April 4, 2025

What’s amazing to me about Sen. Cory Booker (NJ) speaking for over 25 hours this week is that his voice was not trashed at the end of it. He sounded tired, sure, who wouldn’t? But the next day, his voice was fine.

I credit this to a couple of things. He doesn’t bear down on his voice to amplify it, and he uses his whole body to support it.

Said another way, his everyday habit is to speak in an easy, flowing way, and he regularly uses good breath support. After years of public service, he’s figured out what works for him to keep his instrument in “fighting” shape, all the time.

Standing for those 25 hours and 5 minutes can’t have been easy, but, given the circumstances, standing to speak was the best thing for his vocal health.

Of course, maybe predictably, some urologists are up in arms. Intentionally dehydrating yourself is a bad idea. Maybe they’re afraid we’re all going to run out and give 25-hour speeches now?

I think there’s little chance of that, but they do have a point. Everything in the body works better when we’re well-hydrated, especially the voice, especially if you’re not a professional voice user like Sen. Booker.

If you’re heading out to protest tomorrow, maybe don’t have wine or beer with dinner tonight (alcohol is dehydrating), and plan take a water bottle with you.

Take a kazoo or a cowbell so that you don’t have to use your voice the whole time. Bring some throat lozenges. Notice if you’re straining your voice. Stop shouting or singing before you get tired.

Trust that there will be a port-a-potty when you need one. Or, if you decide to intentionally dehydrate, commit to not shouting or singing. Play a cowbell instead.

And if your voice needs some TLC, check out this podcast episode. There are many inexpensive remedies that can help you get back to normal, faster.

I hope this finds you as well as can be.

Please reach out if your voice needs any help.