Marcel Steffen Weidenauer | singandscream.com | 01.02.2025
When we practice extreme vocals – false cord, fry or hybrid screams, sing with vocal effects like false fold distortion or arytenoid rattle, or work on difficult repertoire how do we know what we are doing is safe? How do we know when we risk damaging our voices? Understanding the signals the body sends is key to unlocking our vocal potential and protecting our vocal health long-term.

Doubting whether you are making progress or actually harming yourself can be infuriating
What Will You Learn?
In this article, you’ll discover:
- How to identify and interpret your body’s signals when practicing extreme vocals
- The difference between safe sensations, vocal fatigue, and signs of potential harm
- Practical tips to build safe, sustainable vocal techniques
- Key principles to protect your voice and practice more intelligently
- Frequently asked questions about this topic
My philosophy
Screaming vocals, and singing with vocal effects, such as distortion, rattle, grunt, or creaking, are crafts that, like all forms of vocal expression, require mindful development to be performed healthily and skillfully. Just as singing in contemporary or classical styles (or even everyday talking) can be done correctly or incorrectly, the same applies to extreme vocals. Done incorrectly, extreme vocals can cause harm; done correctly, they are safe and sustainable.
Our bodies give us all the feedback we need. When a vocal activity harms your voice – whether it’s singing, yelling, screaming, or mimicking animal sounds – your body will send signals to alert you. These signals can be categorized as either strong or weak.
Signals of Vocal Harm
Strong Signals of Vocal Harm (Clear Signs of Harmful Technique)
- A strong sensation of dryness, possibly provoking coughing
- An uncomfortable warmth or hotness, making you immediately want water
- A distinct feeling of discomfort
- Immediate vocal fatigue or noticeable negative voice changes after a few takes
- Worsening fatigue with additional takes
- Talking voice sounds drier, duller, or thinner afterward
- Persistent tension in the throat, even when speaking
- Trouble fully closing the vocal folds, leading to falsetto or light note issues
- Talking voice feels tense or heavy
Never push through strong signals of vocal harm! Pause, recover fully (this may take a day or longer) and try a different approach.
Weak Signals of Vocal Harm (Signs of Technique Imperfections)
- Vague sensation of itchiness
- Subtle dryness or warmth after longer practice
- A vague sensation of tension in the throat that disappears after practice
- Slightly faster vocal fatigue compared to normal singing practice
Weak signals indicate that your technique is slightly off and needs refinement. With more practice and adjustments, these sensations should disappear completely. If they do not, you need to change your approach—persisting through weak signals over time can also harm your vocal health.
Signals may also fall between these two categories, blending elements of both. Regardless, they are essential to recognize and respect.
If you experience persistent changes in your voice that don’t resolve with vocal rest (and you can rule out having a respiratory track infection) you should see a physician to check on your voice.
What Other Sensations Are SAFE?
When singing with vocal effects such as arytenoid rattle, false fold distortion, or when doing false cord, fry screams, or hybrids, you may experience:
- Intense sensations of resonance: Bubbly, buzzy, or frizzy sensations in the mouth, face, nose, or throat
- Sensations of narrowing or (comfortable) restriction: A feeling that there’s a “lid” on top of your voice that vibrates or a sensation that your throat feels “closed” while still being relaxed and not tense
These sensations can feel frightening to some people because they are foreign and much stronger than the sensations we normally feel when singing or speaking. However, they are safe as long as they are NOT accompanied by signals of harm.
How to differentiate between Vocal Harm and Vocal Fatigue
Differentiating between weak signals of vocal harm and noticeable vocal fatigue is not so easy. Vocal fatigue is the normal process of your voice becoming tired after extended use. But how can we know if we are simply fatigued or have caused harm?
On the surface, fatigue can look similar to weak signals of vocal harm. Common descriptions of vocal fatigue include:
- High and difficult passages become more and more difficult to get right, leading to more cracks or more creaking
- The voice may feel a bit heavier than usual
- The voice starts to feel a bit dry
As you see, this partially overlaps with signals of vocal harm. To understand and differentiate between the two, we need to go into more detail.
Types of Fatigue
Execution Fatigue: Throughout your practice, you start to lose focus. This is similar to what happens when you study for too long. As a result of that loss of focus, you make mistakes. Now vocal coordinations are harder to execute correctly—your technique suffers. Poorly executed takes may harm you slightly, leading to weak signals of harm. These are not a sign that what you did was totally wrong; you just lost focus and slipped into a less safe technique variation.
Torso Muscle Fatigue: Just like your brain, the muscles you need for support and compression can fatigue. If you aren’t well-trained in loud singing or screaming with high compression levels (hypercompression), the abdominal muscles required for these activities can tire and fail to provide adequate support. As a result, vocal coordinations stop working as well, which can lead you to slip into improper technique and experience weak signals of harm.
Vocal Fold Fatigue: The vocal folds themselves can experience fatigue after extended use. This includes:
- Mucosal Dehydration: The vocal folds are covered in a thin layer of mucus that lubricates their delicate vibrations. Prolonged or intense vocal use can deplete this mucosal layer, causing the vocal folds to vibrate less efficiently. This makes precise coordinations, like accessing falsetto or sustaining high notes, more challenging.
