What if one small change could make a massive difference in how your voice feels, sounds, and holds up over time?
In this episode of Vocal Tips in 10, Amber Cathey breaks down the power of vocal budgeting and why taking short, intentional vocal breaks throughout your day can dramatically improve vocal health, stamina, and longevity.
If your voice often feels tired, tight, or inconsistent, this episode offers a smarter, more sustainable approach.
00:00 Understanding Vocal Budgeting
01:08 The Importance of Vocal Breaks
07:20 Implementing Vocal Snacks for Better Practice
09:35 Conclusion and Resources
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Hello everybody, welcome to vocal tips in 10. Thank you for being here with me. Today I want to talk about one habit that you can start to implement into your life, into your vocal journey that is small, but can make such a massive difference in your voice. It can make a massive difference in how you feel, your overall vocal health, longevity, sustainability, and two,
how you sound, you're gonna feel better and sound better. And those are always the two things I'm going for that we are all going for. Now, obviously we're all different. There's never gonna be a one size fits all, but this habit works for everybody. You're just gonna tweak it based on your lifestyle, your voice, your goals. And that is vocal budgeting and taking vocal breaks.
And then the other piece that I want to talk about goes right along with that, but I want to make sure that we cover it in today's episode. instead of having a big vocal buffet every day, what I would call just one big giant practice session, instead having purposeful vocal snacks throughout the day, small, shorter, focused vocal practice throughout your day with those breaks in between. Let's get into it.
So one of the questions I get a lot when I talk about taking vocal breaks is how long do these need to be? It's gonna be different for everybody, but one thing I wanna point out is that complete vocal rest is very rarely used and prescribed these days. It's almost like, I think about it like any other kind of like physical therapy, right? Almost always, you get even like a major surgery. They wanna get you moving again. It's about purposeful movement.
the right kind of movement but they don't have you just completely stay off of your leg if you have an injury. They want to get you moving. It's the same thing with the voice. Very rarely are we going to do complete vocal rest. Now, I just recommended complete vocal rest for a singer of mine a couple of weeks ago because they were in an atypical situation. They had way overworked their voice, a little bit of misuse, because they had an unbelievably crazy hard heavy schedule vocally.
they had a lot of swelling and irritation and they had a really big gig 48 hours later. So we met, we did a little rehab and then we decided on a 24 hour complete vocal rest to minimize that swelling and irritation as much as possible. Then some focused work so that they would feel a whole lot better for that gig in 48 hours.
I don't recommend that approach guys. And a 24 hour vocal rest is not gonna be the answer to you abusing and overusing your voice. Sometimes things happen that you can't fully control and when that happens, sometimes vocal rest can be helpful, but usually it's not the answer. What I'm more talking about is at the start of each day, looking at everything you have to do vocally and keeping in mind, we have one voice. I love it when singers come to me and are complaining about vocal fatigue.
And they're like, yeah, I I had two shows this week. I had a couple rehearsals. That's it, Amber. And I'm like, that's the only time you used your voice. So you never spoke. ⁓ of course I spoke. And I went on a trip and I stayed out really late Saturday night and it got a little rowdy. And then they start naming all the other things that they've been doing vocally because they're human, right? Our body is our instrument, our voices with us all the time. I'm using it right now when we laugh, when we cry, when we cough and clear our throat.
when we speak, when we sing, all of that is voice use. So I like to look at everything you have to do vocally for the day. think about all the energy you know you have to spend. We're all probably a little bit different there. I think most of us fall in this kind of general area that's pretty typical. Then there's some singers who can push their voice more than the average bear. They are rare. And then there's some singers who
cannot do as much work as the average bear without getting irritated. They are rare, but they all exist. We all exist. You're gonna do what works for you, but knowing your voice, what is the amount of vocal energy you have, and let's plan accordingly. And so that's when we talk about taking vocal breaks. Vocal breaks, can be a five minute silent rest in between voice sessions for me. That's how I take vocal breaks. I many times have six, seven, eight hours of one-on-one appointments.
every day. That's a lot of talking and singing. And I'm going to knock on wood. Hold on. I'm knocking on wood. I'm going to knock on wood. But very rarely do I lose my voice, have irritation, anything like that. At the end of the day, a lot of times I'm tired, but that's expected. I'm doing athletic vocal work for many hours every day. But one of the things I do is I warm up my voice in the morning. It does not have to be major. It might be a little straw in water, some SOVT sirens.
