Creating a Self-Care Action Plan to Love Your Voice
Many of our articles touch on the different aspects of self-care that a professional voice user might want to incorporate into their daily routine. Spread out across ten or so articles, it might feel overwhelming to incorporate them all into one, streamlined practice. In this article, I wanted to share the success story of one of my students who took this holistic approach to vocal health and ran with it.
A couple of months ago, I received an urgent call from Grace, a private nurse in Southern California. Grace’s client was a well-known professor who had been invited to present a two-hour lecture. Between his time in academia and his work as an author, Professor Leonard Peikoff had amassed a global fanbase that was excited to hear him speak again. The presentation was just under four weeks away and would be given to an auditorium packed with fans in addition to being filmed and rebroadcast online.
As excited as he was for the opportunity, Leonard was concerned his vocal health would ruin the lecture. Now in his late 80’s, health issues and a history of smoking had taken a toll on his speaking voice; emphysema had reduced his respiratory strength and left him with a persistent need to cough or clear his throat, and he complained his voice was gravely and croaky. Seeing how all of this was impacting the professor’s confidence, Grace reached out to Love Your Voice in the hope that my holistic approach could get his speaking voice lecture-ready.
Despite fears that it would take a miracle to solve his vocal woes, Leonard was determined to get back in fighting shape for this event. Together, we put together an intensive three-and-a-half week coaching regime to rebuild his voice and confidence, touching on everything from vocal exercises to sleep to hypnosis and visualization. Grace was delighted for her client.
During the first meeting, I established a baseline for the professor’s vocal health by measuring his vocal range, the frequency of throat clearing, and getting a self-assessment of his vocal quality. He rated his vocal quality as a two out of ten. With the starting point established, it was time to get to work and Leonard jumped in with both feet.
One of the best things about working with an educator is that he already had a deep understanding of how he learns. He requested a daily plan that included all the tasks he needed to accomplish from the moment he woke up to the moment his head hit the pillow at night. I created a one-page, twelve-step checklist for Leonard to complete daily along with a four-part voice function exercise designed for his vocal needs.
Professor Leonard and Zelda during their on-line lesson
Here’s what the professor’s daily checklist looked like:
Activities in order from morning to night
On waking, drink a glass of warm water with the juice of half a lemon and honey
Steam: Use a personal steamer or put a towel over your head as you breathe into a big bowl of steaming hot water with a few drops of peppermint essential oil. Breath deeply for 5 minutes - morning and at night.
Warm-up voice using Zelda’s audio ‘My Warmup’ program (10 mins max).
Laryngeal Massage. 5 minutes a day for a set of 4.
3-minute Voice Rejuvenator - morning and during the day.
Voice Function Exercises 4 times a day - 3-4 minutes for 2 sets (see instructions below).
Sip non-caffeine liquids all day - herbal tea such as ginger, lemon, cinnamon, peppermint, chamomile, Throat Coat or Yogi Throat Comfort, or sip cold water infused with cucumber & mint.
Eat more vegetables and fruits, and avoid inflammatory foods such as dairy, grains, caffeine, animal products, sugar, artificial sweeteners, and Diet sodas.
Talk on the phone less, use email, and texting more to rest your voice.
Rest your voice when it sounds gravelly - do the 3-minute Voice Rejuvenator.
Steam: Put a towel over your head as you breathe into a big bowl of steaming hot water with a few drops of peppermint essential oil. Breath deeply for 5 minutes before bed.
Go to bed early and get a good night’s sleep - 7.5 hrs minimum
VOICE FUNCTION EXERCISES. #6 in the order of Daily Activities. Do the Set of 4 exercises - see below. Each set takes only 1.5 to 2 minutes X 2 sets = 3-4 minutes total. Vocal Function Exercises increase the stamina of your voice. By doing these twice daily you can increase the strength and the coordination between your breathing and your voice production. You will see improvement in 6-8 weeks. In the 18 days until, your lecture do two sets of these four times a day.
