Voice Therapy Training for Singers
Voice therapists are licensed speech language pathologists who are usually referred by a physician to treat voice disorders. Voice therapists often treat singers who have developed vocal disorders. They primarily work with the voice as it relates to communication, although voice therapy patients are often singers who have developed voice disorders.
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Patient Education
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Voice therapists often try to educate patients on how the voice is produced as well as how a normal voice can be disrupted through various disorders. This helps the patient build confidence in the voice therapist's knowledge and ability to help him overcome the disorder. It gives the patient a sense of control to overcome the disorder and alleviate misconceptions about in the disorder.
Vocal Hygiene
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Vocal hygiene is an important part of every regimen that helps a patient care for his voice and relevant physical structures. This aspect of voice therapy places precedence in limiting abuse or misuse of the voice (for example, by avoiding yelling, loud cheering and habitual throat clearing), ensuring that the patient remains properly hydrated and that he avoids chemicals or other voice irritants, such as alcohol, cigarette smoke and acidic and fatty foods.
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Vocal Exercises
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Voice therapists usually assign vocal exercises to the patient to train him in proper voice production. These exercises help patients produce less effortful voice by eliminating excess voice box activity, relax voice box muscles and strengthen and improve voice box coordination. These exercises are assigned according to the specific voice disorder.
Breathing
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There are three main types of breathing problems, according to the Voice and Swallowing Institute. The first is due to lung disease (emphysema or asthma), inadequate laryngeal valving (improper vocal fold movement) and coordinating breathing with speech (effortful speech caused by improper breathing). Treatments range from surgery to therapy and exercises. Exercises prescribed by voice therapists aim to produce well-supported voice habits and improve air supply management in speech production.
Coordination of Techniques
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Coordination techniques allow a patient to learn vocal behaviors and incorporate them with the entire speech production process. On TheSingersResource.com, Jamie Koufman, M.D, says there are four components of this process: The "generator" is the lungs that provide breath support; the "vibrator" is the vocal folds of the larynx; the "resonator" is the space above the larynx that gives the voice its harmonic overtones; and the "articulator," the tongue, lips, cheeks, teeth and palate, shape the sound generated by the other processes into words. The voice therapist's job is to ensure that all components are working properly and congruently.
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References
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