Keeping Singers Well: Hydration

While it is ultimately the responsibility of the singer to stay properly hydrated, it's not always so easy.

On the road, onstage, or at rehearsal, healthy habits for singers are in everyone's best interests. Choral singers fine tune their daily habits, optimizing them on rehearsal and performance days, but unlike straightforward programs for traditional athletes, singer wellness regimens are more likely to be an artful blend of idiosyncrasy and science. And singers don't always have the organizational support needed to maintain the healthiest choices. In the first of this three-part series, we'll examine the how singers stay hydrated.

It will be no surprise that in discussions with singers, conductors, and voice experts, hydration is named as the single most important ingredient for vocal hygiene, performance stamina, and overall health.

Members of the Colorado Children's Chorale are indoctrinated into hydration rituals at a young age. "Our motto is 'Water: The Choice for the Voice,'" says artistic director Debbie DeSantis.

Like many singers, Chung-Wai Soong, a member of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, says continuous hydration is "the most singerly thing I do. I am never without a bottle." Says Kate Johnson, a Hawaii-based choral soloist and a competitive bicyclist, "I hydrate for a concert just as I would for a race."

Water pitchers and cups are a courtesy that any chorus can plant backstage, but for the most part at regular rehearsals, singers typically take responsibility for themselves, the ubiquitous water bottle always nearby. But at certain performance venues, such as concert halls and churches, house rules banning liquids onstage or in the sanctuary make proper hydration a challenge.

"I hydrate for a concert just as I would for a race." —Singer and bicyclist Kate Johnson

Equally challenging can be inattentive leadership. When a chorus is engaged as a guest artist appearing with an orchestra, singers need an advocate who will look out for their needs, negotiating not just parking reimbursement, adequate warm-up space, and bathroom facilities, but access to plenty of water.

"There is nothing more detrimental to singing well than the conductor who forgets how long it's been since the chorus has had a break," says one chorus member, a situation that can occur when union musicians are involved and time is of the essence.

"I sang through a three-hour rehearsal where the singers weren't allowed to have water bottles onstage, and then weren't permitted to leave during the orchestra break because of the time it would take to get on and off the stage—and we had a performance scheduled for later that evening. I thought the treatment of the singers bordered on abusive."

Airplane dehydration is a traveling singer's enemy, and with airport security banning outside liquids, singers are forced to buy high-priced water on the other side of security. Things are no better on land.

"An air-conditioned bus is a nightmare for your voice," says Hugh Davies, managing director at ACFEA Tour Consultants and himself a singer. So significant is the extra water consumption required by choruses that Davies says logistics for singing groups on tours must be altered to provide more rest stops. When planning a tour, says Davies, "You wouldn't believe how much time we spend talking about bathrooms."

So while it is ultimately the responsibility of the chorister to stay properly hydrated, it's not always easy. Tell us, what do you do to stay in your best vocal shape?