Hi all,

I play in an '80s cover group called Flashback as keyboardist and background vocalist, with me just recently taking my first step into singing lead on a song.

My biggest issue I find is that since I'm singing mostly high background harmonies, eventually through some point in the gig my voice just dies and I just can't sing any longer.

After reading through RYV, I've started to try to watch what I do with my voice during the day as well as drinking water constantly throughout the gig to the point where I end up peeing all night afterwards to the detriment of my sleep. *lol* The drinking water has definitely helped, but I find that I'm still losing my voice from singing such high notes for such a long period of time. I try not to ever sing in falsetto because I don't have a very loud falsetto voice. I try to sing like Steve Perry (who I happen to also dress up as, as Brett Perry ;) in full voice all the way up my range, or like Geddy Lee of Rush.

I've never had any vocal lessons experience and I'm just starting with the RYV book, so what should I look at and concentrate on for increasing stamina (and range!), or should I just go through the whole method and practice over time?

I am also just starting out with RYV, but I have been playing out for a number of years as a relatively "untrained" lead singer :)

I sing stuff in a lower range then you (Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, Weezer, etc.) but a couple of things that help me through the long shows are:

- Trying not to sing too loudly (singing at a comfortable volume and trying not to compete with the loudness of the band)
- Wearing earplugs (they allow me to hear myself much better)
- Warming up briefly before the show (mainly lip rolls) and structuring the sets to sing easier material early in the set to further warmup my voice
- Following up the songs that are tough for me to sing with an easier song
- Not talking too much and definitely not shouting during the breaks
- Focusing on something other than your throat when you sing. I used to focus on my forehead and have switched to the soft palate, which I find is working better.

I'm sure some of the more experienced posters can give you some more information, but these things have helped me survive some shows that felt very long.

Jason

Have you implemented any of the advice Jaime gives you besides drinking water (Vocal Stress release, Warming up, cooling down and Myst inhaling.) What about gargling tone . I personally use honey like James Labrie with my water. It has allowed me to train for up to 4 hours straight, although I'm a total beginner. I've also noticed that the Vocal Eeze lozenge really works. It's like putting oil on a ratcheting engine.

Make sure you cool down and stretch the muscles in your chin, they are the ones that work the most so far for me.

Drink lots of water
Warm up all the time
Make sure you're not pushing too hard because of a lack of hearing yourself
Make sure you're not straining your voice the whole day before a show from talking too much, or yelling etc..
Practice holding out those high notes at home, try holding out the high notes until they become completely effortless.
Try the mist inhaling, sometimes in a gig environments the air can really dry out your vocal cords, the mist inhaling will lube up your voice faster than the water, but still of course drink a lot of water.

If you try all of those things and it still doesn't help, then try doing some lessons to see whats up.
But also, some people have a naturally good endurance singing wise, some people don't, it may just be something you really need to work on a lot to get.