Voice control: Training your voice can improve your breath and tone control as you sing. The right vocal warm-ups and exercises strengthen the amount of control you have over your vocal cords, potentially expanding your range and command of different vocal techniques
Your vocal cords are delicate, and you need to treat them with care. By stretching and helping these muscles to relax, you reduce the risk of tension, damage and voice loss. Vocal warm-ups also work wonders for singers looking to smooth out their vocal break, practice breathing exercises, and improve their range.
The voice is a key component of who we are its use reflects our mood and general psychological wellbeing, which is communicated to ourselves as well as to others .
The psychological benefits of singing relate to:
1. Intra-personal communication and the development of individual identity, both in music and through musicConfident and healthy voice use links to a positive self-concept and an ability to communicate. Successful singing promotes self-esteem, general confidence and also self-efficacy. The voice is a key component of who we are its use reflects our mood and general psychological wellbeing, which is communicated to ourselves as well as to others (see also educational benefits below).
2. Singing is a cathartic activitySinging provides an outlet for our feelings. Through its physical activity and the related internal endocrine system triggering, singing can allow us to feel better about ourselves and about the world around us. From pre-birth, our earliest auditory experiences are biased towards the human voice, principally from first hearing our mother’s voice inside the womb. All voice use, including singing, is interwoven with core emotional states that are central to the human condition, such as joy and sadness. Singing’s psychological benefits are evident in children’s everyday settings, including schools, kindergarten, homes, and hospitals, as well as for older people in residential centres, daycare centres and community choirs.
3. Inter-personal communicationHealthy singing enables us to maximise our potential to communicate with others. We learn to improve our underlying vocal coordination, to increase vocal colour (timbre) and impact intentional variety into our vocal communication. Indeed, for 25% of the working population, voice is a critical tool-of-trade (including teachers, lawyers, clergy, telephone salespeople, actors, singers, and business people). Singing exercises the basic voice mechanism and improves its functional capability, in childhood and across the lifespan.
4. An enhanced sense of social inclusionSuccessful singing ability is strongly correlated with a positive sense of social inclusion, of a feeling of belonging to our community. Singing with others enhances the possibilities of empathic relationships with those around us. Collective singing, such as in a choir, small group, or larger community gathering generates a positive group identity, as well as physical and psychological benefits.
