What I think you need to know before you can look to gig
Firstly, please can you watch the videos I’ve made that outline my basic principles and what I think we should all be aiming for in working on our voices…
I want to add to this that as a singing teacher I have no aesthetic bias. You say how you want to sound and we work together to get you as close to your version of that sound (or colour as I call it) as we can you.
Beyond “do no harm” and longevity I am aiming to remove my bias. It’s not about what I want but about what the singer wants…
My Starting Point In This Topic
This is a series of bullet points and is really a starting point, but I wanted to share it in case it’s useful rather than not sharing and waiting to share till it’s “ready”
To prepare for the gig
- Work on your fitness and healthy lifestyle as a life choice.
- Work out how little you can do.
- Work on your full body connection.
- Things you would do in the gig but need to prep before – ideas like how to make the song easier if you’re having an off day.
- How little can you do to get the impact you want to get – practice this before. Your effort levels mustn’t go above a 6 or 7 on a “standard” day so that you have more to give when you need to and you can do it when you don’t have your full capacity energy wise.
- When can you give less weight to your voice and more boost?
- Rehearse the whole show and get used to how much work it is.
- When rehearsing as a band don’t give it your all unless that’s what you’re rehearsing. There is no need to tire yourself out whilst the band work on the things they’re struggling with, save it for when you’re working on your challenges.
- Set up the order of the material so that fatiguing songs are spaced out.
- Work out the order that best suits your voice as well as the build of the show.
- Are you someone who likes to do some of the more full on songs first to get your voice going or do you prefer to build slowly.
- Work on running the full set.
- If you move a lot on stage you MUST practice moving when you rehearse.
During the tour –
(A lot of this info came from a colleague, Kim Chandler, presenting at a BVA (https://britishvoiceassociation.org.uk/) Extreme Voices in 2019.
Prioritise your health – sleep, hydration, exercise, stretching, vocal care,
consider how you can move in your clothing.
If you’re taking long flights – prioritise humidify
On the day
- Hydrate loads – water and nebuliser.
- Don’t speak loads but no need for silence.
- Practice being sensible with your spoken voice
- Meal at least 2 hours before – work out what makes you feel your best for your voice before you start the tour.
Pre Gig
- Warm up but not too much. Know how much is right for you to have the perfect capacity for your set.
- Make sure that stretches are part of your warm up. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZNR4KN7u_I&t=2s) This needs updating. Also it’s written out here (https://rebeccaschwarz.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Stretches-Updated-2021.pdf)
- SOVTS – if you’re having to wait between warming up and performing stay ready with gentle SOVTs. Make sure you are doing a SOVT that is good for you, don’t just do one that is offered online without assessing your personal needs. (SOVTS are any exercises that slow the flow of air out of your mouth. Examples are lip trills, buzzing, humming, ng, straws).
On Stage
- Have times when you rest your voice during the gig.
- Drink onstage.
- Aim to work as little as you can, adrenaline will probably mean you do more than you mean to do.
- Pay attention to your tension, have little things you can do to reset your voice mid gig if you are getting tense (link to the video that I made about resets on youtube).
- If unwell do less – plan for this and practice easier ways to do things before the gig.
- Sometimes use less voice, more of other things. Whatever is your thing, work out a way to do more of that – emotion, musicianship, style, audience connection, the list goes on.
Ideal but may not be possible.
- Great fold back, in ears.
- Great sound person with whom you’ve a rapport if possible.
Post Gig
Generally
- It takes a team.
- Set up support for your body and mind and voice.
- Fitness when singing and not.
- Pay attention to your emotional state.
- Sovt, (see above).
- Nebuliser.
- So much more to add I’m sure.