SOVT Straw Exercises: Will They Save Your Life and Voice?
Stop looking for another straw exercise for your voice and read on. Straws will not save your voice! What you can do instead of another straw exercise to find a long-lasting solution for your vocal issue? Give me a few minutes of your time to explain what straw exercises are, their limitations and what you could be doing instead of another straw exercise.
SOVT STRAW EXERCISES
Straw exercises are very popular nowadays. When you scroll through the YT search, you will see many many videos promising great results from doing straw exercises. Don’t get me wrong, I am a big fan of straw phonation as a method to improve your injured voice or to maintain good vocal health. I have a big collection. I love them and they have many benefits, but they also have limitations. And they are definitely not a magical tool to solve all vocal problems.
The danger of straw exercises is to think that they are the answer for everything. I’ve met many people who tell me: I have been hydrating my voice and I have been doing straw exercises every day and my voice still hurts. That’s because straws do not target pain.
LIMITATIONS OF SOVT STRAW EXERCISES
Straw exercises have many benefits. But they also have limitations. One of the biggest limitations is that their benefits are short-lived. The amazing feeling you get after doing some straw phonation doesn’t last very long. If you’ve tried straw exercises, you know that your voice feels great right after you do them but one hour later, your voice feels tired or strained again.
And if you are wondering if you are doing something wrong, no, you are not doing anything wrong. It is what it is. That’s what straw exercises are and they have limitations.
There are no quick fixes for voice problems. And there is no one single exercise that would suddenly change all your vocal habits and improve vocal function indefinitely. If that was the truth, I as a voice therapist would be out of work.
5 Best Tips
Tip #1 Do straw exercises, if they work for your voice
If you’ve tried straw exercises before and you can really feel benefits for your voice, continue doing them. Even though their benefits last for a short time, do them. You are probably releasing some tension, you are improving vocal fold closure, you are making the vocal function more efficient.
Tip #2 Explore other options
There are many other different techniques, exercises and approaches that your voice may respond well to. Having several tools will help you develop versatility and flexibility in your voice.
Tip #3 Get serious
If you are dealing with a long-standing or complex vocal issue, don’t try to fix it with partial solutions. Yes, straw exercises are great for many different vocal issues, but they are just one part of a comprehensive approach. And you will not find this comprehensive approach on YouTube or Google. Talk to a voice specialist to help you guide you through the process. You are in charge of your voice, you make the decisions, so make the right one. If you’ve been dealing with a voice issue for a period of time, waiting is not the right decision. I said it and I stand behind it.
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