Sue Hulsether wrote:

<< Another voice helper for me is a wireless mic — so I can be on the floor and both consciously and unconsciously monitor my own vocal levels. Being on stage without a vocal monitor (and with the regular monitors blasting the band’s music at them) is a sure bet I have vocal fatigue, if not hoarseness, at the end of a night. >>

Yes. I decided a long time ago that I need to hear the house mix, partly to reassure me that the dancers can hear the calls and partly so I can hear myself, which keeps me from straining. (Years ago the telephone folks hit on the idea of introducing a bit of your own voice into your earpiece to keep you from shouting.)

This means I need to be either out in front of the house speakers or, at worst, next to them and very slightly ahead, so I can see the front of a speaker even if it’s only a little bit of the front. I use a wireless version of the Shure Beta 58A, which has a tighter pickup pattern than the SM58 (probably the most common vocal mic, in and out of the dance world) and lets me get pretty close to the house speakers, even stand in front of one, without feedback. I love this mic and take it everywhere I go, unless I’m flying with books to sell and a week’s worth of clothes.

In situations like the big gyms at NEFFA, where I can’t get in front of the house speakers (I’m stuck onstage and they’re overhead and slightly ahead of me), I have to rely on a caller’s monitor. I usually ask for the house mix in my monitor, but at NEFFA they usually need to boost my voice higher over the music than it is in the house mix, or I find myself straining because my subconscious doesn’t trust the PA to make my calls understood. This is critical when I’m doing a square like Merry-Go-Round where the dancers don’t know what’s coming next. (Veering off topic: In modern square dancing, where the dancers *never* know what the next call will be, intelligibility is an absolute requirement. The most popular brand of amplifier built for that market has controls calibrated so that the default setting is to give the caller lots of treble and very little bass, with the music vice versa. The callers sound as if they’re Skyping.)

To try to prevent voice problems, I drink lots of water – every day, not just “cramming” before a dance. If my throat is already sore, I fill a Thermos with hot lemonade. It gives some of the benefits of a honey & lemon juice mix without the hassle of keeping both on hand and mixing them.

A few years ago I realized a childhood dream of getting into community theater, and I took some voice lessons. I learned to generate the “buzz” in my mask (basically the sinus area) rather than my throat. I also learned that it’s important to warm up the voice before performing; in the car I do a series of exercises from a CD called “Total Warm-Up” (now available as a download too) from www.singingvoicelessons.com. I’ve tried several CDs, but this is my favorite.

Tony Parkes

Billerica, Mass.