One food every singer should consider giving up

Although most singers never think about this at all ( and we all should) occasionally someone at one of my vocal lessons will ask me what’s good and what’s NOT good for a singer to eat/drink. Because every singer is different and affected different ways, it’s hard to come up with a definitive list. Something that bothers one person won’t bother someone else’s voice.

Even so, however, There are some food that are almost universally identified as wise to steer clear of for singers. If I could only choose one to get rid of from that list I’d choose:

Dairy Products!!

Simply put gang, milk does NOT do a body good, despite the very popular and ingeniusly crafted campaigns. There’s a whole lot of very interesting things I’ve learned about milk that really blew my mind. This is not the place nor the forum to discuss them, but consider this:

Do you realize that humans are the only animal on the entire planet that consumes another animal’s milk? Did you also realize that humans are also the only animal on the planet that go on to continue drinking milk for the rest of our lives? But I digress.

From a singer’s perspective it is not good to consume milk or any other dairy product before you sing: before you sing meaning any time that day. In fact you want to begin avoiding it the day before if possible.

Here’s why:

Milk and foods containing milk produces a lot of mucus in the body. Excess mucus. A lot of this mucus builds up and sits on your vocal chords. This can make singing a lot more difficult for you. It can muddle your voice, have you doing a lot of clearing and swallowing trying to get rid of it…etc, etc.

So avoid dairy products at least 24 hours before you sing. You would do well, in fact, to begin reducing the amount of dairy products you consume over-all.

If you should find yourself bored or curious, do some research on milk and it’s affect on humans. A good place to start is:

www.notmilk.com

Peace,

Ron Cross

Ron is a professionally trained vocal coach, style coach and voice instructor. He has over 30 years experience in the music ministry. To book lessons with Ron visit The Music Ministry Coach.com and click on the “Book Lessons”.