Gentle Start Sustained EE. Breathe and sing the vowel sound E in your mid-range, hold for 10 seconds. Keep that sound going for as long as you can, keep breathing and aim to keep that pitch steady for as long as you can. (8-20 seconds)
Stretching Your Vocal Folds: Glide Up. Breathe and glide up on an OO sound. Or you may find it easier to say/sing the word ‘WHO’. The aim of this exercise is for a smooth sound with no break in your voice. (8-20 seconds)
Contracting your vocal cords: Glide Down. On an ‘OH’ sound descend in pitch. Take a deep breath and start higher and glide down to your lowest voice. You may find it easier to say the word ‘NO’ gliding down. The aim is no break in your voice. (8-20 seconds)
Bring Vocal Folds Together: Sustain on Different Pitches. On an ‘OH’ sound, round your lips, start on a low pitch or note - sing or hold that sound for 10 seconds. Raise the pitch by a third and repeat this five times. 30-40 seconds)
In addition to the checklist and instructions for each exercise, Leonard and I met virtually for a daily check-in on his progress, work on the exercises together, and to do additional work with hypnosis and visualization to help with his anxiety around the lecture. Using the metrics we collected in our first meeting, we were able to remeasure his voice each session and see how all of the exercises and lifestyle changes were impacting his vocal health.
Leonard immediately started to change his diet. He cut out the foods that were triggering his coughing - in his case grains, dairy, and soda - and replaced them with vegetables, fish, and other high-quality proteins, and soothing herbal teas. Coupled with a twice-daily steaming to clear and moisturize airways, he started to see early improvements in his voice.
The next daily habit he added to his repertoire was gentle warm-ups. These offered quick results, especially when paired with breathing exercises to improve his respiratory strength. Daily self-laryngeal massage - a technique recommended by speech pathologists - and the vocal function exercises built on the work he was doing with breathing and warm-ups. The voice rejuvenator exercises had some of the most immediate results, which Leonard noted he could feel and hear during our sessions. In less than four weeks, his self-assessment score went from a two out of ten to a nine out of ten.
To prep him for the actual lecture, we rehearsed the entire speech while paying special attention to entrances, and created additional checklists for the day of the event and immediately before he started speaking. I even designed a sign for him to wear so he could rest his voice before his speech without having to explain himself:
I’m RESTING MY VOICE
by order of my voice coach.
You can talk to me but I won’t be talking at all
until after my lecture.
Thank you for your understanding.
The final bit of prep work was helping him put together a go-bag, much like the singer’s go-bags we discussed in our Getting Ready For Gigging article. The items in the professor’s bag included things he could use during the lecture like tissues in case he did need to cough and clear his throat.
Voice restored, Leonard was able to take the stage with confidence - and it showed! The professor received not one, but two standing ovations after his lecture. Most importantly, he was happy with his performance. I received this lovely letter from him after the event:
Dear Zelda,
Thanks to you, my voice was fine - clear and resonant throughout the lecture. The only problem was a lot of those small, inaudible clearings, but I don't think anyone in the audience heard or was bothered by that. So it is you (and what I wrote) that led to the good ending.
In fact, the lecture was not only a success, I got two standing ovations - each of which lasted a longer time than anything I've ever experienced.
So thanks again. You were marvelous, and I'm so happy that Grace found you.
Yours,
Leonard
I’m so proud of what we accomplished together and am still impressed by how whole-heartedly Professor Peikoff committed to an intensive program. And neither of us can thank Grace enough for taking that first step of finding Love Your Voice and starting this holistic voice recovery journey.
Professor Leonard Peikoff taking questions after his successful lecture.
Book a Lesson to Build Your Vocal Self-Care Plan
While a program as rigorous and intensive as the professor’s might not be for everyone, I hope that seeing how incorporating small, simple habit changes into your day can create a dramatic transformation inspires you to create your own self-care action plan. The checklist we designed together is something you can adapt for your own needs by adding, subtracting, or adjusting the tasks that fit your unique vocal needs.
If you need help creating a holistic vocal health plan, give me a call and set up a session! Making changes like this by yourself can be challenging, but having a teacher coach to help can make loving your voice that much easier.
If you need to create a plan for healthy speaking, schedule a lesson with Zelda today!
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