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Liner Notes
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Body
& Soul
Voice Care with David M. Alessi, M.D
VOICE CARE ON THE ROAD: LONG TOURS, LOZENGES,
AND HYDRATION
MBADC: What should the singer do to protect the voice if they’re
going to be out on the road for say, a year-long or fifteen month tour?
DA: Number one, be careful about how they eat, about not eating too late
and having very good eating habits. Number two, generally try to stay in as good shape as
they possibly can. Exercise is important. The idea of having a fat singer being a good
singer is not true. Number three is just vocal conservatism. A great thing for young
singers to have in mind is, if they had Jimi Hendrix’s original guitar in their hands
and it was in pristine condition, you wouldn’t take it to a bar and blow smoke on it,
and then spill beer all over it. And if their voice is there--especially if they’re
talented—it’s worth far more than Jimi Hendrix’s or Eric Clapton’s
original guitar, and they should treat it basically the same. If they decide to make music
their career, they should treat their voice as if it’s a priceless instrument…If
they have that in mind at all times, it makes it very easy when they’re on tour to
take care of their voice.
One thing that singers always care about is what kind of lozenges
they can take…A good lozenge for singers is something called Black Currant Pastilles, which are basically
glycerin-containing lozenges, and the glycerin helps to keep moisture within the throat,
which is what [singers] need. They should avoid mint and menthol—there are several
reasons why, but they’re inherently drying. Even though they may feel good initially,
they’re actually going to be more hurtful in the long run.
MBADC: Air conditioning—good or bad for the voice?
DA: Basically generally bad. Air conditioning tends to be very drying.
Same thing on planes, it tends to be very drying. So the things you should do with air
conditioning are: number one, never try to talk over it if it’s noisy, and number
two, just make sure you’re drinking lots of water the entire time. That segues right
into planes, where the problem you have on planes is, the ambient noise is very high, and
it’s very, very dry. So what you should do if you’re travelling a lot on a plane
is basically shut up on the plane and drink lots of water. Just put your stereo headphones
on and zone out.
MBADC: What about Throat Coat Tea?
DA: It’s great. It has glycerin in it.
MBADC: What about ice cold beverages?
DA: Ice cold beverages are fine, as long as you’re not using them
around the time that you’re singing. What you need to have around the time that
you’re singing is basically plain old room-temperature water, not too hot, and not
too cold.
More on Hydration, Voice Care for Singers with Allergies
& Asthma
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