Singer's Block – My Singing is Getting Worse. Anxiety?

Singer's block is not like writer's block. With writer's block, you are lacking ideas or inspiration, whereas with singer's block, there might be something mentally or physically preventing you from singing.

Recently a close friend, who is a classically trained singer, raised a concern about the quality of her voice deteriorating. Her fear was that it was something medical- meaning a problem with her vocal cords or something physically wrong. She considered going to an ENT, and here were her symptoms:

• raspy voice
• range is decreasing
• cannot belt a single note in her upper range
• breathy voice when singing

Some friends suggested she go on 'vocal rest' while others quickly jumped to pushing her to go to a doctor. Others threw everything at her, like to go on complete vocal rest for a week (no talking, humming, whispering) drink a gallon of water per day, to buying endoscopes on Amazon to put down her esophagus and perform her own medical exam. Someone even recommended a Speech-Language pathologist!

Hold your horses!!

While some of these suggestions make sense, let's face it, others are very extreme and getting waaaaay ahead of things.

THINGS TO CONSIDER & POSSIBLE CAUSES

I must preface and restate that my friend is trained professionally, and her issues were present after the required vocal exercises and warm-ups. So, the issue wasn't that she needed to warm up.

I am also classically trained vocally, teach others to sing, was a sound designer for 6 years, worked with hundreds of theater stage actors and singers, and have seen it all- in rehearsals and during productions.

The logic is: anyone that can talk can sing, because (as you know) you can train to sing nicely within the range of your voice.

In some cases, the suggestions given above are helpful, like resting and taking a break, but many singers overlook the root causes. The concentration is usually on just finding the solution.

Chances are you've already tried the usual, and what you are experiencing isn't the typical pre-warmup hurdles.

So, I wouldn't worry too much about not using your voice for longer than a day or two. The more you wait, the more you're going to have to warm-up and condition your body when you get back to it. Lets explore root causes!

FIRST, THINK ABOUT THIS

I'm presuming that anyone facing singer's block has mastered vocal techniques and exercises. You feel that you've done this before, so why is this happening now,  and is something terribly wrong because you can't do it now?

Well, nothing is "wrong" in the sense that it's some medical emergency, trust me.

Since I'm not a doctor, before anything, let's rule out something wrong with your health-

Have you recently had a cold, or an incident that led to an abnormal reaction with your respiratory system – like a kitchen fire, too much incense burning, smoking and a coughing spell, or over-use of chemicals when cleaning, or some kind of allergic reaction? Do you have a medical condition that has previously caused singing issues?

Obviously, these would be a major contributor to your singing voice's quality to diminish. But, if you've been able to sing pleasantly in the past for quite sometime, even with some unrelated medical conditions, read on.

NOW that we've ruled out all those factors, here is what you need to understand.

FINDING THE ROOT CAUSE

The fact that you are this worried, thinking of going to doctors, and searching desperately for answers, is a sign that you are the kind of person that really cares about your voice, but also a person that may worry more than others.

Guess what?

Anxiety is a MAJOR part of singer's voice deterioration. You tend to anticipate what you want to hear, and what you want your voice to do. This puts your mind in a different place other than in the moment, rather than be centered in it, and creates sub-conscious pressure. It's called forecasting; thinking what you should be able to do before it arrives.

During January 20, 2021–February 1, 2021, more than two in five adults aged ≥18 years experienced symptoms of an anxiety or a depressive disorder during the past 7 days. One in four adults who experienced these symptoms reported that they needed but did not receive counseling or therapy for their mental health.

Source: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7013e2.htm#:~:text=During%20January%2020%2C%202021%E2%80%93February%201%2C%202021%2C%20more,therapy%20for%20their%20mental%20health.

WAYS TO COMBAT SINGING ANXIETY AND GET BACK ON TRACK

The first thing you need to do is be honest with yourself, and take a deeper look into your life situation, influences and motivators, along with starting to be more aware of yourself.

Everyone has some level of anxiety. Let's be honest. But, many people do not know that their anxiety is at a level that requires meds or holistic approaches, and go un-diagnosed. If you think you over-worry about things more than others, and have not taken any measures to cope with it, at that point is when I would recommend to get a doctor's opinion.

Below are three deep-thinking exercises to help you assess your level of distraction, influential factors, and the major contributors to your singer's block.

1. UNDERSTAND YOUR ANXIETY

Regardless whether you have some anxiety or clinical anxiety, do the following. Work on your anxiety!

