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Dear Manager:
1.) Make sure the singer gets some vocal training and health preservation strategies from an experienced voice coach before the tour starts. A coach who is knowledgable about vocal physiology and rehabilitation can be “The Hammer” for the group, imparting the reality of the size and fragility of the vocal folds in strong, memorable terms.
2.) Singers are greatly helped by dual, custom in-ear monitors. They can make the difference between a solid tour or voice loss after one week. Yes, they’re expensive but worth it. Every singer in the band should have in-ear monitors. In addition, the vocal blend will improve since no one will be blaring to sing over everyone else.
3.) Don’t over-load your singer with an intensive interview schedule, and keep the meet-and-greets to a minimum. The more the singer talks, the less rested the singing voice will be. Singers need a ton of vocal rest to sound fresh. At minimum, two consecutive days of downtime are required to get the vocal folds to recover from strenuous use.
4.) During rehearsals, if the singer asks the band to turn down, make sure the band turns down. Instrumentalists often don’t understand how difficult and destructive it is when a singer feels forced to sing “over” the music.
5.) No one sings well first thing in the morning, but the same goes for speaking. Allow for a schedule where the singer has a chance to wakeup before having to use his or her voice.
6.) Make sure your singer gets a lot of sleep. Vocal fold tissue does not repair well on four hours sleep.
7.) If your singer needs temperature control in the dressing room—take care of that. A dressing room that’s as cold as a meatlocker is death to the vocal folds.
8.) Don’t let your singer get too chatty between shows. One of the best (and funny) pieces of advice is, “Don’t use your voice unless you’re getting paid for it!”
9.) Try to get a good sound guy (who can still hear) to add shine (around 2400-3200 Hz) to the lead vocal so the sound carries better. It’s like turning up the treble without turning up the volume.
10.) Arrange for a vocal exam prior to the tour with a local laryngologist (voice doctor). Get a photo or video on record of the singer’s vocal folds before there are problems. It’s called “getting a baseline.” If the singer experiences voice loss or voice pain during the tour and needs additional exams with laryngologists while traveling, the baseline image can be used for comparison.
11.) Get a list of laryngologists in each city in which the act will be appearing. A laryngologist is an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor with additional training in the larynx. Especially desirable is a laryngologist who specializes in “professional voice.”
miniBIO: Lisa Popeil, MFA in Voice, is a top Los Angeles voice coach, voice scientist and researcher, contributor to the Oxford Handbook of Singing, a voting member of NARAS, creator of the Voiceworks® Method, the Total Singer DVD and a new book Sing Anything- Mastering Vocal Styles. Visit http://popeil.com.
