vocalrecovery-blog

[vocalrecovery-blog]

So Close...

As I am writing this I am almost at one hundred percent. I can feel how my voice has healed over these past two weeks. It feels like my voice has made so much progress from not being able to sing at all. Everything feels like it has paid off wonderfully. I am still not allowed to sing for another week. This will probably be harder, since I feel like I am able to sing now.

I am still dying of boredom in Choir class. I do not even bother with following along with the music anymore because I know it by heart at this point. This has become the worst part of my week. I can barely bring myself to attend the class without singing anymore. 

I have been thinking that I will keep doing these remedies even after my voice is back to full strength. They seem to take care of my voice really well so why not keep them in my routine. This especially goes for the Throat Coat tea and the excessive amounts of water. 

My sports have been going well, I am on two intramural soccer teams that seasons start this weekend. I am having a really good time with this and I am glad that I have joined. The only thing wrong with this is that I can not communicate well with my team mates because of my voice rehabilitation. This is ok because the defense communicates for me most of the time.

The songs that I have been learning the paste few days are Banana Pancakes by Jack Johnson, Bastard by Ben Folds, and December by Neck Deep. These are songs I have heard recently and decided to learn them. They are very simple for the most part. I highly recommend them.

[vocalrecovery-blog]

Not Quite There Yet

I feel like I am almost back to normal. I am still feeling the occasional scratchiness in my voice. My voice also still occasionally cracks when I speak. This has been one of the most annoying times of my life. Not being able to speak as much as I want to has been really hard. It has been even harder not being able to sing though. I have not sang once since my last post. I have only said about fifty word over the past three days. This has been maddening, but it will be worth it if my voice returns to normal.

I am still combatting sleep in my Choir class. This has been just as boring as ever. The only reason I go is so I do not get counted absent. I have been considering skipping after they record attendance. Although I have been to scared to try it. It is probably for the best I would probably just get in trouble.

I have found a special tea that is called Throat Coat. This tea soothes the throat by using slippery elm and many professional singers swear by it. This has been added to my many throat care rituals.

Recently I have been passing time by playing sports. This is because I have noticed how out of shape I have become. I have mostly been playing soccer, but have also been playing some basketball. I played both these sports in high school. I am a point guard in basketball, but a goal keeper in soccer. Most people think I am too short to be a goal keeper, which is completely understandable. The average goal keeper is at least 6′2 while I stand at a smaller 5′6. This also applies in basketball where I have quite the disadvantage.

[vocalrecovery-blog]

I am seeing progress

I tried singing by myself the other day, and it did not hurt during or after. Now I know I am on the right path. This has been such a relieving day. I can actually see the progress that I have been striving for. This is confirmation that the remedies are working well with the combined rest. I am not getting ahead of myself though. There is no way that I am going to waste all this progress. I am going to keep doing what I have been doing. This means hot tea, spoon falls of honey, breathing steam, gargling hot salt water, and drinking lots of water.

I had to give a five minute speech the other day, so I was afraid that this would cause harm to my voice. It went well, and I was glad to find that it did not irritate my voice. Of course, before I gave the speech I had some honey with me. This really took a lot of stress of my vocal speech. In Choir class nothing has really changed. I am still just sitting in the stands, watching everyone sing. They are still practicing for the next concert at the end of April. I really hope I will be able to perform with all my friends. I still have not been able to get a date for my scholarship audition from my professor. This is really starting to agitate me.

The songs I have been learning this week are Something in the Between by Toh Kay, Badfish by Sublime, and Almost by Bowling for Soup. I have been on more of an acoustic kick lately, and these are all easily played on acoustic guitar. Badfish is probably the most fun to play. It is also one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite bands.

[vocalrecovery-blog]

Slowly But Surely

The more time that passes the slower the progress seems to be moving. I just wish my voice would come back to be full force. It agitates me to no end not being able to speak as much as I want to., I am still observing all my class mates sing while sitting in the stands of Mathes hall. I did not think it could become even more boring but some how it has. I have been finding it harder to follow along with my music because of how tedious it has become without actually singing. Although the progress seems to be slow I can still feel it happening. I have been finding it hard to listen to music anymore. I just want to sing along with it. I want to try to reschedule my scholarship audition, but my professor has been absent from class for the past few days. This has been stressing me out for the past few days. Bucsworth is already practicing for their next concert while I am just sitting, and waiting around.

