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What You Should and Shouldn't Eat Before Performing

Just to clarify: Nothing that you eat or drink can possibly have any direct effect on the quality of your voice. When you swallow, the food goes down your esophagus, and never comes in contact with your vocal cords. The following may effect other aspects of your performance (ie. breathing) but not the vibration of the vocal folds. For any of this to make any difference at all, it would have to be very soon before performing. More than four hours way? Eat whatever you want.

Overall health should come first. Remember that the best way to keep your voice healthy is to keep your body healthy, so eat a complete diet and keep your body hydrated.

Good

• water - in moderation. Remember that saliva is your mouth's natural lubricant, not water. If your mouth is dry from nervousness (not thirst) chew gum to keep it moist. Just remember to spit it out before you go onstage.
• citrus juice (you should water it down to avoid the "lumpy" feeling that too much acidity can cause in your throat)
• mints and mint flavored things (if you must have tea, this is the way to go)
  

Bad

• milk products (the lactose coats both throat and stomach and may effect your breathing)
• carbonated beverages (burping mishaps)
• sugary foods
• coffee (you're just asking for mucus buildup)
• leaving gum in your mouth while singing (It will cause you to start "hiding" behaviors to keep the gum from falling out of your mouth, which can cause tension and make you look silly. It will also increase saliva production which will cause you to swallow too often)

Additional Advice

• Anything can damage your performance if you consume too much. Singers and dancers suffer the most from overeating -- a full stomach puts pressure on the abdomen and prevents you from breathing properly, and can cause cramps. Whenever possible, eat at least a few hours before performing to give your body time to digest.
• Take a straw for drinks backstage so you won't mess up your makeup.
• Remember that everyone is different. While some people maintain that lemonade is great before a performance, I have always found that it gives me a lump in my throat if I don't water it down first. Experiment with different things until you find what works best for you. Then let me know!

Some Advice From A Contributor, David Newman

"While it is true that there are demonstrable effects from drinking milk, coffee, or juice, they vary greatly from person to person. I think all advice regarding foods to eat or avoid should be offered with a big caveat: determine how things affect you, and then act accordingly. There was a period when I was singing children's operas at 9 am every morning. I actually drank a pint of milk before each performance because it seemed to help me keep my cords lubricated. (In fact, in one of those shows, I played a wolf with an upset stomach. We filled a Pepto-Bismol bottle with Nestle's Strawberry Quik, which I drank throughout the show!)

Juice, on the other hand, tends to gunk up the works for me. I just don't worry about eating chocolate - it seems to have very little effect on me. I still drink coffee almost every morning, and the only effect I notice is that I am more awake! (I picked up this habit when I was singing in the Spoleto Festival in Italy. We often had rehearsal at 8 am. I knew I could either get up at 6 am and warm up, or get up at 7:30 and have a cappucino on the way to rehearsal. The effects of each of these choices was similar for me, and the latter was much more appealing!)

When I was in college, I dated a woman whose mother was a professional oratorio singer. We spent a few weeks at her home, during which her mother had several performances. For three days before each performance, she would adhere to a strict regimen, taking naps at a specific time, and only eating certain foods. She was completely stressed out and very difficult to be around during those times, because everything had to be "just so".

I quickly decided that if I had to live life so strictly around every performance, I would rather do something else for a living! So, I made up my mind never to get so obsessed with singing that it made life unpleasant.

In fact, most of the professional singers I know are fairly easygoing in this regard. They are aware of specific things that have an obvious adverse effect on them, and they don't spend much time worrying about anything else.

And, in fact, this affords them the ability to avoid what probably has the worst adverse effect on the voice - Stress!

For advice on avoiding stress, I highly recommend visiting the website of my friend and mentor David Gordon at http://www.spiritsound.com/quotes.html. Be sure to read "How to stay stressed"!"

Visitor's Advice

• I had a terrible experience at one competition (i'm a dancer). Me and a few of my fellow dancers were trying to eat SOMETHING before we danced because we hadn't eaten and someone had some grapes. It turns out that every single one of us that ate the grapes got terrible cramps while we were dancing. Therefore we have all sworn off of eating grapes before dancing =) -- Dinah
  
• Nothing with caffeine, it ruins your voice for several hours. Also chocolate and chewy candies can disrupt your throat and give you a lump in your throat and perhaps even a hoarse voice. -- Kelly
  
• I have always found that if you take 8oz. of water and add two drops of lemon juice (if you aren't suffering from a dry or sore throat) about half of an hour before performing, you can guarantee a clear, crisp voice. -- Sarah
  
• I swear by flat Cherry Coke, as for me, the syrup functions like throat coat...but tastes a lot better. -- R. Marie