Practical Living Advice for Singers
A lot of this advice is completely mundane and very common sense. Still, I know I can always use a reminder.
For singers, our body is our instrument. Other instrumentalists sometimes don’t take very good care of their bodies and yet can still perform beautifully on their instruments. But they do take good care of their instruments if they want to maintain them. Worst case scenario, they can always buy a new instrument. Singers don’t have that option. There is a whole zombie angle I am working on, but it is still in the theoretical stages.
In the meantime, I can always use a reminder to take care of the one instrument I do have. Get plenty of sleep. Every night. Trying to cram it all in on the weekends will not make up for time lost in the middle of the week. Regular exercise is also important. Again, trying to cram a whole week’s worth of exercise into two days will just leave you feeling too sore to move on the next day. Wonder how I know that?
Diet is also important. Eat regular healthy meals. Drink lots of water. 64 ounces daily is recommended. If you love caffeine, drink extra water to make up for the caffeine. Never, ever smoke. You will sound like you are trying to rip off Tom Waits, but you will never sound as cool as he does. Never. Gonna. Happen. It’s okay to emulate voices that you love, but you also have to find your own voice. Tell your own story.
Find inspiration in everything that happens around you whether it is good or bad or painful or beautiful or silly or invigorating. You can use anything that happens to your advantage if that is what you want to do. Never let anyone else keep you from singing. Unless it is a zombie and you need to stop singing long enough to slice off its head.