It's getting to that time of year again... coughs, colds, flu, laryngitis, the germs are absolutely everywhere and short of never going out you simply can't avoid them. It's inevitable that most of us will, at some point this winter, contract a cold, and with it will come the coughing, sneezing and dreaded sore throat. Sore throats and voice issues are every singer's nightmare, and just like the common cold there are eleventy billion 'remedies' out there, most of which don't work. Remembering one simple fact can help you decide what works and what doesn't: the vocal cords need to be wet, and to do this the body produces and coats them in thin mucous. So, thin mucous is GOOD! When we have a cold, the mucous thickens and blocks up the sinuses as it's being used for trapping viruses and other nasties. But the good news is you can thin it back down by drinking lots of water. So. Here are some things you can do which DO work, and some things to avoid when you're singing: DO:
DON'T:
What about:
There is little or no evidence to show that drinking hot drinks or sucking glygerine pastilles will do anything to 'heal' a sick or overtired voice. The act of swallowing can have a beneficial massaging effect on the larynx so if you feel it helps, then go ahead and suck a menthol-free sweet (just not when you're actually singing, because that's a choking hazard!) Drinking hot drinks is also soothing and helps hydrate you, unless you put too much whisky in them, so don't stop doing it, just don't expect a magic act. *Don't put olbas oil or Vicks into the steam. Menthol activates the cold receptors in the nasal passages, causing irritation. The reason you feel so much clearer after a big sniff of a Vicks stick or sucking a Vocalzone is that your body has detected something very cold and has in fact numbed the area. If you sing with a numb sensation around your vocal cords you risk damaging them due to a lack of feeling, just as you would if you did strenuous exercise when you've taken strong painkillers. Most cough medicines are glycerine based and, while the placebo effect should not be underestimated, do not actually have any effect on your cough. Medicines containing guaifenesin (expectorants) are good as they increase thin mucous. Lastly, if your voice problem persists for more than two weeks you should go and see your doctor and ask to see an ENT who specialises in voice. REFERENCES:
COPING WITH COLDS: upper respiratory infections and the voice, by Sara Harris (Specialist Speech and Language Therapist and Team member, The Lewisham Voice Clinic, London) https://www.britishvoiceassociation.org.uk/voicecare_coping-with-colds.htm Voice care: Sorting fact from fiction; Lesley Childs, M.D. Otolaryngology https://utswmed.org/medblog/vocal-cords-care-qa/ Dr Jenevora Williams, pers comm.
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This year has given me some really exciting opportunities to expand my knowledge of vocal pedagogy, health and troubleshooting. This summer I was lucky enough to attend an Estill Voice Training levels 1 and 2 course. This is a vocal technique which was devised by Jo Estill in the 1980s, when she decided not to become a professional opera singer but instead devote her skills to researching how we do what we do with the human voice. Split into ‘figures’, the ultimate goal is to be able to master each facet of the voice in isolation. For example, you may be able to produce a wonderful operatic sound, but can you produce some of the constituent parts in isolation: twang (constriction of the aryeppiglottic sphincter), lowering of the larynx? And if you can’t, does it matter? The answer of course is no, it doesn’t matter. The goal for your voice is your own – make a sound you love and which you are happy to produce for other people. As long as you are singing in a healthy, sustainable way, and you are happy with your sound, of course you don’t need to know all this stuff. It helps if your teacher does though! To find out more about Estill Voice Training (EVT), click here. This week I attended a workshop on advanced vocal anatomy which included a full day of lectures from a laryngologist (basically a super-qualified ENT). I found the course enlightening as it allowed me to bring together everything I’ve been learning as part of my osteopathy degree, but I also sat through the lectures with one part of my mind always on my students. Which of my singers might this technique help? Which one might be suffering from this problem? I honestly found not a minute of it was wasted. On top of all the learnings I had the chance to have my own larynx scoped (video below) and was able to see how well (or not!) I can perform some of the Estill figures! I am planning to attend a vocal massage course at the end of November to further expand my skillset when it comes to working with vocal problems. If you have noticed a change in your voice (speaking or singing), or are struggling with range or tone don’t ignore it. The chances are that it’s something simple, but any change in your speaking voice that lasts for more than 3 weeks should be taken very seriously. God sent his Singers upon earth With songs of sadness and of mirth, That they might touch the hearts of men, And bring them back to heaven again. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Auditions! Concerts! Solos! Performances! An audience! All things that have some singers tying knots in their knickers and internally melting down. I'd like to just take a minute to share my thoughts here. I have always maintained that singing is all about performing. In your singing voice you have an innate ability to impart sounds that non-singers cannot, and thus, you should do so. Of course being able to sing in and for itself, and in private, is also fine, but the true singing voice is primarily a performance asset. 