something nice and easy, and then I take purposeful vocal breaks anytime I can between my sessions. Those might be five minutes, and then I do like a 30 second reset. Just to get my voice back in that optimal space again and jump into my next session. And then if I have a 30 minute lunch break,
I try to take a voice break then. So it can be little small breaks throughout the day based on what you need to do. Where you're gonna want a bigger break is if you've got a pretty heavy rehearsal for a major show that night. You're gonna take a break, do a light warmup before that rehearsal. Ideally, you don't need to go out 100 % in that rehearsal unless you are sound checking and then you wanna sing like you normally would. And then in between that and the show,
I would give your voice a rest as much as possible, steam, nebulize, then before the show, rewarm back up and be ready to go. But it's taking those breaks, being mindful every day, taking the time to really look at realistically, what do I have to do with my voice today? All the things you have to do. A phone call with a friend, is using your voice. And many times, I am guilty of this. I do a lot of my phone calls in the car.
knowing that we talk louder than we need to in the car because of the ambient noise of the road. Many times that's the only time I can get them in. So I'm going to count that as far more voice use. That is a heavier vocal load. I'm speaking louder, therefore working more than I would if I was having that phone call in a quiet room. All of those things count. Add them up.
Are you being realistic? If you've got a major show and a rehearsal and a radio interviews or you're teaching a class or you've got a day job and you're doing sales all day long, Can you do all of those things and still have the vocal energy you need for that show, for that recording session, for that performance? Hopefully the answer is yes. If you are not being realistic, where can we take things away?
Where can we stop using our voice? Don't do the phone call to the bestie, right? Don't have the loud conversation at work. Wait, talk to your friend or your coworker when you guys are somewhere quiet. What are the things you can take off of your plate so that you have more vocal energy left for whatever that task is that you need your voice to be 100 % for, as close to 100 % as we can get? Our voice is gonna change from day to day because again, our body is our instrument and we change as humans from day to day based on
how we're feeling, the environment that we're in, our stress level, all of those things. But something so small as integrating little vocal breaks into your day, 10 minutes of no vocalizing, five minutes of no vocalizing, 20 minutes of no vocalizing, with a little purposeful warm up, cool down, reset here and there when we need it, I am telling you it can make.
Such a difference in your voice. If there's one thing that I could wave a magic wand and have all of my singers focus on so their voices could get better, it's vocal budgeting. Vocal budgeting can make all the difference. And then the other thing I want you to think about is if you've got a lot to do, you're thinking, okay, I've got to learn 12 songs for this new set for this show. Ideally, break things up. A three hour practice session singing full out.
That's not helping anybody. That's not helping you. It's not how our brain works best. That is overusing your voice. That is using way more of your vocal energy than you need to. Far better than that big old vocal buffet is little vocal snacks throughout the day. That means maybe a 30 minute session, take a break. Later have a 45 minute practice session, take a break. A 20 minute session, take a break.
Can we always do that? No, we can't. But when you can, you're gonna see it makes such a difference. One, singing is a type of motor learning and that is how we acquire motor learning best. It's not long three hour blocks. We need novelty and we need repetition. So if we take a break and we get introduced to that concept again, and then we repeat it, that is how we're gonna grasp onto those concepts more quickly.
That's how all those techniques, those things you're working on as a singer are going to become more intrinsic to you. Vocal snacks throughout the day. So we learn better, it's better for the health of your voice. You're gonna enjoy it more very likely. So I always wanna point that out too. Think about vocal snacking, Or multiple small meals a day.
versus one big sit down where you just shove in everything you're gonna eat all day in one sitting. It doesn't sound very good, does it? That's why I love to use that analogy because we go like, ugh, yeah, I don't wanna do that. And you might hear this and be like, how am I gonna integrate this? This sounds overwhelming. It doesn't need to be.
Modify where you can and as needed. Integrate vocal breaks into your day,
Our voice is gonna feel better day in and day out. And we're gonna sound better guys. And that's always what we're going for. I hope this is helpful to you. Even if you feel like you do some vocal budgeting, I think this is just a good reminder to be like, are there times, are there areas where I could improve, where I could build in a little break here, where I could break up my vocal practice a little bit better?
Try it out. I bet you will be surprised at what a big difference it makes. I have got freebies for you guys, like always, down in the show notes, two weeks free of the Vocal Pro membership, a free sing-along five-minute vocal warmup with a bonus belt exercise that is one of my faves. Let me know, how I can be helpful, and see you in the next episode. Bye.
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