Thursday, 15 September 2011
Believe Theatre: Vitamins for Vocal Health
Believe Theatre: Vitamins for Vocal Health: Singers must take care of their voices, much like athletes care for their bodies. The larynx is surprisingly small, about the size of a dim...
Vitamins for Vocal Health
Singers must take care of their voices, much like athletes care for their bodies. The larynx is surprisingly small, about the size of a dime in a woman and the size of a nickel in the average man, to keep them healthy, eat plenty of nuts, fruits and vegetables that contain vitamins A, E and C and drink plenty of water.
Water
It is extremely important to drink plenty of water in order to keep our bodies well-hydrated and to also cleanse our bodies of the toxins that may build up in our tissues and cells. This keeps disease and infections at bay, and helps maintain our personal health. Water hydrates the body, therefore water also keeps our vocal folds moist. This is crucial for a healthy voice. When we sing, the vocal folds vibrate at an extremely fast speed, if they dry out they are prone to irritation, this may cause some pain and discomfort when singing. Keep a glass of room temperature water with you whenever you are singing or performing, ice water is not ideal while singing, as it shocks the muscles and causes contraction and tightening. Keeping the tissue of your larynx and throat moist, will drastically reduce the risk of vocal damage.
Vitamin C
Vitamin C taken daily is an important part of Vocal Health. Eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables can help, but a chewable Vitamin C tablet can ensure you are getting enough of this vitamin. Vitamin C helps prevent the common cold and sore throat as well as improve immune functions of the body.
Vitamin E
Vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin found in many foods, fats, and oils. It is a powerful antioxidant. Antioxidants are substances that destroy free radicals -- harmful compounds in the body that damage DNA (genetic material) and even cause cell death. Free radicals are believed to contribute to aging as well as the development of a number of health problems, including heart disease and cancer. Antioxidants provide some protection against these conditions and also reduce the damage caused by toxic chemicals and pollutants. Vitamin E aids in muscle regeneration, protecings the cell membrane and keeping you strong. This is a very important vitamin for singers so try to add as many of these foods to your balanced diet as you are able but remember Vitamin E should not exceed 400IU per day so a supplement shouldn't be necessary if your dietary needs are being met.
The richest source of vitamin E is wheat germ.
Other foods that contain a significant amount of vitamin E include:
• Liver
• Eggs
• Nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, and walnuts)
• Sunflower seeds
• Corn-oil margarine
• Mayonnaise
• Cold-pressed vegetable oils, including olive, corn, safflower, soybean, cottonseed, and canola
• Dark green leafy vegetables like spinach and kale
• Greens (beet, collard, mustard, turnip) sweet potatoes
• Avocado
• Asparagus
• Yams
Vitamin A
Vitamin A helps cells regenerate normally and is abundant in foods such as apricots, broccoli, cantaloupe, carrots, kale, liver, mangos, red peppers, spinach and sweet potatoes. Vitamin A, also known as retinol, is a fat-soluble vitamin that occurs only in animal foods. Carotenoids serve as a great source of alpha-, beta- and gamma-carotene that our bodies are able to convert into Vitamin A. Vitamin A is important for vocal heath as it converts to retinoic acid in our bodies and effectively maintains healthy bones and teeth. Dentin, which also requires vitamin A, forms the hard layer of material within our teeth ensuring their strength. Vitamin A also plays an important role in replacing worn out or old tissue with newer tissue to ensure healthy bones and teeth and a healthy throat and larynx.
Vitamin B12
Vitamin B12 is an absolute must for any singer. It provides the body with much needed energy that we do not get if our diet is not well balanced. B12 helps with stress, helping our nervous system to function at a more relaxed level. On performance days, a singer should consider taking 50% more B12 than on a regular day for extra support and energy as with this vitamin you will not be so anxious before performances or auditions. Most people do not absorb the little amount of B12 that they get from diet especially if you are a vegetarian like me. B12 deficiency is a very serious issue and can lead to all kinds of problems including, memory loss, moodiness, depression, nervous system health, head aches, fatigue, dizziness, and sore tongue. If you have any of these symptoms you may have a Vitamin B12 deficiency.