I have been keeping up all my vocal rituals and have even added one. This new remedy is gargling salt water. This is supposed to hydrate and moisturize the vocal folds in the throat. It makes my throat feel refreshed and rejuvenated. Although there is still the irritability and inflammation, this makes it feel better.

I have not learned any new songs this week. I have been mainly focusing on mastering songs that I already know. One song that I re-learned was Buddy Holly by Weezer. This song has one of my favorite solos that is incredibly fun to play.  Another song I have been perfecting is Goldfinger’s version of 99 Red Balloons. This song is just as catchy as the original but has electric guitars instead of synths.

[vocalrecovery-blog]

Getting Better

I have made some minor improvements during the second half of the week., but I can feel my voice getting stronger with every passing day. I can not wait until I am able to sing in class once more. This has been such a strenuous week. Whenever I was stressed out, I would sing along with my favorite songs and it would help to ease my anxiety. Not being able to do this is really a challenge. I do not understand how people can hear music and not have the constant urge to sing along. I have continued all the remedies that I described in the last post and I believe that they are helping to some degree. I have stopped putting lemon in my tea because I read somewhere that the citric acid agitates the throat. If this is true it could cause problems, so I just cut it out all together. When I go to my choir class, while everyone else is singing, I sit in the back and follow along with my sheet music. This has been very mundane compared to singing with everyone. This has definitely not been an enjoyable experience. It is even worse because I have had to miss my audition to get my scholarship renewed for next semester.

I still have been keeping myself busy with instrumentals. I have been focusing mostly on songs that have intricate guitar parts or solos. This included the song Patients by Guns N Roses. I love this song because of the combination of intricate solos and simple chord progression. I have also been learning Welcome Home by Coheed and Cambria. This song is fun to play because of all the little riffs you get to learn. The opening riff is my favorite.

That is all for now but I will keep posting.

[vocalrecovery-blog]

First Few Days

Over the first few days I have already noticed big improvements. My throat is not nearly as irritated as it has been over the last few weeks. It has been very frustrating not being able to sing. I have to turn my radio off in my car so I will not give in to temptation. It also makes me mad that I had to miss one of the biggest concerts that the Bucsworth Men’ s Choir will ever perform. We sang the choir parts to Verdi’s Requiem with an eighty piece orchestra. I still attended, but was not allowed to perform. They performed wonderfully. Bucsworth completely out did everyone else that was there.

Next, I have been treating my voice very well. I have barely spoke for the past few days. I have been trying to drink two cups of tea a day while also trying to drink eight to ten glasses of water a day. If I am going to a class that requires me to speak I eat one table spoon of one hundred percent pure honey. This coats my throat and vocal chords which puts less strain on my voice. This comes in handy for my argumentation and debate class. I have not been able to eat anything with any kind of spice in it. I have been boiling water while sitting under a towel. This allows me to breathe in the vapor, which basically moisturizes the vocal chords and folds. I have mostly been eating soup.

I have been keeping music in my life by learning new songs to play on my guitar and ukulele. These can range anywhere from classic rock, punk, pop, or alternative. This allows me to stay connected to music while keeping my voice in check. This is also helping me get even better at playing my instruments.

[vocalrecovery-blog]

Explanation

About a month ago I went on tour with East Tennessee State’s Bucsworth Men’s Choir. We went to numerous high schools to perform our set, and try to recruit up and coming singers for our program. We had four shows over the course of nine hours. When we were done I noticed my voice was considerably weaker than usual. I thought it just needed a few days of rest, so I thought nothing of it. I then went to class four days later thinking everything was fine, but after two songs I felt like I could not sing anymore. This scared me, so I just lip synched for the rest of class. I decided to do this until my voice got better. I waited for about two weeks, but it seemed like I wasn't making any progress. Then I decided to visit the doctor, and he got me an appointment with an ear, nose, and throat, specialist. It felt like forever while I was waiting in the waiting room. Eventually the doctor took me into her designated room. I described the situation with my irritated throat and she said she would perform a laryngoscopy to look at my vocal chords. She proceeded to shoot this numbing spray into both of my nostrils. This made my nose, mouth, and throat numb. After that she took this long, flexible camera, and stuck it into my nose. The camera then made its way down my throat, so it could see my vocal chords. When she was done looking at my vocal chords she carefully removed the camera from my nose. She then told me I have singers nodes on my vocal chords. I now can not sing for two weeks and have been told to talk as little as possible. This blog will record my vocal progress back to full health.