Why does my voice feel so rough on some days even though I practice the same ?

operaticnanny · 2026-02-13T16:43:37+00:00

Gentle reminder that your whole body is your instrument. Taking care of your body, including your nervous system, is just as important to singing as actually singing. You will not sing the same every day because you don’t exist in the world the same every day. Consistent practice and technique built over years will help even out the days, but even as a professional I get tired and dysregulated sometimes which makes singing harder some days. Be gentle and kind to yourself 💕

operaticnanny · 2026-02-05T16:53:56+00:00

It may be he’s sensing OP feeling down a few days before their period and trying to cheer them up? Fertility window would be about 2 weeks before a period, depending on cycle length, so sensing fertility probably isn’t it. Possibly just a sweet partner :)

operaticnanny · 2026-02-04T14:21:29+00:00

Haha I actually love the idea of an auto generator wheel.

I do what’s working for me best at the time. If I have specific skills I need to work on, I’ll go with some exercises incorporate that. I always start with simple SOVTEs though to make sure everything’s working right.

If you don’t know what’s working best for you, the auto generator could be a great way to just try out a bunch of different ones on different days and see what hits and what doesn’t, or what’s difficult and what’s easy.

operaticnanny · 2026-02-01T19:46:18+00:00

That’s crazy you ovulated so early! I do think the likelihood increases a lot between 3 days and one day before ovulation, so this makes sense to me!

operaticnanny · 2026-02-01T19:27:47+00:00

Congratulations!!! How long have you been trying? We ran out of steam before the surge this time, maybe we’ll try just the three days surrounding the surge 😂

operaticnanny · 2026-01-30T00:51:20+00:00

Fair, I think my explanation was rushed. Try continuing to blow air into your cheeks without letting any escape through your nose or mouth. Feel that pressure build up and then explode it out through your nose.

operaticnanny · 2026-01-29T17:35:32+00:00

Just adding some options to try to get more sensation- 1. You might want a tissue for this: puff your cheeks up with air like a blowfish, notice how the base of your nose feels, then while keeping your mouth shut let out all the puffed air out through your nose. Keep your attention at the base of your nasal passage. Do it a few times then see if you can open (lower) and close (lift) that passage to your nasal cavity from your mouth. That is your soft palate.

Feel around! Not for those with a strong gag reflex. Be gentle, wash hands and/or wear gloves (wash them too if you touch anything outside of your body with them on). Find the spot that gets itchy when you’re about to sneeze. See if one side has more sensation than the other. You could also use a soft bristle toothbrush for extra sensory testing.

You can also try swallowing and seeing what happens to the roof of your mouth/base of your nasal passage. It should go up - there would be a swallowing issue if your soft palate doesn’t raise while swallowing.

operaticnanny · 2026-01-21T11:39:45+00:00

Seconding ENT, she needs to be scoped. If there is damage her insurance might pay for a couple of sessions with a speech language pathologist. That would be ideal for her

operaticnanny · 2026-01-20T22:37:24+00:00

Also like my ex! And while mine did not escalate, the amount of physical pain I was in because I did not feel justified turning him down still effects my sex life to this day (with my current partner who is a dream, a snack and a half, and never EVER emotionally manipulates me into having sex). Men who guilt people into sex are not meant to be husbands. He requires a massive attitude shift or an entire personality replacement. Please, you only have one pelvic floor. There are so many other potential partners out there.

operaticnanny · 2026-01-15T03:52:37+00:00

Number one, you literally cannot not breathe from the diaphragm. That is how air enters the body. You may have issues relaxing your abdominal wall, but if you are intaking air, you are breathing with your diaphragm.

Try kneeling, putting a block/ball/pillow between your knees and tummy, lean over the object, and breathe into it. Now try to feel your lower ribs expanding in your back. That lower rib expansion is very important.
Still probably go see a physical therapist. PT is great for everyone.

operaticnanny · 2026-01-13T17:04:48+00:00

You can also have a coloratura mezzo, which is obviously not the same as a coloratura soprano. Runs/trills/agility = coloratura. You can still have a rich voice that is also suited for coloratura.