1. Audition, audition, audition I was given this advice at around the age of 18 by a casting director, and it has been one of the most useful things I was ever told. If there is an opportunity to audition, take it. It doesn't matter whether you would give your right arm for the role or opportunity, or if you know you're wrong for it or won't get through. In this case it really is the taking part that counts. By auditioning you are honing both your performance and your preparation skills. 2. Understand your lyrics I'm sure we've all sat through solos where the performer clearly doesn't understand or convey the meaning of what they are singing. That lucky soul may possess the ability to remember lyrics, but unless they can learn to interpret them they may as well not have bothered. If you are singing a song from a musical or opera it is essential that you watch the whole show and find out the context of that song. Not only will it help fill out the character you are portraying, but it will automatically create the dynamics and emotional tone of your song. 3. More is more There is no such thing as overacting in a solo performance. How many times have we sat uncomfortably through a song we know (and often love) where the singer is standing rigidly in front of us, not moving, not conveying any facial expression and just banging out the notes? That may just scrape you through an exam but it won't get you a repeat slot at any concert I'd pay money for! Take your character and run with it. And remember, you may think you are gilding the lily but you're probably doing only just enough. 4. Sack the critics What do Stephen Fry, Nicole Kidman, Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Elton (among many, many others) all have in common? They NEVER read reviews about their work. Simply put, it isn't healthy or productive. On a more sinister note it can even cause serious damage to your subconscious performing ability. Issues around self esteem and inhibitions are usually at the root of most people's fear of performing solo. Reading what someone thought of you the day after you screwed your courage to the sticking place and actually did it, can destroy months, sometimes years of hard work. And remember, as Benjamin Disraeli once famously said, "Critics are those who have failed in literature and art." 5. Be kind Lastly, and perhaps the most difficult thing to learn, is to be kind about every performance. This means always encouraging those who get the role when you don't, and don't do as well as they might. Always think how you would like to be treated. But most importantly, and I cannot stress this enough, be kind to yourself. Things go wrong on the night. They always have, and they always will. That microphone that 'someone forgot to switch on', that person sitting three rows back from the front eye-balling you, the heart-stopping moment the lyrics just vanish from your mind. Solos aren't all about how well you perform, they are also about how well you manage the bumps. So be kind to yourself, give yourself a pat on the back and start looking forward to the next opportunity. Note: These last two are going to form the basis of a much longer blog at a later date, as it's something that lies very close to my heart. It's been a quite extraordinary couple of weeks. I've got 10 wonderful students now, with voices in every range. These singers never fail to impress me with their dedication and determination to have a go. I particularly enjoy working through mental blocks, as this is something every singer has to negotiate at times. One of the most rewarding things once you've conquered your own personal roadblock is to revisit it way down the line and realise just how easy it was all along, you just needed the right tool to manage it. These blocks can come in all shapes and sizes: a fear of high notes, a difficulty negotiating the break point in your voice, a tricky rhythm, or my own personal favourite, learning to undo a bad habit you've spent years perfecting. What I've found really eye opening recently is watching light bulbs go on when my singers finally understand something. The sheer relief and joy in their faces when something makes sense or is no longer difficult gives me an unbelievably warm glow. I'm also finding that by working with singers with such different voices from mine that my own range is increasing. So this term I'm beginning work on a new set of songs which challenge me a little, including picking up some of my diploma pieces (which I sort of abandoned, sorry diploma). I'm going to be working on Solveig's Song (Grieg), Mozart's Alleluja and I really, really want to get going with a Bernstein number I've been itching to sing, 100 Easy Ways to Lose a Man. Here's a video of the utterly brilliant (and completely bonkers) Cecilia Bartoli singing the Alleluja. Stick with it, or for a taste of just how athletic the human voice can be, skip to 1:20 and enjoy the show (n.b. I don't think my vocal chords can do that...) I'm back! Having taken the plunge and gone part time with my job - ostensibly to accommodate my part time degree - I now have time during the week to take on more singing students. I'm really excited at the new voices I'm going to be working with as they cover all different types and ranges. If you could sing absolutely any song, what would it be? One of mine would definitely be this corker sung by Kristin Chennoweth, The Girl from 14G: After my first solo performance last weekend of the alto part in the Charpentier Messe de Minuit in Henley, I'm now working towards a performance workshop with Paul Arden-Griffiths at the end of March and desperately trying to select and learn two pieces for it. I have settled (I think) on the beautiful "Ah! Not a Drop!" which is a setting by Victorian composer Liza Lehmann of verses from the Rubaiyat of Omar Kayyam, and "Don't Tell Mama" from Cabaret (Kander & Ebb).