Not just the kind during the singing process, but more importantly the kind leading up to, and after, singing.

Find out what's usually triggering it, and think of ways to confront it the next time it happens, like with breathing exercises, or by taking a quick mental health break. Responsibilities can get in the way, so time manage everything before and after singing. ---Work, family, bills, chores, tasks--- all of these can influence your state of mind, and cause you to worry, making it harder for you to completely forget about everything else in the world, during a moment in which you need to focus just on the ritual of warming up and singing.

Anxiety clenches onto our restfulness and causes tension, impatience, distraction, and we can't enjoy the moment we are in when it rears its ugly head. Tension is the ENEMY of singing and your vocal cords.

Anxiety also causes us to rush, and to want to complete or get away from something sooner rather than enjoying it; in other words avoidance and evade. The worse part is that we may not even be aware that we are rushing or forecasting.

Here's one example of how this sensation to 'rush' through things impedes your maximum potential.

If you're rushing through this article, you may have severe anxiety. Why? This article is something that you honestly want to read and learn about, but you may be having trouble retaining the info because your mind is somewhere else. Great point and perfect opportunity to ask yourself that! This article isn't going anywhere, and neither is the moment that you need to get it just right- however long that might take!

There's also the possibility that you may not be rushing through this article, but there may be 10 other daily activities that you do rush through. One of them might be a major contributor to singer's block, and where there is smoke there is fire- which leads to the second exercise.

2. BE MINDFUL OF YOUR STATE OF MIND LEADING UP TO THE WARM-UP

Singing is something you love, and when it's time to sing you want to jump straight into it. There has never been a problem getting thru the warm-ups and singing beautifully. Suddenly there's an issue. You might find this to be true while still in your warm-ups.

First, slow down and start evaluating the events and influences surrounding the ritual. You may learn that something right before, or right after, isn't conducive to getting relaxed or performing the routine of warming up correctly. If you're pressed for time, or want to practice singing but still have something very important and of high-priority to do after, this is a perfect example of a root cause, and something that will definitely contribute to anxiety, which you may not know exists.

3. DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. TACKLE ANXIETY. FIGHT FAILURE.

While a self-evaluation and finding the root of your anxiety is only half of the battle, the rest has to do with some changes that you will need to make in order to get back on track.

Some of these steps to take may not apply, or may be things you already do. Yet, I guarantee you there are some adjustments or changes that you may never have considered, and that need to be a strict part of your habits, in order to fix this.

Let's start with the physical stuff:

Gargle a bearable solution of salt and water in the mornings before brushing your teeth. Like a Dixie cup's amount.  Unconscious breathing during sleep can inhale lots of things floating around and get stuck in the region your vocal instrument; especially during those periods of sleep when our mouths are completely open. A "saline" solution of salt and water helps to sterilize and clean.

Wait 30 minutes before brushing your teeth after, or eating. Do it immediately upon waking up, not after breakfast.

You should do a thorough sinus flush treatment at some point, just 1 time (maybe every 3 months) before getting back in the groove of things. Highly recommend it.

The neck: depending on how you sleep, you can wake up with a cramped neck, and sometimes we don't even know or feel it, but it's there!

Get a custom fitted pillow, like the Cube, an ergonomic one, or any kind that supports the neck properly and keeps your spine aligned and head supported. You may have to try a few out before finding the right one.

BEFORE YOUR WARM-UP EXERCISES

• Wrap your neck with something to keep it warm like a scarf. At minimum, 1 hour before you enter your warm-up routine.

• THEN, before warming up, you MUST relax and just start taking nice long and mindful breaths over 1 cup of warm water with honey (some organic sweetener syrup if you are allergic to honey.) 

• Get in the zone! Start blocking out the world as you prep before the warm-up exercises. You know what triggers that old anxiety, so show it who's boss, now that you're one step ahead of it!

• You may need headphones to block out environmental stimulation that could be contributing to anxiety.
• Even if it's not music, and just brown or white noise, 5 minutes of it will put you in another dimension, almost like an out of body experience. I highly recommend you try it just for the sake of fun!

• Enjoy it, and really make an effort to just quiet the mind and breath normally, but deeply and long- don't force it. When you sigh and get that relaxing, goose-bumpy, full exhale sensation 3 times,  naturally, you're ready to go.

• Finally,  and I can't stress this one enough, before you even do ANY of the warm up routine, do something to relax the entire body.

I repeat....the ENTIRE body.

