Regina Swarn Audio Series Presents
Life Topics, Real TalkLove and Relationships, Religion, Music, Movies, Reviews, and more.The content on my Podcast is G-rated (for all ages)😎I promise you won't be disappointed! My Disclaimer Is **I'm Not A Doctor**I'm Not A Lawyer**I'm Not A Nurse**I'm Not A PsychiatristTopics I Discuss are solely my opinion.
Regina Swarn Audio Series Presents
The Microphone Is My Best Friend: A Singer's Guide to Staying Sharp
Your voice is a remarkable instrument that requires consistent care and attention to maintain its power, range, and expressiveness. When left unused, even the most extraordinary voices can deteriorate—much like a car that sits too long in a garage, eventually struggling to start.
Drawing from decades of experience as both a performer and voice trainer, I share my passionate perspective on vocal maintenance and why singers must never stop practicing. While recording and public performances may come and go, daily vocal exercise remains critical for preserving your instrument. My own journey illustrates this principle—though my voice reached its peak during years of active performance with my sister Lora, I never stopped singing daily, ensuring I remained ready whenever opportunities arose.
Age inevitably affects our voices, but consistent practice prevents complete vocal loss. I recommend even just ten minutes daily of scales, favorite songs, or simple exercises to keep your voice "oiled up." For those who haven't sung in years but wish to reclaim their voices, I offer encouragement: start slowly, rebuild gradually, and treat your voice with the patience it deserves. Whether you're performing for audiences or just for your household pets (as I often do!), maintaining that connection with your voice preserves not just technique but the joy of expression.
Keeping your musical gifts active honors both your talent and its divine source. I believe these abilities are meant to be nurtured and shared throughout our lives. Whatever your musical ability—singing, drums, guitar—don't let it fade through neglect. With consistent care and practice, you won't just maintain your skills—you'll continue to grow and improve with time. How are you keeping your voice or instrument tuned up today?
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Doremi fa sola tida. Doremi had a good week. I hope you're staying blessed, staying safe, dealing with that stuff they call pollen. Yeah, I'm doing a bonus pop-up podcast here and I want to talk about keeping your voice tuned up, and I'm going to tell you what I mean by that in a moment. First, I'd like to give you a place that you can contact me. Contact me at swornretina at gmailcom. Now, this is a bonus pop-up. I've been doing a lot of bonus pop-ups lately. My bonus pop-up. Sometimes they don't have music behind them. Most of the times they don't have music behind them. I just want to speak to you, encourage you, so I want to first, another thing I want to do is thank you all for checking out my other podcasts that I've made since March 7th. My new year starts on March 7th. A lot of people don't understand that, but my new year starts March 7th, so that's that. That's that. I also want to thank those who support this podcast by sharing it and those who support it by the contributions that you make to this podcast. Thank you so much. Thank you so so much.
Speaker 1:I want to speak about keeping the voice tuned up Now. That's very important If you are a singer and I'm going to specifically speak on singers because I can speak on a musician playing a guitar or whatever. I'm going to speak on a musician, a person that sings. A lot of times your voice is like an automobile, like a car. If you don't keep it polished, if you don't keep it active, if you don't keep it tuned up, then it would kind of go away. I mean, it started getting little cracks in it and things like that and before you know it, you literally got to start all the way from scratch again, if that sometimes your voice is going for good. So, as a voice trainer yes, I do train voices as a voice trainer. The one thing I noticed over the years because I used to love this song, I got the music in me. I got the music in me. You.
Speaker 1:Maybe you got the music in you now, but if you stop singing, if you stop using your voice, if you stop keeping that voice tuned up, then you will begin to lose it. You'll start to lose dynamics of the voice and things that you could do with the voice now over time. Yes, age is going to play a significant part, but there is no reason why your voice should be gone completely, guys. You got to keep your voice should be gone completely, guys. You got to keep your voice tuned up. Again, I said it's like an automobile, like a car. If you let that car sit in the garage, let it sit for a number of years, even months, you may have problems starting it up. You got to keep that car cranked up. You got to keep that car crank up. You got to keep that voice crank up.
Speaker 1:Now I'm just recording some music over the last six months to the year I'm recording again, but before that I hadn't recorded. But I never stopped singing and a lot of people say to me sometimes they say you don't sing anymore, why? No, you haven't heard me make a recording in a minute. But that doesn't mean that I ever stopped singing. I'm always. I got a microphone, I got a studio, I got things set up, equipment set up in my home where I constantly, every single day, practice my voice, singing songs on the microphone, with the microphone, without the microphone, keeping my voice tuned in tune, tuned up. And that's why when I go sing at different organizations for different establishments, that's why my voice is just as strong as it was when I was singing and doing programs with my sister Laura, with my sister Laura.
Speaker 1:Now, mind you, age will play a little part in that. If you, no matter how much you practice in singing, age is still going to play a little part in that Not completely, but it will play a part in it. As you get older, your voice, you know, tends to taper down just a little bit. But as long as you keep that voice, you know tend to taper down just a little bit, but as long as you keep that voice oiled up, there's no need or no reason why your voice shouldn't have a good, strong presence and why you shouldn't be able to present a song. For instance, last Sunday I was able to sing Through the Storm and Dear Jesus, I Love you, a favorite from the Walter Hopkins and a favorite from Yolanda Adams. I was able to sing those two songs at a birthday church celebration for my former co-worker. I could not have done that or did that unless I had been keeping my voice tuned.
Speaker 1:I keep my voice tuned at all times. I don't every day I wake up I say a word of prayer. That's number one. That's number one. But if you are singers out there, say your voice was at its peak 20 years ago or 15 years ago, or 10 years ago or 5 years ago, and then you are not as active on a stage or what have you. Don't let your voice down, meaning, don't let it go. Don't stop singing, continue to sing. Continue to keep that voice oiled up, even if you're singing around the house, even if you're singing, yes, in the shower, I don't care what you're doing, keep that voice tuned, keep your skills.
Speaker 1:I'll go as far to say is keep your skills tuned up, because if you are a musician, if you are a guitar player I also play chords, guitar, acoustic, and so I had kind of tapered off just a smidgen and I had to just start from scratch, because I am also. I play by ear, but I'm also a trained uh, guitar player. I went to school for it to play gospel guitar, but I did it just a little bit, I didn't. When a guy was training me to play guitar, he said are you sure that you've never taken any guitar lessons? I'll never forget this in a million years. And I'm kind of jumping the court, jumping the topic here. I said I promise you I have never played guitar in my life. He said well, obviously you play by ear because you are catching on to things that most people have to really study. So I say that to say, come back to this. I had kind of put my guitar down for a minute and I picked it up the other day because I still write songs, I still do things, play chords or whatever with my guitar. I still do that.
Speaker 1:But my voice, that microphone, is my best friend. I get that microphone sometimes and I'm singing away. I am singing away and I don't. If you're a drummer, you're a hot drummer right now and I know my, my, my nephew is a hot drummer right now. Um, chris, he's really, really good. He's also a singer. I can tell when somebody can sing. Oh my god, he's got a voice. I encourage his mom to encourage him to keep singing because I can hear, I can. A singer can tell when other people can sing and he, he's got a voice. He keep that voice tuned up and in practice, and he's gonna tell him what can happen for him.
Speaker 1:But back to my topic. You got to keep your voice tuned, you got to keep your skills tuned up. Again, no matter what you do in life, keep it tuned up, don't stop. I mean, just hone those things in every single day. I don't care if it's but 10 minutes a day. You may say, okay, I'm gonna get my prayer in, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do that sing. I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do that play the drums. I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do that strum your guitar. Do something. Don't let these skills, that gift, go to waste, because at some point, if you stop singing, if you stop singing for a good period of time, then your voice is going to begin to diminish.
Speaker 1:I know what I'm talking about guys. I am a singer, I train voices. I'm talking about guys. I am a singer, I train voices, and so I I know about different voices. I could. I'm working right now with some little kids voices, um, with a little chorus, nothing major, not simply orchestra or anything like that but, um, I'm working with some kids voices and I can tell the singers, and I can tell the ones who are just good at what they do, but if they keep working at it, that the voice is going to build up and sound better and better and better.
Speaker 1:So if you got a voice out there and you're a singer right now in your voice, my voice was at its peak, uh, during the years that my sister and I were doing our programs. Uh, we were doing our programs roughly the late 90s, 2000s, mid 2000, end of 2000, 2012, or before Laura left and moved away, I meant, and so my voice was at its complete peak at that time. So, as time passed, you know again your voice kind of, as you get older, your voice kind of tapered down just a little bit, but your voice. There's no reason why your voice should completely be diminished just a little bit but your voice. There's no reason why your voice should completely be diminished or go away unless you're not using that voice. You got to use it. You got to continue to practice around the house, practice any chance you get.
Speaker 1:That's why when someone asks me a job or wherever I am, to sing a song, I don't hesitate. I'm not afraid of people. I'm not afraid when it comes to singing. People say you act so shy and I am typically a shy person but if you ask me to sing a song, I will not hesitate. If someone ever asks me to sing a song, a lot of times people be testing you to see if you can sing at all. But if they know me, they know that I sing.
