FELLOW SINGER once warned me, “You’ll only have your best voice for about 10 days per year, and you’re never booked on those days.” I’ve found that to be true. But even if I’m not booked, I want my best voice for practicing. Everything goes more smoothly when I can settle into a balanced resonance with effortless delivery. It was the week after Christmas. Despite all the singing I had been doing with our choir, I woke up one day with a sluggish voice. It took me by surprise because I usually sound my best during periods of heavy vocal activity. In fact, whenever we have a morning sung Mass right after an evening sung Mass, I always tell our choir, “I feel like I’m still warmed up from last night!”
I certainly wasn’t hoarse; that only happens when I get illness-induced laryngitis. And I don’t think I had eaten or drunk anything unusual, nor was I coming down with a cold. It was just one of those days where I did some early-morning vocalizing and quickly realized my vocal apparatus didn’t feel normal.
Why does this happen? As another wise singer once told me, “The human voice is the only instrument that keeps moving while you’re trying to play it.” Unlike our church’s organ, which sits still and sounds the same all the time, the human voice changes a bit from hour to hour and day to day. Some days, you must warm up extensively just to get something you can work with.
Here’s a Warmup You Probably Haven’t Tried
Although I didn’t have a rehearsal or Mass that day, I wanted to find my “real” voice so that I could practice without frustration. There are probably hundreds of home remedies on the internet for rejuvenating the voice, but I decided not to search for them. Instead, I tackled one of the other priorities on my list: standup comedy. 
If you don’t attend my parish, you probably don’t know I’m an amateur standup comedian. For the past 10 years, I’ve performed a roughly 15-minute set for my fellow parishioners during the entertainment portion of our parish Christmas party. I write a new act each year. People appreciate having some family-friendly humor on what is almost exclusively a musical program.
With our Christmas party just a few days away at this point, it was time for me to run through my whole act several times per day. I don’t usually have trouble memorizing the act because I write all my own material. But I spend many hours refining how I’ll deliver the lines for maximum comedic impact. (I also watch a lot of Nate Bargatze on YouTube.)
So I went into my office and began doing my act in full voice. After the first time through, I noticed the cobwebs in my voice had cleared up a bit. After the second time, even more so. And after a third run-through, I had my instrument back.
Why It Worked So Well
In hindsight, I shouldn’t have been so surprised to regain good placement by doing my comedy act. Healthy singing technique should resemble healthy speaking technique in many ways. Yes, singing requires more “holding open,” more breath control, and more intensity. But the goal is the same: project the voice by keeping compressed breath underneath the sound rather than driving air through the sound.
By practicing my act several times with dramatic intensity, I gave much of my vocal range a workout without putting myself under the pressure of having to sustain tone. In other words, I tricked my voice into working, just as a parent might trick their toddler into eating vegetables by concealing them within tastier food.
Next time you’re having a “blah” vocal day, give this method a try. You may not be a standup comedian, but you can surely find a dramatic monologue, a historic speech, or even a few poems to read aloud. Read through the material with freedom and dramatic intensity, but without forcing anything. Repeat as needed.
My comedy act this year was 22 minutes long and it took three run-throughs to get me into vocal placement that day. But boy, did it ever work. I wish you the same success.
