RJ Benjamin

This year marks the tenth year of my teaching career. Over the years I’ve taught young & old, talented & not-so-talented, the not-so-famous, the not-yet famous & the now-very famous as far as SA celebrities go. I’ve observed the singing careers of every major SA artist that’s come onto the scene in the last 10 years & I’ve noticed that most do NOT take care of their voices.

It’s a reflection of the SA music industry as a whole & in comparing it to the SA sports industry, a clear picture is painted. Arts in SA is not as well supported as is sports. I’d be the 1st to raise my concerns about this. I can only speak for the music industry but from that perspective, if we are not taking ourselves seriously as singers, why should government or anyone else take us seriously?

Here’s what I know. The majority of top SA singers do not warm up their voices before performances among other lifestyle choices that cause damage to the voice. Many of you may be asking well why should they?

Here’s why: the voice, like any other part of the body needs to be warmed up before it is used. It may seem to the listener that it’s an effortless exercise but performing solidly for an hour or more is as taxing on the voice of a professional singer as any professional sport would be taxing on the body of a sports-person. What do we know about the professional sports world? We know they stretch & warm up before every game, some even warm down. We also know they go through rigorous training daily. For the most part, our SA singers are not doing this & to argue they can’t afford coaches on a daily basis is fair but for singers, it is easy to find singing exercises at the click of a button. At the very least all professional SA singers should be warming up. If you need exercise, contact me, I will gladly help!

What could be the effect of not warming before every performance? In the short term, none of us will notice a difference however it’s a long term problem. Many of you can go through your SA music collection, pick an artist & listen to their body of work. I have noticed that some artists voices have audibly changed over a 10-year period… 10 years??? Considering this is supposed to be a life-long career, 10 years should just be the start of a career & the harsh reality is without the voice that made you famous in the 1st place, you have no career as a singer… unless you’re planning on miming for the rest of your life.