Honey
Honey has anti-microbial and antibiotic properties, meaning that bacteria and virus will find it hard to survive and reproduce in honey. For a sore throat or if you just feel some discomfort, have a spoonful of pure Honey. This will help to keep the bacteria away, and will also help a sore throat to heal faster. Honey is antiseptic and anti-inflammatory, it will help to prevent any infection from spreading, and will speed up the recovery. Many singers swear by honey being a wonderful remedy for sore throat as well as a great singing food for protecting our fragile vocal folds. Local Honey taken daily will also help with seasonal allergies.
Remember, the best way to maintain a healthy voice is to eat a variety of fruits and vegetables and drink plenty of water daily. As long as you are take a daily multivitamin containing these vitamins, you should not need to take additional vitamin A or E supplements, however, you should either choose a good B-Complex or B12 vitamin to supplement your vitamin regime. Overdosing on vitamin A or E can have serious consequences for your health because these vitamins are fat soluble and stay in your system longer than vitamin C, which is water soluble. If you have questions about these or other supplements please contact your doctor or herbalist.
Water
It is extremely important to drink plenty of water in order to keep our bodies well-hydrated and to also cleanse our bodies of the toxins that may build up in our tissues and cells. This keeps disease and infections at bay, and helps maintain our personal health. Water hydrates the body, therefore water also keeps our vocal folds moist. This is crucial for a healthy voice. When we sing, the vocal folds vibrate at an extremely fast speed, if they dry out they are prone to irritation, this may cause some pain and discomfort when singing. Keep a glass of room temperature water with you whenever you are singing or performing, ice water is not ideal while singing, as it shocks the muscles and causes contraction and tightening. Keeping the tissue of your larynx and throat moist, will drastically reduce the risk of vocal damage.
Vitamin C
Vitamin C taken daily is an important part of Vocal Health. Eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables can help, but a chewable Vitamin C tablet can ensure you are getting enough of this vitamin. Vitamin C helps prevent the common cold and sore throat as well as improve immune functions of the body.
Vitamin E
Vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin found in many foods, fats, and oils. It is a powerful antioxidant. Antioxidants are substances that destroy free radicals -- harmful compounds in the body that damage DNA (genetic material) and even cause cell death. Free radicals are believed to contribute to aging as well as the development of a number of health problems, including heart disease and cancer. Antioxidants provide some protection against these conditions and also reduce the damage caused by toxic chemicals and pollutants. Vitamin E aids in muscle regeneration, protecings the cell membrane and keeping you strong. This is a very important vitamin for singers so try to add as many of these foods to your balanced diet as you are able but remember Vitamin E should not exceed 400IU per day so a supplement shouldn't be necessary if your dietary needs are being met.
The richest source of vitamin E is wheat germ.
Other foods that contain a significant amount of vitamin E include:
• Liver
• Eggs
• Nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, and walnuts)
• Sunflower seeds
• Corn-oil margarine
• Mayonnaise
• Cold-pressed vegetable oils, including olive, corn, safflower, soybean, cottonseed, and canola
• Dark green leafy vegetables like spinach and kale
• Greens (beet, collard, mustard, turnip) sweet potatoes
• Avocado
• Asparagus
• Yams
Vitamin A
Vitamin A helps cells regenerate normally and is abundant in foods such as apricots, broccoli, cantaloupe, carrots, kale, liver, mangos, red peppers, spinach and sweet potatoes. Vitamin A, also known as retinol, is a fat-soluble vitamin that occurs only in animal foods. Carotenoids serve as a great source of alpha-, beta- and gamma-carotene that our bodies are able to convert into Vitamin A. Vitamin A is important for vocal heath as it converts to retinoic acid in our bodies and effectively maintains healthy bones and teeth. Dentin, which also requires vitamin A, forms the hard layer of material within our teeth ensuring their strength. Vitamin A also plays an important role in replacing worn out or old tissue with newer tissue to ensure healthy bones and teeth and a healthy throat and larynx.
Vitamin B12
Vitamin B12 is an absolute must for any singer. It provides the body with much needed energy that we do not get if our diet is not well balanced. B12 helps with stress, helping our nervous system to function at a more relaxed level. On performance days, a singer should consider taking 50% more B12 than on a regular day for extra support and energy as with this vitamin you will not be so anxious before performances or auditions. Most people do not absorb the little amount of B12 that they get from diet especially if you are a vegetarian like me. B12 deficiency is a very serious issue and can lead to all kinds of problems including, memory loss, moodiness, depression, nervous system health, head aches, fatigue, dizziness, and sore tongue. If you have any of these symptoms you may have a Vitamin B12 deficiency.
Honey
Honey has anti-microbial and antibiotic properties, meaning that bacteria and virus will find it hard to survive and reproduce in honey. For a sore throat or if you just feel some discomfort, have a spoonful of pure Honey. This will help to keep the bacteria away, and will also help a sore throat to heal faster. Honey is antiseptic and anti-inflammatory, it will help to prevent any infection from spreading, and will speed up the recovery. Many singers swear by honey being a wonderful remedy for sore throat as well as a great singing food for protecting our fragile vocal folds. Local Honey taken daily will also help with seasonal allergies.
Remember, the best way to maintain a healthy voice is to eat a variety of fruits and vegetables and drink plenty of water daily. As long as you are take a daily multivitamin containing these vitamins, you should not need to take additional vitamin A or E supplements, however, you should either choose a good B-Complex or B12 vitamin to supplement your vitamin regime. Overdosing on vitamin A or E can have serious consequences for your health because these vitamins are fat soluble and stay in your system longer than vitamin C, which is water soluble. If you have questions about these or other supplements please contact your doctor or herbalist.
Thursday, 8 September 2011
Perfect Practice for Perfect Performance
September is a time of new beginnings. School starts and like clock work, students return to their weekly music lessons. Sometimes I feel as though I should just record myself saying one sentence over and over again; "It is NOT the quantity of your practice so much as the QUALITY." Most time this statement falls on deaf ears.
Remember, your lesson time is the time that you show your teacher how you are doing at the moment, and the progress you have made since your last lesson. Your teacher will tell you what you need to work on next, and how to work on it. You don't really have time to practice or improve during your lesson, only to get the insight into how to improve. Make notes, or record your lessons to get the most for your investment. If the only time you play your instrument is during your lesson, your progress will be extremely slow. Rehearsals with a group such as band, orchestra, choir or other ensemble are for the improvement of the group and for practicing playing together. This doesn't allow you to actually work on learning the music or on the technique of becoming a better musician. Performances are for letting everyone enjoy the progress you have made. They are times for you to enjoy making music and not times to have to be worried about the technical details of the music or your personal technique. These are not times for actual progress, so even if you show up for every lesson, rehearsal, and performance, your progress will be minimal. Individual music practice is crucial if you want to become the best musician. Your teacher can give you a guideline as to the amount of practice time they expect, and help you to set goals and circle areas that need improvement.
Students tend to be afraid of repetition, however, as unpopular as this may be repetition is the key to perfect practice. Most teachers would be more pleased with a perfected section of a piece than hearing the entire song practiced poorly with many mistakes. We as musicians do a great deal of repeating, in practice, we necessarily repeat material to refine our skills, assimilate compositions, interpret, and keep our repertoire strong. Through methodical use of repetition, and attention to detail, we master material faster minimizing our errors and thereby minimize our need to repeat. Errors should be embraced as the keys to our improvement, by spending more time in weaker areas being vigilant in our correctness, we improve, and do not ingrain mistake-ridden habits. We solve problems our instead of making new ones. With each repetition of a passage, we strive to grow and change, we might strive for something different each time; better support, cleaner diction, stronger connection, or to be stronger in our character. Whatever the intention behind the repetition, it should be meaningful leading to more ease and greater musicianship. Repetition should light a fire within as you hear the dynamic changes in each passage you focus on, and thereby add passion to your practice. If practice is always drudgery, than you are doing something wrong. Please don't be afraid to focus on your mistakes, studies show less students quit because they're not practicing than because their practice time isn't spent in quality practice. Don't become a statistic, become a musician!
