I'm wondering if someone could give me some advice on this please?

I seem to find that my voice suffers a bit from time to time, not from singing but from other things. For example, I've been away this week for three days so no singing but lots of travelling, late nights, etc. I've tried to get back into it today and I warmed up pretty slowly but I couldn't do a lot as my voice still felt 'off' and I didn't want to strain it. This seems to happen when I'm tired or due to other factors, unrelated to singing. Is there anything I can do to avoid this or help it when it does happen?

Thanks in advance!

Hi Maria,
I'm not really an expert on this, just a singer, but I thought as no-one else has replied yet I might as well add my opinions. I too find that various things such as travelling and late nights can take a toll on my voice, but what I've found is that there isn't really a way around this, you just have to make sure you stay fit and healthy and try to avoid situations that you know from experience don't seem to agree with your singing. For example, in my second year of uni I had to do a short recital but I stayed up several nights in a row to write an essay and my voice was not happy about this! This is just a situation that I have learned I have to avoid. I won't go on a big night out the day before a singing lesson, for example, and my friends think that's stupid, but I know that if I had a late night my voice wouldn't be working properly. Perhaps that's a sign of poor technique, but I think no matter how good your technique is you need to look after yourself. I think a singer is kind of like an athlete, and I wouldn't imagine an athlete going clubbing or whatever the night before an important race. If I am feeling a bit run-down or I've had to do something like travelling that's unavoidable, I just do the usual kind of stuff, eg. a few quick excercises (not vocal ones so much, just a few stretches, shoulders, etc.), perhaps inhale some steam, do a gentle warm-up, and don't push your voice too much. If it seems weird and you're not happy about it, just stop what you're doing and try again another day.
hope that helps!

Thanks Bass Clef! That's helpful!

If you've been burning the candle at both ends, try steaming for ten minutes (followed by twenty minutes silence) in the morning. Then follow that with some sirens to get things moving and, whilst practising, support a little more than usual (both in the breath and in the anchoring) - that will most likely help.

Try to make it all as primal as possible when singing too

Silence?!!

Thanks, I'll give those things a try!

Now remember silence means that your mouth can be used for other pursuits than talking - for example, you could give a mountain of wispa golds a fair old kicking....

Silver linings, silver linings....

Brilliant! As long as I can keep eating, silence shouldn't be too much of a problem at all!!

Some thoughts

1 I have a high powered bussines woman as a pupil who cannot practice daily. Tiredness and tension are the enemies of good vocalisation as well as not practicing. If you can't sing do breathing and support exercises and some crunches or core work. All remedies supplied are good ideas - above all get used to the idea that if you take 3 days off - it is going to be 3 days before it begins to work again so limit your expectations as well