Siblings and friends,
We are in the thick of Pride month and I don’t know about you, but this particular Pride has really felt like a much needed throwback to the Gay Liberation Front and STAR activism of the late 60s. We are really fighting for our right to live and to make our voices heard.
We’ve been marching for Black lives, protesting police brutality and the country’s entire policing system. We’ve been marching for queer liberation, including for Black trans women who have been subject to violence and murder at alarming rates. We’ve been marching for protection from discrimination in the workplace as LGBTQ employees. Despite a scary pandemic disproportionately affecting the most marginalized of us, we’ve shown up and done the work.
For those of us that communicate using our voices in that work, marches and protests are often high-energy environments where a louder voice is needed to show solidarity, or to get your point across. With overuse and sustained loudness, we make our vocal folds susceptible to injury. In these situations, vocal hygiene becomes paramount.
What does vocal hygiene mean, exactly? Think of it this way: the vocal folds are muscles, and just like any muscle in the body, they experience fatigue with overuse. Overuse them too much, and you risk injury like nodules, ulcers, or hemorrhages. It doesn’t mean that you should never use your voice, or that you should rarely use it. But just like those other muscles we talked about, we can make sure to rest them, and use stretching exercises to keep them limber.
So, if you’re a voice user, especially a voice user fighting for our rights in the loud spaces of protests, use these few tips to keep your voice healthy.
Hydration is key. It takes lots of water, like 70-80oz per day at least, to keep our body hydrated. Hydration is also systemic, meaning that taking a few sips of water is not going to immediately hydrate your vocal folds - your entire body needs to be hydrated for your voice to get the benefit. So take advantage of the free water being provided at many of these protests, or better yet, pack your own!
Try to avoid smoking and other irritants such as caffeine before your march: these can make the voice more susceptible to issues as time goes on.
Rest your voice. This means resisting the urge to be louder than necessary, which can be hard because loud places tend to make us feel that we aren’t being heard. But, a large group of people saying things in unison makes your message as loud as it needs to be on its own. This also means that you should have short periods where you’re not using your voice. Take turns with your fellow protestors in getting your message across. We are in this fight together! Rely on each other to protect your voices.
If you’re in it for the long haul and need some rest and reset between events, try straw phonation! This is a safe way to make the vocal folds vibrate with less effort. Try making a humming sound with your lips closed around a straw, and practice with straws of several different widths. Make sure there’s no air escaping from your lips or nose. You can even try singing songs or carrying on a conversation with the straw.
If you’re out there fighting the good fight, keep your voice healthy by doing some of the things suggested above. We over here at The Voice Stylist are yours in solidarity!