Speaker 1:I come from a singing background. My mother was a singer. Yeah, my mom was a singer, and so the good part of my family at least 80% of my family are singers or some kind of musicians. They was blessed with that gift and that's a gift from God, so you got to take that very seriously. If you got a voice, don't stop singing. Continue to sing, continue to practice that voice, continue to keep it oiled up. Continue to practice that voice, continue to keep it oiled up Because, at the end of the day, if you keep a car sitting in your garage for some years and it's just sitting there, you don't crank that car up.
Speaker 1:I don't care if it's a brand new, beautiful car sitting in that garage. You still got to go out there and crank it up, drive it around the block a couple of times and then put it back in the garage if that's what you want to do, but just keep it active. The same thing with your voice. You got to keep your voice active and, as a voice trainer, my advice to those who are singers, potential singers, or especially those who are singers, potential singers, or especially those who sing and got decent voices but have not sang a song in years. Start out slow, like a baby, all over again. Start it slow. Do your do re mi fa sol la ti? Do Do re mi fa sol la ti do? I mean you know, just talking. I always practice that. I love that and I do that sometimes before I sing or if I got an event to do, and it works like a charm. But if you are singers, don't stop singing, because that's probably one of the worst things you can do.
Speaker 1:A singer that doesn't keep their voice tuned up is like a person that don't get up in the morning and pray over their day. That's the best I can put it. So keep your voice tuned up. Pray over their day that's the best as I can put it. So keep your voice tuned up. My voice is a little raspy this morning Because I'm about to lay back down. I got a busy weekend. I'm about to lay back down. Guys, I'm a little bit tired, but I'm going to lay back down, get a couple more hours of sleep and then I'm going to get back up. So all of that plays a part in it Getting rest, getting sleep. If you work like I do and you do the things I do, you have to definitely keep that voice tuned up. And again, my little pop-up bonus has gone over the time, but I don't care, because I'm giving you a good word of encouragement this morning. So I don't care how hot a singer you are, keep that voice tuned up.
Speaker 1:If you haven't performed live in front of people in a while, just take your microphone. I do this. I get in front of my cats and I got my microphone and I'm standing up there and they're a good audience, those cats. They sit there and they just look at you like crazy. But they sit there and they look and they listen, they're listening and I'm sitting there just singing away. You know, storm of life will blow there, should come and go. You know I just keep my voice tuned up and some of my favorite singers are I love Jermaine Hawkins, the Hawkins family.
Speaker 1:My favorite singers are I love Jermaine Hawkins, the Hawkins family, my favorite singers across the board. They are my favorite. I also love the old songs by Yolanda Adams. I love, as far as, if I get to say, secular music. I love Ann Wilson Hart. I love Linda Runstad. These are the people I like. Olivia Newton-Chan I listen to these voices and I, you know, I sing their songs very often and, yeah, just keep those voices tuned, because the one thing you don't want is to be a singer who has a beautiful voice, who has had a beautiful voice back in the day, and now you can't even really hit a note.
Speaker 1:So my advice to you out there, if you're like that, start from scratch again, if you really want to sing again, because the music is still there, but you got to oil it back up. It's got to be oiled, guys. You got to keep it oiled up. I am, I'm not in my studio room, so this is like a pop-up bonus. I hope this encouraged some of you out there today to keep your skills, your voice, particularly what I'm talking about today. Keep it oiled up again. If you play instrument, keep that instrument oiled up Again. If you play instrument, keep that instrument oiled up. If you're a drummer you used to play drums, you used to play guitar keep saxophone, whatever Keep it oiled up and you'll be surprised, all those years later you still got a good voice, because it is, after all, the anointing that breaks the yoke. But god wants these voices and these instruments, or whatever. He wants those to continue to be used. Don't stop singing. So the next time a person asks you, but is she still singing, you tell them yes, she is still singing and I'm telling you right now, I, I'm still singing. I never, ever stop singing. So that's my pop-up bonus podcast for today.
Speaker 1:I'm Regina Swarn. Thank you for joining me for Regina Swarn Audio Series Presents. I appreciate the ones who are, you know, are supporters of this podcast. It means a lot to me, the ones who share my podcast. I thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. Let me just say from all of my heart. I don't like to say the bottom of my heart, I like to say from my heart, or from all of my heart, because the bottom just means from the bottom of my heart. I don't know why I like to say from my heart or from all of my heart, because the bottom just means from the bottom of my heart. I never liked that, but yeah. So thank you to all who supports my podcast. I appreciate it. It's just a little old podcast but it's growing by the minute.
Speaker 1:So I hope this podcast today, this topic, resonated with you. It was another bonus podcast for you out there. Hope you enjoyed it. Hope you have a wonderful day. May God bless and keep you. Don't forget, keep those voices, keep those skills. Sharpen up and you're going to only get better with time. Dore mi fa sola tida, have a good day.