Listening is also a key to good practice. If possible, tape your teacher performing your repertoire, find a professional on YouTube, or download the album online from someplace like iTunes. This is not for you to copy or learn to emulate the sounds you are hearing, but instead to get a better feeling for the mood and flow of the piece. However, singing or playing along with a recording of a piece is NOT good practice, and should be avoided.
Please warm-up before practicing, you wouldn't consider running the block without stretching, so why would you play without giving your body the best chance to prepare. Also, through our warm-up, we improve our technique, and technique is the key principal to good musicianship.
Remember, your lesson time is the time that you show your teacher how you are doing at the moment, and the progress you have made since your last lesson. Your teacher will tell you what you need to work on next, and how to work on it. You don't really have time to practice or improve during your lesson, only to get the insight into how to improve. Make notes, or record your lessons to get the most for your investment. If the only time you play your instrument is during your lesson, your progress will be extremely slow. Rehearsals with a group such as band, orchestra, choir or other ensemble are for the improvement of the group and for practicing playing together. This doesn't allow you to actually work on learning the music or on the technique of becoming a better musician. Performances are for letting everyone enjoy the progress you have made. They are times for you to enjoy making music and not times to have to be worried about the technical details of the music or your personal technique. These are not times for actual progress, so even if you show up for every lesson, rehearsal, and performance, your progress will be minimal. Individual music practice is crucial if you want to become the best musician. Your teacher can give you a guideline as to the amount of practice time they expect, and help you to set goals and circle areas that need improvement.
Students tend to be afraid of repetition, however, as unpopular as this may be repetition is the key to perfect practice. Most teachers would be more pleased with a perfected section of a piece than hearing the entire song practiced poorly with many mistakes. We as musicians do a great deal of repeating, in practice, we necessarily repeat material to refine our skills, assimilate compositions, interpret, and keep our repertoire strong. Through methodical use of repetition, and attention to detail, we master material faster minimizing our errors and thereby minimize our need to repeat. Errors should be embraced as the keys to our improvement, by spending more time in weaker areas being vigilant in our correctness, we improve, and do not ingrain mistake-ridden habits. We solve problems our instead of making new ones. With each repetition of a passage, we strive to grow and change, we might strive for something different each time; better support, cleaner diction, stronger connection, or to be stronger in our character. Whatever the intention behind the repetition, it should be meaningful leading to more ease and greater musicianship. Repetition should light a fire within as you hear the dynamic changes in each passage you focus on, and thereby add passion to your practice. If practice is always drudgery, than you are doing something wrong. Please don't be afraid to focus on your mistakes, studies show less students quit because they're not practicing than because their practice time isn't spent in quality practice. Don't become a statistic, become a musician!
Listening is also a key to good practice. If possible, tape your teacher performing your repertoire, find a professional on YouTube, or download the album online from someplace like iTunes. This is not for you to copy or learn to emulate the sounds you are hearing, but instead to get a better feeling for the mood and flow of the piece. However, singing or playing along with a recording of a piece is NOT good practice, and should be avoided.
Please warm-up before practicing, you wouldn't consider running the block without stretching, so why would you play without giving your body the best chance to prepare. Also, through our warm-up, we improve our technique, and technique is the key principal to good musicianship.
- Try to practice at least once a day for a total 30 minutes. Every day you don't practice sets you back two day, so even if you can't spare 30 minutes, do something every day.
- Always be aware of what your body is telling you. Practice in front of a mirror because Posture is an important part of technique and must be practiced.
- If a section is frustrating, don't abandon it, that will only ingrain it as a problem spot, and make conquering it much more difficult. With methodical repetition you will overcome any problem. We practice things we already do well and avoid the things we find difficult. Force yourself work on the things that you can't do well and your progress will be faster and more difficult things will be a welcome challenge.
- If you are learning a fast piece of music, first practice it slowly until you know the notes very well. Avoid the temptation to speed up easier sections, as that will lead to tempo mistakes and difficulties later. Increase speed little by little perfecting it in small pieces measure by measure.
- Listen to yourself as you practice! It is so easy to get caught up in technical aspects of the music that we forget the Art. The Art cannot be lost in your practice, so express yourself and have fun.
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