Your worst phlegmeny

That junk in your throat that makes you go “ahhheeemmm” is your worst Phlegmeny. Phlegm, that is. So, instead of clearing your throat, I want to offer you a better way of overcoming phlegm for voice actors. My technique will get rid of that junk quickly and safely. But first a little background on my knowledge of the subject.

I got the idea for this blog post by looking over an old college text book called The New Voice – How to sing and speak properly. I first read it about a decade ago, but I still find it useful. You will learn the structure and proper use of your larynx.

As a young man, I wanted to have a career as a professional singer. I was already a singer in a pretty good rock band in high school, but I figured I should back up that desire with some serious training so I went to SUNY Fredonia’s school of music, where i gained invaluable knowledge and experience. While I didn’t end up pursuing professional singing full time, I still use my training every day as a voice actor.

Every voice actor at some point is going to battle with phlegm. Phlegm is mucus build-up on the vocal chords themselves, which prevents the vocal chords (which are very delicate muscles) from vibrating properly and making a clear sound. Phlegm bad. No phlegm, good! There are indirect ways to suppress and prevent phlegm that I’ll talk about in a future post, but if you have a session soon and your voice is gummed up by phlegm, this technique is quick and relatively safe.

I got this technique from a post-college voice teacher that uses whats called The Somatic Voice Method, with has helped me immensely. I’ve stolen this vocal warm up – which is intended to smooth out your voices natural passing tone between falsetto and chest voice, but it happens to great at shaking the phlegm off the vocal chords the way an electric toothbrush vibrates the plaque off your teeth. You may be thinking, well I’ll just clear my throat “ahhheemmm”! STOP DOING THAT. It’s rarely effective and it damages your vocal chords by causing them to swell over time.

Don’t worry, you don’t have to be a singer to have this exercise be effective for you. And it is kinda fun, I think. Now civilians will think its goofy, so go into your studio or booth to try it, so you don’t get all self conscious and stuff.

Here’s how to do it…and so you can see and hear what I’m describing please also check out the accompanying video demonstration.

Start by sitting up straight or standing, making sure your shoulders are back and head and neck relaxed. This creates an unrestricted airway for breathing in and out. Breath support is super important for healthy vocal production. You can work for hours at a time without getting tired or having vocal fatigue with good breath control. Next, breath from your diaphragm. Then relax your jaw is if you were going to yawn and feel that space in your throat and mouth open up. You may also feel how relaxed your tongue is. It’s ok if you yawn here. Remember how that feels because that open and relaxed state is how we’re going to protect our voices.

Take a new breath and say “eee”, starting high in your range and lowering the pitch to the bottom of your range. Then take a new breath and start a little higher in your falsetto if you can. I’ll explain: When you’re talking to a little baby or a puppy or kitty, you tend to use your falsetto, which is Italiano for “False” voice. It would be weird to use that voice while ordering a burger at the drive-through…”I’ll take a Burger and large fries. Hold the mayo”, but as voice actors we use it a lot more than we know.

Now while keeping that open yawn-like feeling, breath in and start your “eee” vowel. Then drop it down into your Modal voice without stopping the sound. You may start to feel an involuntary skip or break in the sound. Not to worry. Thats a natural occurrence called Passagio – another fancy Italiano word meaning “transition” or “passage”.

Once the transition point is located, stay around that pitch and keep saying (or singing) the “ee” vowel. If phlegm is present, you will hear and feel it at or around the passagio. So by concentrating on lightly saying the “eee” vowel you will clear the phlegm off the vocal chords within a few minutes. Lastly, once the phlegm is vibrated off the chords it has to go somewhere. You have two choices. Spit or swallow.