Caring for Your Voice

On April 4, 2026, I had one of those experiences that gives you a fresh perspective on everything you know.

I've attended Riffs & Runs, a vocal workshop by a world-known vocal coach. I am publishing this in Blush community because we often underestimate how important voice is in our life and how it needs to be taken care of as a part of our body.

Obviously, I'm not a singer. I've been told I have a good voice when I sing. I know I have great hearing that does not necessarily line up with my voice: I hear the notes perfectly but cannot always reproduce them due to lack of musical education.

I am musically illiterate in the sense that I can't read music sheets and only differentiate notes by ear. But I'm pretty good at mimicking what is in my voice range, so I can be quite fun at karaoke nights.

When I was young, I joined my university choir. My teacher said that I had a nice, clean mezzo soprano. I enjoyed signing in that choir immensely, we even won some university competitions as I remember.

Since I never had any fear of performing or speaking in public, I could project my voice pretty well and far. That's probably one of the reasons I became a teacher. I was always happy with my career choice and knew that teaching is my calling.

However, in the recent 5-6 years my voice started to fail me. Every spring, it would become very hoarse and rough and sometimes would just entirely shut down. A doctor told me it was probably because I strain my voice so much without taking good care of it.

I have my tricks for maintaining my voice, such as warm liquids, especially tea with honey and warm milk with honey and butter (last resort as I don't like drinking milk but it improves my voice almost immediately, like magic), warm pads to the neck and chest, etc. But I was always interested in how professional singers and vocal coaches care for their voices.

That was my main goal for the workshop, to learn how to care for my voice.

I had my reservations about it because right now I am in the land of some of the most beautiful voices in the world (Georgia is famous for its polyphonic singing) and I was afraid I'd feel like an imposter, taking someone else's seat. Cooper's workshops are in high demand and almost always sell out completely. But I decided to go anyway because I did have my own goals for it.

I was not disappointed at all, first of all because Cooper started out her workshop with the basics: How to prepare your body (breathing!) and voice for signing, how to warm up correctly.

From my choir experience, I knew about the diaphragmatic breathing and singing, and I got that down pretty well then. But I had no idea about pelvic breathing, which is apparently a whole new way of looking at the connection between signing and breathing, called biophonics. It is a very advanced technique that takes some time and coaching to develop, but it makes singing seamless, effortless, and breathless in the literal meaning of the word - you cannot hear the singer breathe at all.

That was eye-opening for me. I'm definitely going to try to develop this technique for voice projection and health.

Cooper then went into explaining how important physical warm-up is for singing, focusing on vocal muscles massage and correct posture. The entire group felt the difference when we completed the short massage routine.

And then we went into a session on the elements of sound and definitions of riffs and runs. We all sang together and I was just enveloped in the shared energy of learning something good and useful. It was a great four-hour warm-up exercise and choral singing and I didn't feel like an imposter at all in the sea of the beautiful human voices that filled up the jazz club.

I've learned a lot and now I listen to music from a different point of view, as if I've got a glimpse into how the singers think and what they are trying to achieve with their voices. It's like a whole new world that I got a glimpse of that had been hidden from me.

At the end of the workshop, I had a chance to ask my question: How do you take care of your voice when it is overworked. The answer was simple: Try not to overwork and strain it in the first place. This also helps:

1. Remove as much stress from your life as you can;
2. Sleep and eat well, exercise to keep your body moving;
3. Massage your vocal muscles regularly and maintain good posture;
4. Breathe correctly; and
5. Hydrate.

When the voice is stressed out and overworked, give it a good rest and drink lots of warm liquids.

Seems like common sense but it felt good to get validation and focus on what needs to be practiced for good voice maintenance.

Cooper Phillip's ad for her workshop:

If you ever have a chance to attend a good vocal coach workshop, I would highly recommend it.