I had the privilege of preaching up at the Medford Unitarian Universalist church this morning, while Hank Peirce, the minister in Medford, preached down here in New Bedford. The Unitarian Universalist Church of Medford is a great church, and it was fun to preach there. But I got thrown off my regular Sunday morning routine, and I didn’t drink as much water as I usually do. By the time I got back home, I was parched and I drank about quart and a half of tea.
One of the things they never told me in preaching class was that preaching (or any public speaking for that matter) dries you out. Which, if you think about it, makes sense:– when you speak you have to push lots of hot, moist air out of your body, and that inevitably will dry you out. Fortunately I took voice lessons at the Old Town School of Folk Music, back when we lived near Chicago, and my voice teacher told us that singing dries you out. If you get dried out out, your vocal chords don’t function well, so you can wind up straining them. She taught us to drink lots of water while we were singing. Though she told us that we should drink luke warm water, because cold water can chill your throat, which causes your muscles to tighten up, which means (once again) that you can wind up straining your voice.
To you this probably seems like such a minor point, but it really does make all the difference to me in my line of work.
Hey Dan,
You’re right on. I have tried in the past to convinvce would-be preachers of the importance of all kinds of bodily issues when in the pulpit. For that hour or so, we are like the concert performer or the athlete. We need to take care of ourselves and monitor what we eat and what we do before we get step into the pocket. We also need tp make sure we have everything we need to do a good job. This means lots of water, tissues, throat lozenges this time of year. Potentially, we could use a bottle of aspirin, too! Thank you for bringing this up. It is NOT a small issue.
Good points, Dan and Adam. Most of the time when I preach these days I’m leading two services. When I sing all the hymns, do most of the readings and prayers, and preach twice it really does strain my voice. I’ve found that lip syncing hymns can protect the voice for the “solo” parts–no need to strain our voices hitting all the high notes on Lo The Earth Awakes Again if it’s going to make us sound like frogs in the pulpit!
I know several good vocal warm-ups from my days in theater, however they are rather loud and sound very silly (“mwa! mwa!” “n-ga, n-ga, n-ga,” “TO SIT IN SOLEMN SILENCE,” and so on) so I’m hesitant to do them at church where others can overhear. I did do the warm ups and despite their silliness this fall before officiating at an outdoor wedding in 41 degree windy weather. They helped the voice. But they didn’t do much for the fingers, which were so numb they could barely pick up the rings!
Adam — I’ve never been a concert performer, but leading worship does feel pretty athletic to me. As for throat lozenges, I learned from some shapenote singers that peppermint oil is supposed to be really good for the voice — works for me, anyway.
Sarah — Yeah, I don’t sing any notes above Bb on Sunday morning; given my range, it’s just too much work for my voice. Most of the hymns in the hymnal are a fifth higher than I like. If I were a good singer, I’d sing in parallel harmony a fifth below the melody line, but I’m not a good singer. Oh well.
I also refrain from any dairy products on Saturdays OK so maybe I put cream in my coffee, but besides that no cow. I know folks think it sounds nuts but I don’t get phelgmy (that’s a fun word to write).
There you go folks hints from the pros, drink warm water not warm ilk when preaching.
Peppermint oil is okay, but my favorite soother if I’m already somewhat raspy or full of phlegm is a Hall’s Fruit Breezer – no menthol, just pectin, which coats well for tickles. If I’m sore, or sick, Ricola original formula works well, but only if I’m very gentle with my voice. It’s not a good idea to push through if you’re actually sick, anyway, because you can cause more damage and take even longer to heal. The best thing to do if you do get sick and it goes to your throat is to shut up! ;-)
As a choir singer, we’re usually not allowed water bottles on stage during concerts – my chorale just did the Brahms Requiem a couple of weeks ago and it was just torturous to not have a good gulp of water before that last movement. Even if you hydrate really well before a marathon like that, you can still dry out.
Another note – tea is actually very drying for the vocal chords, as is coffee in an even bigger way. Apple juice is a good phlegm clearer, though I usually follow it with a lot of water to wash down the sugar build up, which can make the voice feel gummy.
Oh, and warm-ups, even if they sound silly, are really really good for those early Sunday mornings, to get everything working. A yawn-sigh, where you pitch your voice as high as you can as if you were yawning, then slide all the way down your range, is probably the most clearing.
My best warm-up is singing LOUDLY in the car on my way to church! (It’s about a seven minute commute, amy favorites are Vickie Winans wild gospel and Sheryl Crow…) I’ve never had my voice fail me even through two services and illness — not sure why (probably good genes, plus lots of voice lessons in teenage-hood and when I was on sabbatical a few years ago). But preaching truly is such an embodied art — I am usually very tired when I finish. And the glory of being closer to 50 than 40 means my legs are the most-tired part at the end of each Sunday! Oh, how I love my ibuprofen!
Glory be and thank you, Dan — I’ve always been teased for lugging around a water bottle, and have raised eyebrows for (politley) asking that ice-water be swapped out for room-temperature, or warm water. And as a Yogi, I’ve always heard my teachers corroborate my experience that drinking (or chugging) cold water just freezes everything up (both literally and figuratively).
I also remember, from my choir days, that sucking on a bit of lemon helps clear phlegm, while dairy products create it. So disappointing — no ice cream for breakfast on days that I’m preaching! : )