Voice Portfolio: Vocal Health

Vocal Health

Wednesday 5^th November 2014

     For this week’s voice portfolio, having previously explored how vocalisation within the human vocal folds is produced and how it can be amplified at will, it was now our session focusing on the vocal health of an individual in the performing arts industries.  Beginning the session in a class discussion we all gave bullet points for any positive and negative states for a performer’s vocal health.

     Categorising our bullet points as ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’, we all inputted what we believed to be good and bad for a performers vocal health.

     The points we took note of were:

The Don’ts:

·         Smoking – With side effects, such as ‘lung cancer’, it can cause serious damage to an individual’s vocal and physical health.  A key area of damage is caused to an individual’s vocal health as it disarranges the individual’s vocal chords.  As smoking causes the vocal chords projection give off a deeper and raspy sound effect.

·         Alcohol – There are known alcoholic substances that can cause physical damage to the inside of an individual’s throat.  Similarly to the outcome of smoking, too much alcohol can give serious damage towards the vocal chords and the diaphragm.  Resulting in a deeper and rusty tone formation.   

·         Physical Damage – Depending on how aggressive the outcome of the physical damage is.  This “don’t”, in particular, can cause serious changes and disarrangements of the individuals pitch and tone, original formation, possibly even the loss of voice itself.

·         Coughs – This “don’t” can happen to anybody, it is just a matter of how serious the cause of the coughing is.  Symptoms such as asthma, colds, or other illnesses are some of the key examples of how coughs are produced.  But the damage it causes to the individual’s vocal health, depending on how violently they are coughing, can result in less projection and quick/constant opening and closing of the vocal cords.  As well as violent vibrations within the inner edge of the vocal fold.  

·         Tonsillitis – The larynx itself becomes swollen and is caused mainly by infection.  The outcome of tonsillitis can result in a painful experience for the individual when projecting.  Plus it may cause more infections and block clean oxygen entering towards the larynx.

·         Sore Throats – Once again, the main causation could be various, the most common being a cold.  But this symptom can cause changes in the pitch and tone variations, resulting in a quieter voice and slight pain when projecting.

·         Sugar – Similar to taking too much alcoholic substances, too much sugar can also cause damage to an individual’s vocal health.  Resulting in different pitch and tone variations becoming too uncomfortable when projecting.  

·         and Voice Cracks – Caused by sudden cracks within the singing or speaking voice projection,.  This is the result of the individual projecting sound vibrations in their vocal folds too quickly without taking in enough oxygen to support their projection.  Resulting in a voice crack, putting their projection to a halt, and a sudden loss of voice for the individual.

      All together we understood that these key ‘don’ts’ would have a vast effect on the performer’s vocalisation.  Knowing these “don’t” being strong negatives, knowing the outcome and how we could fix these “don’t” should we ever experience such vocal health issues in the future. 

The Dos:

·         Drinking Water – It is this particular healthy liquid that cleans the insides of an individual’s vocal folds.  As well as it widens the gaps to allow oxygen to enter through the throat smoothly without any pain or damage, that one would get from too much alcohol.  

·         Vocal Warmups – By taking vocal warmup exercises an individual can practice their projection and mentally understand a good and health state for their vocal formation.  Ensuring that their voice is prepared and healthy for their performances.

·         Warm Drinks to Sooth the Throat – Similar to water, it is hot drinks that can put the vocal folds to rest.  Ensuring a comforting and soothing feeling within an individual’s throat and vocal formation for any performance work that requires a large amount of projection.

·         Physical Exercises – Much like the vocal warmup exercises, physical exercises help an individual to understand their current throat state.  Plus it allows them to alter their vocal formation, but to a state that is comfortable and healthy for the individual, yet different to their traditional vocal formation.

·         Meditations – These exercises help vastly for an individual to focus on key areas within their physical structure and help them gain a new physical posture.  Through gaining a new posture, their vocalisation becomes very relaxed and can be altered at will to a new formation.  Meditation can help performers, such as an actor; take on board a new physical and verbal formation to create a posture different to their own.  But it helps with their vocal health as it relaxes an individual’s vocal folds and ensures comfort and no damage is caused throughout meditations or performances.

      It was these bullet points that we strongly agreed on.  I know from hands on experience that these liquids and exercises help vastly in soothing the performer’s vocal health and give them decent preparations for their performances.

     I found this session to be extremely interesting as, not only did I learn that a performer has to ensure that their vocal health is at a positive to ensure they are for filling their performance ambitions, but it also has made me more aware.  This session, in writing these bullet points, I personally have become more aware of my own vocal health.  Not only that, but I am now constantly aware of what I am eating and drinking, and in weather conditions if my throat is kept warm and comforted.  All to ensure that my health state is at a positive and that I can keep it in a good state for any future production/stage work.

The Presentation

     To end this session our teacher assigned us a class of creating a poster or presentation, explaining the vocal health to performers.  Referring back to the ‘dos’ and don’ts’ bullet points me and my partner created a poster explaining to performers the positive and negative states of an individual’s vocal health.

     Here is our final result of the poster:

 





     Highlighting in big and bold captions our goal was to ensure that whoever read/observed this poster would miss out on any details concerning their vocal health.  With the use of attention grabbing images we wanted it to be eye catching and have it likable as well.  To which my partner suggested the use of the caption “your voice is your career”. 

     I am, personally, pleased with this piece of work as it is straight to the point and intriguing for any observers.  Plus it is something for everyone.  Whether they’re in the performing arts industries (acting, singing and dancing) or in any lecture job roles or courses, as the voice is a key part to their succession, and I feel this poster can help them to ensure positive vocal health welfare.