What you'll learn

Learn and practice warmups, healthy habits, breath work, and self-massage to aid in recovery from respiratory sickness, acid reflux, and general vocal fatigue.
Gain a felt and physical sense of your voice.
Learn how to avoid further injury, pain, or hoarseness.
Build practices that you can fit into your life on a regular basis to maintain a healthier voice.

Course content

5 sections • 23 lectures • 49m total length

A Promo Video: About Me, You, and This Course1:57
A little informal bit about me and a bit about you — who this course is for and a quick overview of what we’ll do together.
Welcome!1:12
Find out what you’ll do and what we’ll cover in the course.
What You'll Achieve Through This Course1:25
Overview of the course, target audience, and the learning objectives.
The Path to Vocal Recovery1:46
Overview of the specific elements we'll cover that will get you back singing or speaking at full volume again.
Activity: Time, Space, and Gratitude Needed to Practice2:16

Voice Care That Works4:05
Looking at how much water to drink, other forms of hydration, and which kinds of teas are good.
Activity: Check How Much You’re Hydrating1:19
Take some time to notice how much you’re actually hydrating.
All About Vocal Rest1:33
Vocal rest can take many forms and may be totally different from what you’re imagining.
Activity: Warmup & Cool Down for Vocal Ease1:17
Learn how to ease and relax the muscles around the vocal folds a bit.
Integrate What You’ve Learned0:48
Use the practice log to note water consumption for a week and notice how your voice feels when you hydrate enough. Also, choose a method of steam inhalation; and find a time in your day that you can inhale steam for 15 minutes. Add some kind of humidifier to your bedroom.

How the Voice Works + What Happens When It Doesn’t Work2:46
Watch Short BBC Video on the Anatomy of the Voice (External Link)
Exploring Your Voice2:13
A hands-on exploration of where the voice box is and how the larynx moves up and down.
Activity: Coordinating Your Breath3:04
Create an even flow of air to fuel the vocal folds and your voice.
Activity: Opening the Throat2:56
Learn to open throat in order to reduce strain, fatigue, and that closed-up feeling.
Activity: Straw or Bubble Phonation2:46
Learn how to gradually warmup & coordinate the voice. Notice how you feel after this activity.
For this activity, you’ll need a drinking straw and a bottle (or glass) of water about half full.
Building Regular Practice Into Your Schedule1:10
A bit of guidance on how to make it easy to keep your practice going so you can achieve vocal health.
Activity: 2 Easy Vocal Exercises0:49

Gaining Further Openness and Release2:46
We’ll explore 3 places you can bring in less closure into our voices. Plus look at some examples of posture practice that can help you to release any extra tension that may be traveling up and limiting your voice.
Interrelation of the Muscles of the Neck, Shoulders, and Larynx2:12
Another hands-on lecture where you can feel how the muscles of the shoulders and neck link to the voice.
Activity: Releasing the Tongue3:07
Introducing tongue tension awareness, and then offerin 2 tongue release exercises. Notice how your voice feels after this activity.
Activity: Self-Massage to Release the Jaw3:24
Here, I offer an actors' jaw exercise to check jaw tension and then self-massage to help loosen the jaw.

From Sickness to Health: Sustaining Your Recovery2:06
Keep working with the exercises and worksheets you've gotten; give it time and remember recovery could take anywhere from a few days to a few months. Seek a referral to an ENT or SLP from your doctor if these exercises and practices don't fully clear up the issue.
How to Go Further1:09
Go deeper into your voice by joining my community of singers through private lessons or in the Incantative Acts private group on Facebook. Get more help not only on voice recovery, but on singing and performance.

Requirements

Minimal experience of singing needed; there are warmups for every skill level - whether you’re a singer, actor, public speaker, school teacher, or just someone who experiences voice loss, strain, or fatigue regularly.

Description

Voice Recovery for Singers and Speakers: From Sickness to Health teaches you practical skills for helping your voice get back to its full glory, whether you’re experiencing mild to medium voice loss after a bout of respiratory illness, seasonal allergies, or acid reflux, or vocal fatigue after overuse or other injury. If you’re a teacher, singer, or other voice professional in good health but are curious about practices for maintaining a healthy and resilient voice, this course is for you!

I litter the course with stories of voice recovery and practices that I’ve picked up and developed during 20+ years of teaching side by side with clinical and university settings in the US, Mexico, Ireland, and Switzerland. While the course is under 50 minutes long, the sections should be moved through over a period of days or weeks if you’re recovering.

This course does not replace medical advice for those experiencing acute voice loss or pain, but it may compliment or help explain any advice you have received. Your voice or range loss and fatigue don’t need to be permanent; most voice loss or fatigue is temporary and can be aided by the practices you’ll find clearly outlined in the course.

You’ll:

gain awareness of how your voice works
develop warmups and hands-on self-massage
use other learning tools to learn to gauge your voice health
guide yourself towards wellness and resilience

So let’s get started!

Who this course is for:

Singers who want to increase their ability to recover from vocal fatigue or sickness.
Professional voice users such as public speakers, actors, or journalists who need to rebound quickly and effectively from voice loss.
Anyone curious about having a healthier, more resilient voice.

What you'll learn

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Course content

Introduction5 lectures • 9min

Voice Care that Works!5 lectures • 9min

What's Going On In There? or Voice Science 1017 lectures • 16min

Self-Massage and Tension Release4 lectures • 11min

Continuing Your Recovery2 lectures • 3min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: