Vocal Rehab… They fixed the “Instrument”, But… What about the “Player”?

When I’m talking to any singer, I always bring up to their attention, that they do represent the instrument, so to speak, and the player. In this instance, I mean that their physical body, their mental state, anatomy and physiology integrated and synergized, represent the actual instrument.

The support, the structure, the placement and projection of the voice to its aimed destination, represent the player.

The late celebrity pianist “Liberace” had always travelled with his favourite pink grand piano. Being the greatest pianist of all time, he definitely knew how to extract the maximum capacity from that instrument.

That’s what I call “The Total Performer”. I.e. He owned a great instrument and he was a brilliant player.

When the singer gets into vocal distress, the industry and naturally the doctors are concerned only about how to fix the vocal anatomy of the Artist.

And if it’s fixed successfully, they applaud to the highly qualified surgeon and applaud the Artist, as they think that all of their problems and Artist’s vocal problems are solved, and now, they will enjoy the “picnic” so to speak.

One thing they don’t take for consideration, however, that in reality, nothing has changed.

The Artist is still singing with the same vocal technique/voice application, which means, it’s only as a matter of time until the same, or worse, vocal damage will occur. 

So, I would say, that to work on the “fridge” is still good, but do not forget that the “stove” is still broken, and all the problems had begun because of the latter…

To conclude;

The moral of it is, that not only the singer is required to have a good voice and the vocal talent, but also, he/she needs to know how to operate the quite complex vocal machinery and take care of it, like you would take care of your car when you top up all the liquids and perform a full tune-up on it.

While at it, I hope that the designated driver remembers that the gas pedal is on the right and he does comply with the traffic regulations while driving and also, hopefully, the driver owns… THAT DAMN GPS!