WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DAMAGE MY VOICE?

  
 In part one we looked at some basic ways to prevent vocal problems. In this section we’ll look at what to do once you think you’ve hurt your voice.

  TEMPORARY DAMAGE

There are different levels of damage that can be done to the vocal cords. Most of the time, the kind of damage we do might be very temporary. For example:

• we’ve stayed up very late talking into the night.
• we over-sang this week because we were getting ready for a big production and attended five rehearsals—about four more than we’re used to.
• we attended a wedding and spent four hours at a reception trying to yell over the band.

All of these types of activities can produce the same general results. Sore and swollen cords.

When you wake up in the morning, your normally soprano or tenor voice sounds much like a froggy bass. If you ARE a bass you’re thrilled that you can FINALLY hit that low ‘C’!

This is a temporary, albeit troublesome, problem. There are some helpful things to do. The first thing your cords need is to REST. My guess is though—you can’t let them! It’s Sunday morning and you have to sing!

So here’s what you’re going to do. The minute you realize you’ve strained your cords, start to do everything you know to do:

• Get as much sleep as you can.
• Drink a bunch of water. 
• Turn on your vaporizer. 
• Don’t talk.

What else?

When you get up on the morning you HAVE to use your voice, take as hot of a shower as you can and keep the bathroom door closed and don’t use a n exhaust fan! Create a steam bath. Breath in deeply through you r nose.

After you’ve been breathing in this yummy moist air for about ten minutes, start to S-L-O-W-L-Y go through a very gently warm-up consisting mostly of gentle humming. Don’t push. Don’t look to get to the ends of your range, in fact avoid the ends of your range as much as possible when your cords are hurting. Sing quietly once you do start to practice.

More Stuff That Helps…and Hurts

Throat Coat.
Keep some Throat Coat by Traditional Medicinals handy at all times. You can always find it at GNC but my grocery store carries it as well.

When you use the Throat Coat, don’t be in a hurry to make it. Let it steep for as long as possible. I even make mine at night before I go to bed, wake up in the morning and re-heat it. Using boiling water and cover your cup to let it steep for a minimum of a half an hour to get the max benefits from the herbs. Make a double dose and bring it with you in your thermal coffee cup to sip on throughout the morning.

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