I have suffered from silent reflux and it truly affects singing. Many of my college students have silent reflux, so this is not just an older person’s disease. Silent reflux is acid reflux that does not represent with symptoms of a sour mouth or feeling of acid in the esophagus. Instead the singer or speaker wakes up with a husky, scratchy voice and it takes time for the voice to warm-up. Singers are prone to acid reflux because of the extra activity of the diaphragm and abdominals we engage for support. Normally, the diaphragm helps keep acid in our stomach. It separates the abdominal cavity form the respiratory cavity. Read more →

This issue of Backstage Magazine has some exercises that are quite good except for the exercises using words beginning with a G (hooty gees and gums). Many pop teachers use exercises on Goog, or Gum which can result in too much tension and squeezing in the vocal cords, creating what we call pressed phonation. The first teacher who created these used them probably for his young male students who sang in falsetto, which is naturally breathy until trained.  The consonant G creates a tight closure of the vocal cords and is sometimes recommended for breathy phonation, but most voice scientists prefer Read more →