- Muscle Fatigue: The muscles responsible for vocal fold closure and adduction can also become fatigued after prolonged exertion. As these muscles tire, it becomes harder to maintain strong closure, which may result in airiness, diminished resonance, or reduced control over pitch and tone.
Vocal Harm and Fatigue Overlap
Vocal fatigue and vocal harm signals can partially overlap and are related. As we become more fatigued, we are more inclined to make mistakes and slip into harmful permutations of otherwise healthy vocal coordinations. To some degree, vocal fatigue and very small vocal harm are the same thing.
To differentiate, consider:
- Time Frame: Fatigue after 10-15 minutes? Not normal. After 90 minutes? Normal.
- Difficulty Level: Is demanding repertoire more fatiguing? That’s normal since it’s harder to pull off without mistakes.
Key Takeaways to Differentiate Harm and Fatigue
- Vocal Fatigue: Typically improves after rest and hydration. If addressed properly, fatigue resolves without long-term issues.
- Weak Signals of Harm: Persist or worsen if you continue pushing through without adapting your approach. Ignoring these signals can lead to more serious vocal health problems.
Practical Tips to Delay or Combat Fatigue
- Hydrate: Proper hydration (not just during your vocal session, but also before and after) helps maintain the mucosal layer on the vocal folds, keeping vibrations smooth and efficient.
- Take Breaks: Avoid prolonged sessions without rest. Short, frequent practices are preferable to long, intense ones.
- Monitor Your Body: Listen to your voice and body. If your voice begins to feel heavy, dry, or sounds duller or thinner, rest and adjust your practice accordingly.
- Warm Up: Ease into the goal coordination. Do your technique in the lowest intensity and most familiar version first. Work with a vocal coach to establish a screaming warm up that caters to your specific technique.
- Cool Down: Gentle vocal and speaking exercises after practice can help reset your voice and ease any muscle tension.
Key Principles for Healthy Vocal Practice
- Frequency Beats Volume: Frequent, short sessions are key to building correct vocal patterns.
- Confidence and Experimentation: Don’t be afraid to try new things—making mistakes is part of the learning process. No master is born right away, and trust in yourself is essential for growth.
- Smart Practice and Adaptability: Listen to your body’s feedback and adjust your practice accordingly. Never push through signals of harm—rest and re-evaluate instead.
- Patience and Consistency: These foster long-term growth. One small and mindful step at a time goes the long arduous path.
- Vocal Health is the Foundation: If your voice isn’t healthy to begin with, even properly executed effects can still be harmful—focus on regaining vocal health first.
Frequently asked questions about vocal harm
,,I did something new and now I feel strong signals of harm. What should I do?’’
Stop practicing for today and try again tomorrow or in a couple days when your voice feels fresh again. Ideally, don’t try the exact same thing again. If after multiple days of rest your voice isn’t back to normal and you can rule out being sick, go see a physician like an Ear-Nose-and-Throat doctor. Persistent hoarseness or voice changes are not normal.
,,I did something new and now I feel weak signals of harm. What should I do?’’
If you are doing something new, try again and tweak it a bit to find a position, setting or variation of the sound that gives you no weak signal of harm. Especially for screaming vocals these tweaks can be:
- A different vowel. Closed (u, e) instead of open (ah, eh) or the other way around
- A bit higher or lower pitch
- A bit more twang and brightness
- A bit more compression (more rigid, stronger in the belly, but not louder)
- A bit more volume or a bit less volume
- “Letting go” of your throat. Imagining the sound is created by your mouth and the energy in your core but your throat “isn’t doing anything”.
- The thought of letting the vocal effect appear on its own, instead of trying to make it happen. Set it up right and stay on the pitch for longer and let the effect happen naturally while sustaining the note.
- Combining the exercises with a shift in posture. From standing straight to squatting, from arms straight out to pulled to you and vice versa. Posture shifts help us activate our abdominal muscles and let go of throat tension.
,,I am constantly getting weak signals of harm with a technique that I know and tweaks don’t help’’
You regularly do the technique a bit wrong and with every day you continue to do it this way you risk harming your vocal health. Seek a vocal coach that can help you with your goal technique or switch techniques and learn something else on your own, if tweaks to your technique don’t help. If you persistently get very weak signals after prolonged practice you might also be confusing these with normal vocal fatigue.
,,I can’t tell if I am just fatigued or experience weak signals of harm!’’
Please re-read the section about vocal fatigue and monitor yourself closely. In the end only you can determine what it is. A good indicator is also time frame and difficulty level. Do you get fatigued after 10-15 minutes? That is not normal. After 90 minutes? That is normal. Do you get fatigued doing basic exercises and singing normal repertoire? Not normal. After demanding repertoire? Normal. More difficult repertoire means more likeliness of execution fatigue.
,,Help, do I have a nodule?’’
Go to an Ear-Nose-and-Throat doctor and have them look. I cannot give you medical advice. Most nodules heal completely when the misuse stops and the voice is used correctly. The earlier nodules are recognised the better and the more likely it is that a complete recovery will happen. Once you are in the clear, learning vocal effects with a professional is recommended.
,,Help, I have a nodule!’’
Most nodules heal completely when the misuse stops, and the voice is used correctly. Your ENT will likely recommend speech therapy. Follow the medical advice of your health professional. Only once the underlying misuse that made the nodules appear is gone and your voice is completely healthy again and settled in your new and proper usage you can go back to learning vocal effects again.
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