Yoga, or full body stretches with careful neck stretches and activation of all your muscles, from head to toes, and especially around the ribs and shoulders.

As you can guess, this must not be rushed thru (just like vocal warm-ups) and you want to aim for doing this to get rid of the anxiety and crampiness, and to physically prep yourself to be in the moment.

I want you to understand that this is not so much for the technical aspect of preparation, and more about coping with anxiety and ways to reduce it.

AFTER THE WARM-UP

After singing, either finish your cup, or take a new one, or (if you can bear it) simply take one teaspoon of virgin olive oil- the kind that's better for dressings than frying. This will lubricate the hot vocal cords during the cool down, like motor oil is detrimental to an engine.

- DO NOT forget the cool down. It's not as lengthy as the warm up, but sounds and feels the same, just with a gentler softer effort. *You may know all these things, but we're just going down the list and tackling the non-technical things too, which even the greatest singers can overlook.

SOMETIMES DOING WHAT WE NEED TO DO IS TOO DIFFICULT

If any of those sounded exhausting, it's another red flag that your anxiety may be worse than you might think. These are MANDATORY things that every professional and the greatest singers of all time makes part of their routine almost religiously.

The quality of work you put into your ritual determines the quality of your voice and what it produces. Anxiety can also make you frustrated, and rush through this crucial piece of the process.

• If you don't force yourself to enjoy it, your mind won't be conditioned to thinks it important. Be careful, because if you see this part of the process as “dreadful” or useless, you can forget about reaching your peak. Attitude determines Altitude in this case!

• Anxiety can make this a huge challenge, but re-launching yourself with a new routine that is beefed up, and with awareness of the culprit being anxiety, you can do this!

• At first, it's HARD. Put on headphones if you must, or a 10 minute YouTube video to follow- like beginner Yoga warm up stretches- not actual Yoga exercises.  10 minutes is enough. 10.

Here's a good video example, easy, and only 10 minutes, that is perfect to activate the body, especially the parts that influence the quality of your singing:

TREATING YOUR ANXIETY THAT'S CAUSING SINGING PROBLEMS THE RIGHT WAY

I highly recommend you research a type of psycho-therapy called DBT if you haven't, and quickly learn the basic principles of it. I literally mean the basics, not to master in psychology or read 10 books and scholarly papers. Learn what it is, what are some of the things that it helps with, and 3 or 4 things that are part of the this kind of practice, that you can start doing immediately.

It is a type of therapy that helps to put you back in the moment, or redirect the busy mind back to the task at hand- such as hyper-awareness and concentration on one part of the body; like how the sensation of whatever your hand is touching feels, to (sort of) put anxiety or stress on hold, or dissolve it completely in that time.

EVALUATE YOURSELF AND YOUR DAILY ACTIVITIES

“Know thyself.” Like I mentioned in the beginning, something prior or leading to singing (and even warming up) may *not* be conducive to the process and state of mind/body that we need to be in for this activity.

Start getting to the root of the issue. It may be responsibilities that we can't avoid, but sometimes just "knowing" what it is comforts us. That's how you erase one of many uncertainties that make us worry too much.

The mind wanders when you're trying to do something, but you can't, and you may not know why or even be aware of it. You are literally trying to figure out "why" something is happening.

Knowing is half the battle.

Don't overlook this, and be proactive. This means that you may have to wait, or complete a task first, before you can be in an ideal state of mind, to even begin to entertain the possibility of warming up, especially to actually be ready to sing. I mean, REALLY complete something or scratch something totally off your list- not just “set it aside.”

THE IMPORTANCE OF A THOROUGH WARM-UP ROUTINE

Some of you may not be aware that warming up is very technical, and you may have not been given the scientific reason and purpose behind warming up other than 'to make you sing better.'

For those of you that are looking to beef up your warm-up routine, or those that just want a refresher course, here are a few things to consider.

I'm not even going into too much into the actual exercises.

TIPS FOR EXPANDING OR GAINING BACK YOUR RANGE

Here are a few quick key points, and a reminder about the importance of the face, tongue, mouth, and cheek exercises before attempting even a hum.

Keep in mind how anxiety affects all of this as you read! You may rust through it, or not want to face it, or think you are too busy and just don't have time to do any of the required work. That's your anxiety. EVERYONE has 10 minutes to calibrate their body and prep for warming up the voice.

