Cairril:  Run, do not walk, to the nearest exit, and get away from this New Age idiot!  Your voice is being damaged, and you must stop before the damage becomes permanent.  The vocal folds are a muscle, and can be abused like any other muscle in the body, and repetitive stress is quite well known.  And they are also covered with skin, although internally rather than externally, and can be physically abused by overuse--which is exactly what vocal nodes are:  calluses on the folds from repetitive abuse. 

 

Any time something hurts, it's your body telling you "stop doing that."  Whatever "that" happens to be.  And you're getting that message loud and clear.  Your "leader" clearly knows little or nothing about the basic mechanics of singing, or of how the human body operates.

 

All the best,

John

I wouldn't jump to conclusions right away and call this woman an idiot persay, but I agree with John in that this director clearly doesn't know what she's talking about regarding vocal health/endurance/longevity.  But, she may very well be an inspiration and a good music educator in other ways, so without knowing more about her and about the rehearsal scene, I would not suggest abandoning the situation altogether. 

 

The reason people can sing for hours on end in other settings is because of vocal variation.  When singing from one song to the next, one style to then next, with various ranges, tessaturas, vowels, consonants, languages, styles, less/more vibrato depending on the music, our voices are in a constant state of flux and release, so it takes a long time to fatigue.  The voice is a fluid instrument.  It likes to change.  I always compare it to those colorful background screen savers in windows media player, that throw out various shapes and colors at various speeds depending on the music.  The reason they create those screen savers is so the light in our monitor doesn't burn a hole in the screen.  The voice works in the same way.  If there's too much light in one spot for too long, it'll can burn an image into it.  Or it's like rubbing one spot on your knuckle over and over.  You can kneed and fold your hands in varied ways, and your muscles won't get tired and your skin won't get blistered, but once you fixate on one spot too long, it irritates it, blood starts to flow there, it becomes soft, turns into a blister, and if you do it too deeply or too often in that same spot, the repeated damage will eventually turn into a scar (vocal nodule). 

 

My advice, if this director has other redeemable qualities:  Approach her in a kind way and say that at some points during these long repeated sessions intended for improv, you will be allowing yourself vocal breaks so your voice doesn't get too tired.  Reassure her about what you do enjoy about these sessions.  When you are doing these repeated things for a while, change vowels frequently, adjust your resonance back and forth, alternate between varying degrees of breathiness vs. connectedness - jump up or down the octave for periods of time - try to keep your vocal approach varied and fluid.  You may want to give her the heads up about this too, that you'll be experimenting with different sounds.  If you're bold, which I would be, go the extra distance and suggest that perhaps other singers in the group would appreciate the freedom to take little 20 second vocal breathers during these sessions, and experiment with different sounds/ranges.  I hope she would take it well and allow you the freedom to make some of your own choices, but if she doesn't take it well, then you may want to consider leaving the group.

 

I do honestly like her idea of having long improv sessions.  It gets the brain in the right groove, and is similar to a garage band's "jam session", which can be very inspiring, freeing and educational.  Maybe you can turn this one around into a positive so everyone wins.  Best wishes, Cairril, and keep us posted!

I think that for most people, it's just plain tiring to sing the same few notes over and over.  I sure wouldn't want to do it!  

 

Thanks to everyone who responded! I feel much better having some tools in my toolbox. Sing on!