If you want to instantly make a singer (or singing teacher) feel guilty, just ask them how much water they drink on the daily.

We all know the health benefits of hydrating. We all know that our bodies require hydration in order to function well. We all know that the vocal folds have a mucous membrane that needs to stay slippery in order to be able to oscillate efficiently and healthily to create sound, and that the best way to keep that mucous membrane slippery is to stay well-hydrated. (Okay, maybe we didn’t ALL know that last one.)

And, from my experience, nearly every single one of us has hydration guilt* from not drinking as much water as the should-monster** tells us we need to.

One thing you can do to start to slay that should-monster? Is drink 500 mls (approx 2 cups for those folks who are still using that super-antiquated system of measurement known as IMPERIAL. ahem.) of water before ingesting anything else in the morning. Yes. EVEN BEFORE COFFEE.

Try it out for thirty days. See if it helps you #singyourfaceoff even more than you already are …

*yeah … I made that one up #yourewelcome

** yeah … I made that one up too. #doublewelcome

ps Lyn-Genet Recitas uses a cool / easy-to-remember formula to figure out how much daily water intake is right for every body: divide body weight in pounds (yeah, pounds *eye roll*) by two and that’s how many ounces of water that body will likely be happy to have in a day. (So, a body that is 200 pounds will likely want to drink 100 ounces (or three litres) of water per day. #easypeasyright?)