Singing one song or humming a tune may be easy. However, singing for long hours at a concert is completely different. After singing continuously for a long time, your voice may start to sound a bit hoarse. Your singing technique may even get affected in the process. Singing for long periods can strain your voice and can affect your vocal health. If you plan to make a career out of your singing or if you are planning to perform for long hours, you need to improve your vocal stamina. It would be better if you start doing this as a beginner.

Start following these 5 simple exercises and habits in your early music learning stages to maximize your vocal stamina and make the best out of your talent.

Follow good habits to increase your vocal stamina

1. Hydration- Your vocal folds are covered with mucous membrane which needs to be hydrated to give a healthy voice. It is essential to keep sipping water at regular intervals throughout the day. This will keep you hydrated externally and internally.
2. Regular breaks- If you have been singing continuously for some days, take a couple of days off to rest your voice and regain your strength.
3. Healthy lifestyle- Voice endurance can be improved by maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Avoid alcohol and carbonated drinks. Having a good diet can help to maintain your weight, increase lung capacity and improve your breathing while singing. Smoking can cause the vocal folds to become dry and can affect your breathing too. So, if you want to take your music career seriously and if you want to sing for long hours without strain, it’s best to stop smoking.

Perfect your technique

While performing or during your practice sessions, you need to keep a check on your technique. You can check if you are breathing correctly. If you are unsure, you can ask your music teacher to guide you.

Increase your practice time slowly and steadily

Don’t start your practice session with long hours if you have never done it before. Maybe start with a 15-minute session, then you can increase it to a 30-minute session, then to a 45-minute session, and continue to increase at a comfortable pace. Take breaks when necessary. This can help to increase your endurance.

Simple exercises can help you gain voice strength

1. Warm-ups- Start every music practice session with warm-ups. Maybe you could start with humming. This will help to increase the quality of your voice and to avoid voice strain.
2. Breath control- Analyze how you breathe. Be aware of your breathing. Inhale and exhale in a quiet place to understand your breath. Visualize your breath while inhaling and exhaling. Try to imagine that the air is heavy. After inhaling, try holding your breath for a couple of minutes. You can slowly increase the time of holding your breath at a pace that is comfortable for you. You should be very comfortable during your breathing exercises. Do not strain yourself. To keep your notes steady while singing, practice exhalation exercises. After inhaling through your mouth, don’t exhale quickly. Exhale at a controlled steady pace and make sure to exhale completely.
3. Practicing scales and pitching- Practicing scales and pitching can help you control your voice better. Slowly you can start practicing scales outside your comfort zone too. This will help you gain control over your voice and increase your stamina.

Don’t exert

When learning a skill, we often assume that exerting ourselves can help to increase our stamina. This does not apply to singers. When learning how to sing, you must not exert yourself too much to excel in your skill. Exertion can lead to strain in voice and can even damage your vocal folds. This can severely affect your singing career and you may even need absolute voice rest. So it’s best to take it slow. Be patient! Achieve your goals at a steady pace.

As a singer, you may have been blessed with a beautiful voice. You need to train healthily to achieve the best out of it without affecting it. Continuously monitoring your vocal health is extremely important. When you feel a strain in your voice or pain in your throat, your body is telling you that you may have overworked your voice, you need to pause and analyze your problem. You can record yourself while practicing and try to find out what kind of issue you are facing and address it individually.

Enrolling in singing lessons can be helpful at any skill level. Even for an advanced singer, it can help to brush up their skills. Check out the various music teachers at Music4humans who provide singing lessons and enroll yourself today.

Music4humans provides a variety of online music courses such as instrument lessons, music production courses, songwriting courses, music theory lessons, etc. Book a music lesson online today.