Coffee works in the opposite way to water and dehydrates your vocal cords. As the body needs water to lubricate the vocal cords, coffee decreases your body's ability to absorb water, meaning your voice can sound hoarse.
“Caffeine is considered to be a dehydrating agent with detrimental effects on the quality of voice of persons ingesting it. This has led medical personnel dealing with voice disorders, especially in the case of professional voice users, to give advice against the use of caffeine.”
What are the best drinks for your singing voice? The best drinks for your singing voice are water (especially room-temperature water, perhaps with a squeeze or two of lemon) and tea, but be careful about consuming too much caffeine, which can dehydrate you. You can find wonderful herbal teas designed for singers.
This will lead to an unnecessary amount of stress on your vocals that could leave a lasting effect for a few days. Unfortunately, this means no coffee or caffeinated tea before a vocal performance. Coffee can actually be a strong irritant to your throat.
The best drink for singing voice
The best drinks before singing are warm drinks without caffeine or milk, warm water and herbal teas containing manuka honey, lemon and ginger are ideal. Warm or room-temperature water will hydrate your vocal cords, making them more supple and less liable to injury.
Singers will want to make sure to drink plenty of water the day before, and morning of a vocal performance. Some foods and beverages that can be dehydrating include: caffeine, alcohol, nuts, crackers or chips, and other salty snacks. Be aware of hidden salt contained in candy, bottled sauces, and sports drinks.
To begin to correct this, try singing a song you know well... and as you do, place your hands on your cheeks. Focus on getting the sound above your cheeks as you sing. This will immediately take a lot of the strain off your voice, and you should hear more pleasing resonant qualities in your voice.
Besides gargling, you should also drink plenty of fluids. Being sure to hydrate should be a regular practice as a singer, and this shouldn't change due to voice loss. You should drink water, herbal tea, tea with slippery elm (it's great for soothing the throat), or any warm liquids.
If you don't sing in-tune correctly, people will say you sound “off-key,” and some will assume you're tone-deaf. Make sure you learn every single note you need to sing in a song. Also, practice the notes slowly and accurately. Finally, sing in a key that isn't too high or too low for your voice.
Unfortunately, coffee can seriously dehydrate you and create havoc with your voice. It can damage your vocal cords, increase acid production, and act as a diuretic – not a good thing!
A healthy voice requires a strong body with generally good muscle tone and endurance. So plan to eat a balance of protein, fruits and vegetables, whole grains and beans, and moderate amounts of healthy fats and oils. The current typical American diet of highly processed, packaged food lacks many essential nutrients.
Some foods and beverages to avoid prior to singing are mucous producing foods such as dairy, stimulants such as caffeine and spicy foods, soft drinks, refined sugars, chocolate, iced drinks and alcohol (including wine and beer).
Coffee and vocal cords
Coffee works in the opposite way to water and dehydrates your vocal cords. As the body needs water to lubricate the vocal cords, coffee decreases your body's ability to absorb water, meaning your voice can sound hoarse.
Caffeine is a diuretic, meaning it makes you urinate more often and dehydrates you. It also really dries out your vocal folds. Your voice needs to stay lubricated in order to work well. Caffeine messes with your mucus production and dries you out.
The creamy texture of bananas can produce extra mucus and coat your throat, which leads to unclear vocals. The thickness of a banana will inhibit your singing ability and are best to be avoided right before your performance. Eating a banana is essentially the same as eating dairy before singing, both are bad news.
So here (finally!) are some suggestions for effective throat clearing. First, make sure you are hydrated and that your vocal folds are moist. Drink water, inhale steam or nebulized saline, or start your routine with a hot shower.
Another reason why some people have trouble singing high notes is because they are not using their breath correctly. Breathing from your diaphragm will help to support your voice and give you the power you need to hit those high notes. Finally, practice makes perfect.
Your vocal cords are your instrument and drinking water is the best way to maintain vocal health. Drinking regularly throughout the day will keep your larynx hydrated. Water should be a singer's drink of choice because it lubricates your vocal folds, allowing them to vibrate fully.
Humming is one of the best all-around vocal exercises. This technique helps stretch the vocal cords, relaxes your facial muscles, and improves breathing. Humming also develops your vocal resonance and tone quality.
Do vocal cords get stronger the more you practice? Yes, of course! But the full story is a little more interesting: You have to have the right balance of breath and muscle to increase your singing power.
The caffeine content in some sodas can be as bad for your vocals as drinking coffee before you get on stage. Caffeine dries out your throat, leaving your vocal cords tight and irritated. Combined with a high sugar content, fizzy drinks will make your body hit a rush, then cause you to burn out and crash.
Milk. When you drink milk, it increases the mucus in the back of the nose and throat. This can make your voice unclear and cause you to cough and clear your throat more often, which can damage your vocal cords.
For most people, eating dairy products like milk, yogurt, ice cream or cottage cheese will create mucus, and should be avoided within a couple of hours before singing. For most, hard cheeses don't do that. Mucus coats your throat and makes it harder to sing.