Wed Aug 16

5 ways to protect your voice while barracking for the Matildas – and how to treat a hoarse voice after

Written by Amy Hume, Lecturer In Theatre (Voice), Victorian College of the Arts, The University of Melbourne

“It was definitely loud,” said Matildas player Caitlin Foord last week after the team played Denmark in Sydney, adding ^[1]

I loved it. We definitely hear it, we feel it and the louder the crowd I feel the better we are.

Now fans are set to get even louder, whether watching at home or in a stadium, as the Australian team prepare to face England in their first-ever World Cup semi final.

While the Matildas are warming up their limbs and muscles pre-match, spectators need to warm up our vocal folds. With a barracking job to do, we need to be match-fit. Here’s why.

Why do we need to warm up at all?

A sudden night of cheering can lead to vocal strain. The short-term risk is that you have a hoarse voice for a couple of days. Repeated vocal abuse can lead to permanent damage ^[3] that may require therapy or surgery.

But with some good habits and preparation, you’ll be able to get loud safely. Here are five ways to build vocal stamina for tonight.

1. Get your body ready

The amount of volume you can have in your voice all begins with your body. If you are feeling tight, especially around the neck and shoulders, the muscles around the vocal folds may overcompensate ^[4], giving you a tired or strained feeling. Before the match, take a moment to stretch your neck and shoulders for a more open and relaxed throat, ready to roar.

And just as the Matilda’s will aim to stay well hydrated, you should too to protect your voice ^[5]. The vocal structures consist of soft tissues that vibrate better when wet.

2. Yawn – even though you’re excited

Yawning stretches your soft palate (the fleshy back portion of the roof of the mouth) and its flexibility is essential for safe screaming. A vocal technique called yawn-sigh ^[6] can also help stretch and warm up the structures like the tongue and pharynx (the passage at the top back of the throat) that are important for voice.

Try yawning “horizontally” – smiling widely as you yawn. Then try yawning in the usual “vertical” way. When yawning horizontally, you should feel a different stretch in the back of your mouth and throat that targets your soft palate.

‘Yawn a lot,’ says actor Morgan Freeman. ‘It relaxes your throat muscles, it relaxes your vocal chords.’

3. Breathe

If the semi final is anything like the quarter final against France ^[8], it may be hard to remember to breathe. But breath gives your voice power ^[9].

If you roar and cheer without a decent in-breath, the muscles of your throat will tense and strain to try to make the sound louder. It’s not efficient and will tire you out quickly. So every time you go to cheer, allow a big breath in first.

4. Work out your vocal folds

Your voice is like a muscle – actually a complex arrangement ^[10] of cartilage, muscle, ligaments and soft layers. If you stretch it before a workout, it will not only make the exercise easier but also aid recovery time.

Your vocal folds are small bands of muscle in the larynx, and you can think of them like elastic. If unused, they can lose stretch and have less vibration capacity to produce sound.

Simple exercises like humming and lip trilling can help keep the elasticity of your vocal folds. Start with humming ^[11] at a comfortable pitch and glide up and down your range.

The vocal folds in action.

5. Put your whole self into it

Your voice, body and emotions ^[12] are constantly taking cues from one another. If you allow your body to be expressive, your voice will follow. Let your fandom take over your whole body and come into your face too – gestures and facial expressions change the sound of your voice and can bring enormous energy to your roars.

Fully commit and trust your body and voice. When we are completely connected to communication, huge breaths can fly in, sound travels up through the vocal folds and rings through the body, giving your voice enormous carrying power.

If you try to make your voice low pitched when it wants to come out high, or you hold back from being loud when your voice wants to be heard, tension can come into your throat and lead to strain.

Several Matildas players celebrate and shout

The players don’t mind a shout either. Hope they warmed up first. AAP Image/Darren England ^[13]

How to treat your voice after the match

You got excited. You overdid the shouting. Understandable! After a full match, you may feel some level of vocal fatigue ^[15]. If your voice sounds rough, hoarse or scratchy with unpredictable pitch, you might have what speech pathologists and ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialists call dysphonia ^[16].

As the Matildas jump in an ice bath, it’s your time to give your voice some TLC.

Stretching, yawning, deep breathing and gentle voice exercises ^[17] like humming and trills work for recovery as well as warming up. An exercise I use with actors after a show is gentle whimpering sounds (like a puppy) to soothe vocal folds. Although it’s not widely researched, actors love it.

Again, hydration ^[18] is important for vocal hygiene, so drink up or try a humidifier ^[19]. Special techniques like singing through a straw ^[20] into a half-glass of water can help. Avoid whispering, which can produce more strain ^[21] than talking naturally. Avoid ^[22] smoking or smoky spaces, excessive throat clearing and alcohol or caffeine that can dry out the throat and thicken mucus.

With all the love behind the Matildas, they’ve got a chance of reaching the World Cup final. Even more reason to look after your voice and maintain match fitness. Go Matildas!