Voicetrainer Blog

Vocal Performance Medicine

Posted on August 7, 2013 in Body and Voice

I had the pleasure of attending Dr. Michael Benninger’s lecture on “Vocal PerformanceMedicine” at the recent annual Shenandoah University Vocal Pedagogy Institute in Winchester, VA.  He is the Director of Otolaryngology at the Cleveland Clinic, and is very clinically active with vocal performers.  

 

Here are a few highlights of his presentation:

  • The personality and drive that contribute to a vocal performer’s success are what often lead to vocal injury.  There are limitations to everyone’s voice, because it is a biomechanical mechanism made up of joints, cartilage, ligaments and muscle.  

  • Treatments for performance anxiety may include hypnosis, meditation, desensitization, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and possible medical management.  

    • However, medications including beta-blockers, sedatives, and anti-depressants often have side-effects which are often not desirable for the vocal performer.

  • Heavy lifting and squats, or other physical activities strenuous to the throat, should be discontinued prior to performances.  

    • The larynx is not just for voice production, but is also used to stabilize the chest to allow us to lift heavier weights and strain to complete more squats or crunches, for example.  Focus on easy airflow, no breath holding.

  • What is the difference between a trained vs. untrained singer?  Increased respiratory efficiency, including increased lung capacity, and lower residual volumes.  

    • Everyone’s larynx looks the same, including yours and mine!  It is what you do with the air that makes the difference.

  • It is not entirely clear physiologically how falsetto is achieved, it appears to be a different mechanism from that of just raising pitch.  

  • The evolution of the human pharynx-larynx (throat-voice box) is perhaps the most ambitious isolated evolutionary change.  It led to the development of speech and language, after all.  The larynx lowers in the neck with human development, however does not lower in the neck in other species.  This leads to the potential for airway compromise in humans, but not in other species.

  • The need for prolonged vocal warm-ups may mean an issue with reflux.  

  • No new vocal performances should be scheduled within 3 months from starting new birth control pills, out of concern for hormonal impacts on voice function.  

  • Something is wrong if steroid use needs to be repeated, likely a behavioral contributor.

    • Multiple and repeated doses of steroids, whether inhaled or pills, can cause vocal fold atrophy.

  • The morning session wrapped up with this video: Cords hear us and have mercy

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