• Everyone knows this part is a crucial physical part of the process, but many neglect the rest of the entire body. These are the parts of the body that can be affected by some of the considerations I mentioned- such as sleeping the wrong way. The back, neck, arms, shoulders, hips, legs, head, and basically the whole body! All of these parts are tied to the region of our body that is required to sing nicely.
• If you don't do the full body stretch, prior to the vocal mechanism warm-up,  you might as well not even start. If the ribs aren't expanded, and the tension around the neck, shoulders, and head isn't gone, and relaxed and stretched,  this will make you force air more and hurt your vocal cords. It leads to desperation and doubtfulness- and, you guessed it, raising your Anxiety!

• Practice the higher notes with LESS air.

• If your diaphragm is engaged properly and your ribs strong and able to be held expanded, you should be able to hold notes in your higher range for at least 5 seconds, effortlessly, toward the end of your warm-up. And, with just a little sip of air. The key is to be relaxed. Really, honestly, and truly relaxed. More air on the higher notes will force too much through your windpipe, stressing out the vocal cords that need to be very loose to perform the gentle movements that create high notes.

• If you cannot hold them or hit them (of course within your range) then it's a sign to stop, and prepare more. Jump back into the exercises mentioned throughout this article.

More importantly, re-center yourself and get your anxiety in check.

• If you can't hit them in one day, don't panic. You gotta crawl before you walk, so that means don't jump into singing a higher range song that day. Sing something in your mid-range and just work on breath control that day. Plus, keep in mind, you are tackling a new enemy that has been keeping you from singing at your best- anxiety- and this is new territory.

Chances are you may have rushed thru the basics and are just too anxious to see if you can hit that range again, and sound good.

Right there, you're building anxiety to "get to" the "fun" part already, and sooner, and that's a big no-no.  Return to the center, and revisit it in a few minutes.

• There is no thinking in singing. It's a feeling and you have to feel good entering into it, and properly be conditioned. All it takes is prepping the body so the mind can be calm and your body can be relaxed. A state of relaxation, and more importantly, full control over every inch of the body itself. If one part of your body feels off, that's one factor that may contribute to not properly tuning a string in your cords.
• Don't belt right away! Start with songs in the lower ranges. If you're trying to hit a high note that you can't get to in the first 10 minutes, it's almost dangerous to scurry along and force it, and damaging. Return the mind to the process of relaxation.
• Take your time getting to them with the focus being calmness and feeling relaxed.

The goal is quality,  not distance. Inch by inch is how games are won.

• You can start to go the high notes, but only in short bursts well into your warm-up, in the trills and oscillations. Not with words yet. Practice the vowels and really get those shapes of the mouth and tongue to produce the colorful notes.

• Arpeggios after siren and vowel octaves.

• Staccato will let you know if your taking in too much or too little air.  If you don't achieve the results you know you need to achieve, it's not that something is wrong. Start one octave below Middle C. Do each and every chord in sequence, and if you feel anxious just relax.

It's a referee.

You need this as a signal to know what to do with your body. Or to calibrate, in a sense.

Center yourself.

(LAST, AND POSSIBLY ONE OF THE MOST OVERLOOKED)

• Tempo. Tempo. Tempo! Adjust it. Don't get stuck on one. Switch it up and you'll find the perfect one that best gets you ready to perform at your level and quality, which I know you have.
• Practice with a metronome, and keep in mind that slower BPMs mean longer sustains of notes and more air, and vice versa, so start at a comfortable beat- like 100 to 120. Go up and down after 3 to 5 octave runs.

If you've come to find this article, I know that YOU out of all people know all, or most of this.

But listen.... you're inside a bubble right now, trying to figure out something that being inside of it can't be figured out.

Your vocal cords will get there. I promise, but you have to direct the body to gradually build up to it.  You've done it before, you just need a tuneup.

Remember that Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older, or 18.1% of the population every year.

Anxiety disorders are highly treatable, yet only 36.9% of those suffering receive treatment.

Be honest with yourself, but also don't be too hard on yourself.

Anxiety is nothing to run from, or be in denial of, and there are multiple ways to treat it. If you don't face it, and start evaluating yourself and daily activities, it can lead to worse problems and risks that singing issues.

Find ways to deal with it in a healthy way. Be honest about it to yourself. Take a real deep dive to find the triggers and stressors. Your voice isn't gone. It's just buried underneath the weight that visible or hidden anxiety puts on it.

That's it!

TAGS: #anxiety #singingissues #vocalexercises #singing #problemswithyourvoice #voice #vocal #singing #voiceissues #singers

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