How to prepare for a great performance 1

Singing is not just about sounding good but about protecting your precious instrument - your voice! Here are some easy to follow steps to see that as a singer, you can protect yourself from nodes and make every performance a masterpiece.

1. Don't Talk The Day of a Performance
An old voice teacher Once Told that Celine Dion is so protective of her voice that she doesn't talk or answer the phone when she has a performance. It's quite obvious that Celine has some great pipes so I would say this piece of advice is a good one! That voice teacher also told that she doesn't talk for the first two hours after she wakes up. Not talking most of the day is good but at some point, you are going to need to talk in order to warm up your voice before the show. If you need to communicate, there is text messaging, email and good old pens and paper. Talking can actually do more damage to your vocal chords than singing can, so not talking for most of the day is a really great way to keep your voice intact.

2. Warm Up Before You Hit the Stage
After following rule number one, it is important to warm up your voice. I would say that it's okay to begin talking (lightly - but not whispering, which is even worse!) about three hours prior to showtime. Since your voice has been resting all day, it's had time to "wake up" and now just needs to "warm up." Warming up is crucial. Just like any other muscle in your body, your vocal chords needs to be stretched out and built up before they go full force on stage. That voice teacher had another great idea, which is to use a steamer to moisturize your voice. You can take a hot shower to steam up, heat up a pot of boiling water and inhale the vapors, or buy an actual voice steamer. This should be done prior to vocalizing, about two hours before the show. When warming up, make sure you don't overdo it. Don't sing higher than you need to or lower than you need to. Do some simple up and down scales and something to get your voice energized, but don't go longer than about fifteen minutes.

Source