The benefits of a good massage on your voice- seriously
“But I HAVE TO GET that massage for my concert…”
No seriously, if you can get a massage before you sing, you should. As a result you will both feel and SOUND better. Getting a back and neck massage is an incredible way to open up your sound and free your voice. Even a quick five minute neck and shoulder massage will help you tremendously in your ability to sing freely with full resonance.
Remember as a singer you rely on your body to create sound. Unlike an instrumentalist who has the stability of the same instrument to play, you and your body are never the same. Every day you wake up you can feel different, tired, energized, stressed, tense, sick…
This effects your muscle tension. Your proper muscle support and release are key in good free singing. Tense shoulders hold in sound that could otherwise be resonating freely. Also, a massage relaxes you deep into your body so that your breathing and sound remain grounded rather than lifted.
I first realized this years ago when I took a voice lesson from a teacher at Julliard. He actually had a pianist playing the vocalizes while he himself was “attacking” my muscles. Was very odd for me at first, but he got incredible singing results out of me by pushing deep into muscles around my neck, shoulders and sternum while I sang. He was able to release the “bottled up” sound with in me and my voice as a result grew in sheer volume without any pushing. It was a real singing break through for me.
I then spent many years doing body work such as massage, Alexander Technique, acupuncture and Ki Work. All of these were excellent and had similar effects in releasing a freer sound when I sang.
Unfortunately, they are all big financial expenses and are not available to us before every sing we have. You can though learn from this and have someone you know give you a quick back/shoulder/neck rub to get the blood flowing and sound releasing before your auditions and or performance. Offer a singer friend a swap or you can even do it to yourself before you warm up your voice or go on to sing.
If you hit the big time of course, get yourself your own personal masseuse on your books to be there before each performance. Until then find other ways to get your massage on!
Sing well relaxed and free people!
written by Ariella Vaccarino creator of Voice Lessons To Go (singing lessons on CD) and author of Vocalize!
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Tags: massages for singers, releasing your sound, Singing Tips, your body and your voice
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