ...

Rui 'Trovatore' Pires · Mon 15/08/2005 20:14:07

...they were?

<me pours chilled water down himself>

Haddas · Mon 15/08/2005 20:51:29

Well I do want to sound like Tom Waits. I want to have a deep rough voice. not this girly one I have now (Britteneers can prove), however I'm not a singer either. but I want to be a voice-actor/actor

Rui 'Trovatore' Pires · Mon 15/08/2005 20:54:10

Another reason to keep your voice healthy, above all. And in all honesty, don't try to have a different voice. Learn to use your own.

Blackthorne · Mon 15/08/2005 21:13:35

Fark, man, I smoke, drink and do everything that they say not to, and I can still hit an 'E' an octave above middle C easily.

But yeah, taking care of your voice is a good thing. But, like anything else, moderation is the key. If all you do is worry about taking care of your voice, will you ever have time to use it???

Bt

Rui 'Trovatore' Pires · Mon 15/08/2005 21:22:46

Funny you should say that. Grace Bumbry was my teacher's teacher. She is arguably the best singer ever (and yet little known outside the "opera" circles... but within those, she's huge). At seventy, her voice is as fresh as when she was thirty. And she hardly lives at all. Her routine is wake up, get ready, do warm ups, do other things voice related, she does her stuff (recitals, concerts, operas, whaveter she has to do) then comes bedtime. She doesn't really have a life.

Naturally, that's a case in extremis. But to answer your question, as strange as it may seem, yes.

Moox · Mon 15/08/2005 21:23:30

My 86 year old grandpa who smoked a pack a day could still speak, Im not worried.

Potch · Mon 15/08/2005 21:26:55

Well, my 81 year old grandmother smoked a pack a day for 50 years. She now has emphazema, a hacking cough, a deep growling voice, has to be on a respirator at night, and can't walk more than five minutes without having to sit down and use an inhaler.

She quit smoking 7 years ago, and that is the only reason she is still alive.

That's enough to make me NEVER smoke.

Haddas · Mon 15/08/2005 21:35:41

What's weird about me is that, I know EXACTLY how dangerous it is to smoke... and still I do it. I'm aware of the consequenses and frankly, I don't give a poop. I can sing very high, and I can go slowmotion low. but I'd still like to have a deeper voice. is there any surgery for that?

Blackthorne · Mon 15/08/2005 22:51:21

Quote from: Potch on Mon 15/08/2005 21:26:55
Well, my 81 year old grandmother smoked a pack a day for 50 years.Ã,Â She now has emphazema, a hacking cough, a deep growling voice, has to be on a respirator at night, and can't walk more than five minutes without having to sit down and use an inhaler.

She quit smoking 7 years ago, and that is the only reason she is still alive.

That's enough to make me NEVER smoke.

I'm already dying young - I'm enjoying my death.Ã,Â Singing and smokin' is fun.

EDIT FOR MORBIDITY: Yes, I realize that statement may sould bold and impeteous, but it's true. I believe in ALL things in moderation, even such detrimental acts as smoking. My situation is more unique than most, and some people would question WHY I don't quit all so-called foul things - it's because I don't fear death - I fear not living and enjoying things. Indulgence on a grand scale and gluttony isn't good, and yes, I spent my life gorging on somethings (such as food) and less on others. I'm rectifying the balance now, by trying to balance the scales so I can enjoy the fruits of the earth, and my time on it. Now back to our regularily shceduled voice conversation.

Bt

Potch · Mon 15/08/2005 22:53:45

My granny isn't enjoying hers. She wishes everyday that she hadn't ever started smoking. It's really hard to watch, because she is the neatest lady on the planet.