The first piece is really interesting as the first page of music is a capella (unaccompanied) and will be a real test of my tuning when the piano comes in! The words are about the link between what grows or falls onto the earth, and what lies beneath: And not a drop that from our Cups we throw For Earth to drink of, but may steal below To quench the fire of Anguish in some Eye There hidden—far beneath, and long ago. I sometimes think that never blows so red The Rose as where some buried Caesar bled; That every Hyacinth the Garden wears Dropt in its Lap from some once lovely Head. And this delightful Herb whose tender Green Fledges the River’s Lip on which we lean-- Ah, lean upon it lightly! for who knows From what once lovely Lip it springs unseen! The Rubaiyat is utterly lovely and if you haven't read it, you should. Apart from the fact that you will recognise many of the lines from it ("The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, moves on"), Khayyam was a true wine lover and his joy in the grape is evident throughout. The second piece is of course a Sally Bowles classic. I never got to do as much musical theatre as I'd have liked when I was younger and if there are two roles I yearned to do they were Eliza Dolittle and Sally Bowles. Both have some of the best songs ever written (a female lead with a character song?? You jest, surely!). Don't Tell Mama is a song Sally performs in the Kit Kat Klub, the words are self-evident: Mama, Thinks I'm living in a convent, A secluded little convent In the southern part of France. Mama Doesn't even have an inkling That I'm working in a Nightclub In a pair of Lacy pants. So please, sir. If you run into my Mama, Don't reveal my indiscretion, Give a working girl a chance. Hush up, Don't tell Mama, Shush up, Don't tell Mama... Don't tell Mama, Whatever you do. If you had a secret, You bet I would keep it. I would never tell on you. I'm breaking every promise That I gave her, So won't you kindly do a girl A great big favour? And please, my sweet patater, Keep this from the Mater, Though my dance Is not against the law. You can tell my Papa, that's all right, 'Cause he comes in here every night, But don't tell Mama what you saw! Mama Thinks I'm on a tour of Europe, With a couple of my school chums And a lady chaperone. Mama Doesn't even have an inkling That I left them all in Antwerp And I'm touring on my own. So please, Sir If you run into my Mama Don't reveal my indiscretion. Just leave well enough alone. Hush up, Don't tell Mama. Shush up, Don't tell Mama; Don't tell Mama Whatever you do. If you had a secret, You bet I would keep it. I would never tell on you. You wouldn't want to get me in a pickle, And have her go and cut me off without a nickle. So let's trust one another, Keep this from my mother, Though I'm still as pure as mountain snow. You can tell my Uncle Here and now 'Cause he's my agent anyhow, But don't tell Mama what you know. You can tell my brother, That ain't grim 'Cause if her squeals on me I'll squeal on him, But don't tell Mama, bitte Don't tell Mama, please, Sir. Don't tell Mama, what you know. If you see my, Mummy, Mum's the word! |
AuthorWhat I'm up to and what I'm thinking about. Nothing special! Archives
November 2019
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