Jahmene – PRESHOW RITUALS

In this Preshow Rituals segment, the pop artist, Jahmene, shares what he does before every show. You can check out his rituals, after the break.

Before any show it is incredibly important, for my type of singing, that from the morning I wake until that moment I step onto the stage, to prepare and preserve my body and vocal chords.

Starting in the morning I will always have a hot steam like shower to help shift all the mucus from my throat and ensure my airways are as clear as can be. It also helps remove that groggy feeling in the throat that can follow you through to a lot of the day and I usually won’t leave until the steam has worked it’s magic.

Im also aware of what I eat as its important and affects my performance, from the time in the morning to before the show. It’s not good to perform after a meal as that weighted stomach will be pressing on your diaphragm making you short of breath and I’ve learnt it’s also not smart to eat too much sugar running up to the show as it can leave you with a sugar dropped low and a quickly drying out throat.

Dairy is a no go too. It is good to stay hydrated but not bloated. Unfortunately for me I cannot nap so a decent nights sleep is needed as an unrested throat will have tight vocal chords and you’ll pull muscles in your neck and won’t be able to hit those all important notes.

I find arriving in good time helps that build up to the show. If you are too early you risk losing that vocal stamina as you anticipate show time, working your body into becoming tense as you wait. My nerves are always calmed by knowing that I have worked through any sound issues during soundcheck – soundcheck is vital, and I have bought a reverb pedal to take over a bit of control on the stage to ensure I have a good sound in the worst of situations.

I warm up by singing from the bottom of my scales through to the top of my range and I always sing the hardest parts out loud to know that I can sing them live. I find humming high and low helps stretch those vocal chords and operatic singing.

I need to be centred before stepping out to sing. I avoid overly talking and laughing with my team. Talking also reduces your voice and often I find my voice drys out quicker if I’ve talked too much before. I pray too, I remind myself of the reason I sing and the excitement of ministering with my voice in the hope to uplift people. Every now and then I’ll seek inspiration and zone out to “A Quiet Place” by Whitney. With my spirit now focused and calm I feel ready to embrace the stage.

I also create a drink which is a specific mixture of ingredients kept within my metal flask. It contains freshly sliced ginger, (which you can leave in a little bit of water over night for that extra kick), Manuka Honey 10+ and up, (avoiding all honey with sugar, you want the natural stuff), and hot water.

I feel that simple mix really helps lubricate the throat. The trick is to sip and not just drink off a whole mug full like a hot chocolate. I’m not a fan of lemon because that dries out my voice.

My advice for those worrying if they are ill is to avoid cough medicines, vocal zone and other medicines like that because they numb the vocal chords and when you sing using unwell numbed vocal chords you’re at the risk damaging the oscillating flaps because you can’t feel the pain warning you to stop.

Stick to the hot water, fresh ginger, manuka honey and steam like showers.
All you need to do is remove the mucus and warm up the vocal chords the best you can. For that extra bit of help you can suck on aniseed balls, which are actually a natural key ingredient in a lot of the throat medicines, but the good part. I also recommend adding really really soft liquorice into a hot flask for an extra boost when needs be, (i’d reconmend Darrell Lea.) Organic Throat Coat is a saving grace by Traditional Medicinals when I’m really under the weather, which you can find online. Avoid caffeinated things. When REALLY ill I will actually just chew on a piece of ginger.

So with an enthused and settled spirit and with a lubricated, warmed up and mucus free throat … I’m ready to perform.

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