How much water?

Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2007 10:20 am

So I've been drinking a lot of water lately and rare to none caffeine products but is there a "recommended" amount for singing, I'm 6' and weigh about 150 so any recommends?

Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2007 11:42 am

Drinking a lot of water is good. The recommended daily minimum is 8, 8 ounce glasses of water per day.

Caffeine will not interfere with your singing voice but it is a diuretic.

What you do want to stay away from before singing is smoking and especially alcohol. Alcohol will do more to disrupt your singing voice. So it is best not to drink any alcohol the day before.

Now if you are talking about announcing, I'd recommend a fifth of Jack Daniels and a pack of Chesterfield's! Now, that's the kind of announcer I like to hear! When I try that, I just sound like Lucille Ball. Or is that Brenda Vaccaro for Playtex tampons?? Beatrice Arthur?? Carole Channing?

Rickyyyyyyyyyyy! Wahhhhhhh!
Ms. Remy Ann Ball

Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 12:38 am

Caffeine on its own (for example, a caffeine pill) wouldn't affect your singing voice, but coffee SURE will.

Also, keep in mind that milk is THE WORST for singing. Don't ingest milk at any time during a day you want to sing decent.

Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 6:28 pm

xjake,

Please don't spout misinformation based on bad science. Caffeine (the drug in coffee is a diuretic ( it makes you pee) thereby taking moisture away from the vocal mechanism.

Milk is mostly water, it goes through your system and (after a few hours like all other liquids) adds moisture to the vocal mechanism. Drinking milk or any other liquid prior to singing has NO impact on the vocal mechanism. It may make your mouth wet but all liquids are blocked from your vocal chords by the epiglottis. That's a good thing!

And for all you lemon suckers - the same is true. If you want to suck on one by all means, but don't think it's going to help your voice.

Phil

Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 8:30 pm

I thought that milk products caused excessive mucus build up, and that's the reason why singers try to avoid them.

Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 10:09 pm

Yes, milk coats your throat and really does affect most singers voices. Maybe everyone doesn't feel the effects *shrug*

Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 1:28 am

If your mucous membranes dry out, you'll sound like Joe Cocker forever. Which I guess ain't bad if you're Joe Cocker? My mother is a former Metropolitan Opera Star and voice teacher/professor. She drinks milk and with or without it, you would be amazed at the amount of regular throat clearing I've always heard from her. You don't need to clear your throat if you like that wonderful underwater sound or like to gulp HiNote's.

And I just love playing with my epiglottis! As long as I have plenty of fresh batteries.
Ms. Remy Ann David

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 3:30 am

All dairy products are considered a bad choice if you intend to sing - avoid them for the day.

Caffeine is also not good as stated above.

Alcohol will only affect your voice in large quantities (Shtart shpreadin th newsshhhhh...) but in small quantities, I believe it can be actually beneficial in that it relaxes the singer, helping to promote a better performance.

Water is very important and should be at room temperature not chilled.

I smoke and sing but never together - I'm only a light smoker and I avoid cigs for a few hours before a performance.

I'm not sure of a certain amount of water based on body mass but beware that excessive water intake will wash out certain vitamins and minerals from your body (I'm talking EXCESSIVE intake...!)

Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 7:47 pm

Okay,

I'll play....

Please explain WHY milk and dairy products are considered bad. Please point to this scientific article that everyone seems to have read except professional singers who actually have studied anatomy.

Don't get me wrong, you will find a ton of professional singers spouting this crap, but ask a friggin' doctor. ANY food or drink that you take into your mouth starts down your throat and is blocked by your epiglottis so it CAN'T GET TO YOUR LUNGS. Please explain how the magic milk and dairy product recognition gene allows that to pass and affect your vocal mechanism and I'll shut up.

If you can't explain, then please shut up.

To answer the original question 8-12 glasses of water per day is always a good idea for a singer.

Phil

Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 8:51 pm

Ask your pediatrician. In my experience, they say avoid milk when you have a cold because it can lead to extra mucus in your lungs and sinuses. It is not that the milk gets in your lungs, rather, it is an immune response/allergic reaction.

Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 9:33 pm

Don't mean to butt in on this... but having a passing interest I thought I'd google the subject of milk and mucus production just for giggles.

Here's two references I'd call reasonably credible... The first is from PubMed.gov, a service of N.I.H. and the second, is from the Journal of the American College of Nutrition.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2154152

http://www.jacn.org/cgi/content/full/24/suppl_6/547S

Essentially they indicate that temporary thickened saliva is the probable cause of the belief that milk causes increased mucus production.

As far as the data they present... the research indicates that no significant increase in mucus was observed as the direct result of milk consumption.

hmmmm... interesting....

Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 9:41 pm

Wasn't there a short lived Stephen Bochco series on baseball back in the 80's where Dennis Franz played a pitching coach? I seem to remember him teaching pitchers how to throw the spitter. Told them that if they drank milk between inning it would make their spit ideal for a spitball. That would do for a source in most social science departments I've seen.

Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 8:43 am

pmolsonmus wrote:

ANY food or drink that you take into your mouth starts down your throat and is blocked by your epiglottis so it CAN'T GET TO YOUR LUNGS. Please explain how the magic milk and dairy product recognition gene allows that to pass and affect your vocal mechanism and I'll shut up.
Phil

It has nothing to do with it getting in your lungs - the lungs only provide the motive power for the voice.

Dairy products are known to increase production of phlegm (or mucous) and this can cause problems with the sinuses (as noted above) - this is a BAD thing for singers.
It can also create more phlegm in the back of the throat which has to be cleared to sing properly - normally done by coughing to clear the vocal folds (chords) of the sticky mucous. This coughing action can damage the vocal folds because it just crashes them together to try and shake off the mucous.

That's my understanding and as a singer I can say it definitely affects me if I'm singing.

HTH

Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 9:20 am

hmmmm....

magicdog... Odd that you mention that milk products DO indeed cause mucus and/or phlegm increase...

What you site as more phlegm, I dare say is the thickened saliva as cited in the articles I discovered above.

I would not say that milk/dairy products do not have an effect on singing. Just the opposite. What I would suggest is that a majority of us are just confused about what is actually happening.

It stands to reason that thickened saliva would indeed have a profound effect on the vocal chords and the way that saliva effects a singer's tone, timbre and overall sound.

Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 9:40 am

Hi Max

I think this is a situation which doesn't affect everyone - the research I have read seems to be in two minds so I understand the confusion.

I personally find that dairy products do affect me and so do many others but as stated earlier in this post some people are less affected.

Horses for courses I guess - some people seem to be able to cope better than others.

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