Non Surgical Voice Repair II: Might Herbal Remedies Be Instrumental in Susan Boyle's Case?

In the first article, “Non-surgical Voice Repair. What’s that? Does it apply to Susan Boyle as well now...?”, I described the Sony artist’s performance on The View as being an unfortunate precedent. In that article, I was talking about her (in my opinion) beautiful, however improperly used voice and about my revolutionary Vocal Science technique, which could (no doubt) remedy that problem. Sometimes a performer may severely damage his/her vocal cords, larynx and even the whole vocal box while using the incorrect technique. In this particular instance then, the performer’s “instrument” is at stake. 

In North America we have an expression, “He/she has a nice voice” (or good/great voice and what have you). That’s wonderful, but it’s only a description of the instrument. What about knowing how to “play” it? Imagine if Liberace, who had a famous great pink grand piano, suddenly would start playing it with his elbows? Funny, hah! But the singers with good voices, including Susan Boyle, are doing exactly that in a manner of speaking. And while doing that, they’re damaging their beautiful “instruments” and, needless to say, the expression “she has a good voice” becomes obsolete. 

The question now is how to fix the “instrument” and as a side effect, how to “fix” the player? 

For many years now, I’ve been using natural herbs and remedies which greatly aid the human voice. They lubricate the throat (you would not drive your car without lube and oil), they strengthen the vocal cords and they clean the vocal anatomy from excessive mucus and other pollutants. So, in this instance, the “instrument” will be taken care of. If the performer will stop “hammering” their newly tuned up instrument, he/she will be able to achieve what I call the “Total Performance”. At the same time, he/she will do a service to the public by not cracking his/her voice or stopping the performance all together, but rather the opposite: serenade the audience with a beautiful, coherent and intelligent sound. 

Wouldn’t any performer give their “right arm”, so to speak, to have a beautiful instrument and to know how to extract the most from it? After all, an artist like Susan Boyle cannot hide her vocal problems by dancing and prancing around as Britney Spears does. So many artists today have, nevertheless, 40 million dollar stages built for them with fireworks and pyrotechnics going off while they perform (Bono is a perfect example) HIT ORIGINAL songs and in sexy clothes and attire. Susan Boyle has a beautiful voice, but she performs covers in simple clothes on simple stages... and that is her charm: with an angelic voice she doesn’t need the other distractions. That means, however, that without her voice, she will (unfortunately) not be worth much, will she...? 

In short, if the damage to her voice is not properly attended to, it could be (God forbid)permanent and in this unfortunate instance she will have nothing left and neither will any  of the other parties involved (management and labels included).

Let’s hope that this will never happen, as it would make a lot of her fans also very sad.

Diana Yampolsky is the Master Vocal Coach, Studio Vocal Producer, and Non-Surgical Voice Repair Specialist at The Royans Professional Vocal School in Toronto, Canada. She is also the creator of the Vocal Science (TM) method and Talent Scout & Director for the 4 A.M. Talent Development and Artist Management Group Inc.

If you find yourself struggling with vocal performance or are in need of voice repair, you can reach Diana by email or phone, Toll Free in North America, at 1-888-229-TUNE (8863). Local and International Inquirers please call: 416-229-0976.

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