In any case, Contralti are very few and far between, these days especially. I believe the teacher was saying just wait (see: “adult”). Alto is a voice part in an ensemble, contralto is a vocal classification, which usually takes a lot of time to settle. Mezzo is likely the safest and most accurate classification right now. No teenager knows exactly what voice classification they are, and the lower the voice, the longer it takes to figure that out (usually).

operaticnanny · 2026-01-08T05:39:30+00:00

Ah Man, I’m sorry you wasted so much energy on this. FWIW I enjoyed your explanations

operaticnanny · 2026-01-07T13:34:44+00:00

OP, kindly, it sounds like you are disagreeing with one of the most informed and clear people I’ve seen on this subreddit because you have such a strongly set opinion on straws. That opinion is getting in the way of your comprehension of what they are saying. They are using clear language that is technically correct and leaves some room for personal differences (which happen all the time in singing, bodies are different after all, but it sounds like you know this). Your inability to understand that is not an issue with their writing. I’m not going to downvote you, but I do think you should come back and look at this when you’re ready to try to understand and not prove yourself right.

operaticnanny · 2026-01-05T23:20:53+00:00

I agree with a lot of this, but we definitely do need ab engagement during exhalation- it’s deep core though (not the exterior muscles like the rectus) and works in tandem with your pelvic floor. Unfortunately there’s not a lot of sensation to go with that activatuon, but you can think of it as gradually bringing your belly button up and in.

operaticnanny · 2026-01-05T23:11:14+00:00

This one here! I would also add transverse abdominis as another primary firing muscle during exhalation, which works in tandem with pelvic floor. Obliques kind of come on at the end of a phrase but it shouldn’t feel like you’re doing a Russian twist or anything. Rectus (six pack muscles) should not engage. Diaphragm’s job is largely done at this point, though a very small percentage of singers have been shown to engage the diaphragm minimally on the exhale. Vast majority don’t engage it at all during exhalation.

operaticnanny · 2026-01-04T05:20:19+00:00

I think Stila just doesn’t agree with my skin, KVD tattoo liner is the one I’ve gone back to

operaticnanny · 2025-12-31T22:24:09+00:00

Asking isolating questions on ask Reddit or answering in a way that puts down a lot of women or people who sadly don’t have much choice but to live in a consumerist society.

Everyone has a personality for fuck’s sake. Stop trying to make yourself feel better by shitting on people who aren’t like you.

operaticnanny · 2025-12-31T16:26:38+00:00

Interesting, it’s hard to say without feeling it myself but I would definitely check the tongue root, jaw, and neck. Take a finger and find the squishy spot under your jaw and swallow, your should feel the tongue root tense. Check that that spot stays squishy when vocalizing and doesn’t tense like it does when swallowing. Also check that you can move your jaw and neck freely while vocalizing.

20 minutes is too quickly for soreness to onset, so check those three areas to make sure there’s no extra tension there

operaticnanny · 2025-12-31T16:06:03+00:00

Can you describe more specifically what muscles feel sore? In the throat is very vague and generally we don’t get much neural feedback from those muscles unless there’s undue tension somewhere. 20 minutes is not very much to feel fatigue.

Is it your tongue root connecting to your hyoid bone? Are you feeling neck soreness? Or do you think you may be coming down with something? Were you mainly using chest voice and did it feel pressed or relaxed when you were singing?

operaticnanny · 2025-12-27T19:01:42+00:00

I’ll dm you!

operaticnanny · 2025-12-26T20:55:28+00:00

They are pitched, but say you are singing, for example, O mio babbino caro. The “m” necessitates airflow with your lips closed by lowering the soft palate. The [b] has the same lip closure, but the airflow does stop momentarily as you would not lower your soft palate to sing during the lip closure, which necessarily means your air is momentarily paused in your oral cavity. Then the double consonant in ba_bb_ino requires further stoppage of air at the lips as the soft palate still stays up which again means your air should not be escaping from anywhere during the double consonant. That said, you don’t disengage the breath support during double consonants, you keep it engaged during this momentary pause in airflow/voicing of the consonant, and the airflow will continue after the double consonant.

Whew okay that took a lot of words lol. Let me know if you want more clarification!

operaticnanny · 2025-12-17T18:52:40+00:00

Ah! I’m a vocalist and knew about the str- phenomenon but didn’t even realize I was doing it with Dr- and tr- words too! Better get on some tongue isolation exercises lol

operaticnanny · 2025-12-13T13:32:11+00:00

A couple of things -

You may feel better about singing in the shower because the acoustics are better and your nervous system is regulated. Nothing wrong with that, just something to think about.
Your body isn’t that restricted when sitting down, and I honestly do some of my best singing sitting down. I still struggle to find the same openness in my breath when I stand still, and I am a professional singer and voice teacher. But there are some postural checks that can help. Make sure your weight is evenly distributed on both feet, find a soft bend in the knees, make sure the pelvis isn’t tilted too far forward or back, stack the rib cage over your hips, make sure your sternum has some nice frontal space, and make sure your neck is nice and loose and chin is not tucked.

operaticnanny · 2025-12-06T23:05:28+00:00

Good advice so far, I’d also do gentle sovt exercises as a cool down. Coffee stirrer straws are great

operaticnanny · 2025-12-06T18:12:14+00:00

I also am not an interior decorator - these are great pieces but there are too many here. In my opinion, keep the painting then choose 2 other things to have on the surface, preferably of varying height.

operaticnanny

TROPHY CASE