Can excessive Shouting Damage Your Vocal Chords?

Question:Hello,

I am incredibly into musical theatre and intent to pursue it as a profession. I also cox for my school rowing club - this involves a large amount of shouting (about 4 hours spread over 3 alternate days). Will this damage my singing in the long term?

Thank you,

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Hello,

I am incredibly into musical theatre and intent to pursue it as a profession. I also cox for my school rowing club - this involves a large amount of shouting (about 4 hours spread over 3 alternate days). Will this damage my singing in the long term?

Thank you,

Hello Sam,

I think you hit upon the key when you used the term "excessive."

Shouting can take on one of two aspects: 1) very loud speech, in which your jaw and throat are loose and open and your sound is clear, resonant and unforced, and, 2) production of distorted sound, yelling, screaming, in which there is abandonment to feelings of excitement, fury or whatever (e.g., at a basketball game or swimming race) which quickly results in pain in the throat and temporary hoarseness or even loss of voice.

The second is damaging, and the pain and hoarseness are your body's red flags that this is not good for you. Any continued or repeated use of the voice in this way will indeed produce lasting damage to the voice - at a fairly rapid rate.

The first way of "cheering" or "shouting" described above will not harm the voice if produced for a short period of time with vocal rest in between. But, like driving a new 4-cylinder car at 150 mph, a car may be able to do that now and again with no harm, but driving that way constantly will wear the car out very quickly, besides resulting an a bundle of speeding tickets for the driver.

This should be a warning to you who wants to go into music theatre. The popular practice of "belting" is not unlike the use of the voice in description No. 1 above. A little now and then for expressive purposes may be ok, but should be balanced by a really good use of the voice that will allow a long career of singing.

Summer camps that "specialize" in music-theatre productions have a history of producing vocal damage in preteens and teenagers who feel they must belt everything, often exascerbated by producers who require or encourage it. My own observations indicate that there are a disproportionate number of kids who already have nodes and polyps on their vocal cords at those camps.

One only has to hear Julie Andrews now, after many years of belting on Broadway, and after surgery on her cords to know that belting - shouting over long periods - is harmful to the voice. The majority of the best music-theatre singers have learned to sing well. If you experience pain or hoarseness or chronic vocal tension due to the shouting you do for the rowing club, you need to listen to your body's signals and reconsider or...

May I suggest using a megaphone or at least a "cone" to accoustically amplify your sound so that you don't have to shout.

I think your concern is legitimate, and if you're careful you can do both - "cox for your school rowing club" and do musical theatre.

Best wishes to you.

i dont think it would, unless if you do it continuously for years. good luck!

Singing too much at a young age destroyed the career of Mario Lanza. He was warned but took no heed.
If you didn't know of him, he was considered the next Enrico Caruso.
From that, I would guess the answer is yes.