Vocal Labour - Vocal Delivery, Part 2

About 7-8 years ago I was to publish my second book which would be called “Vocal Science – Flight from the Virtual Music to Reality”. 

I did not end up publishing it, but I got it written and even illustrated by the same artist who illustrated my first book “VocalScience – Flight to the Universe” which came out in February of year 2000. 

One of the chapters I named, “Vocal Labour – Vocal Delivery”. 

At that time I was referring to a difficult singing student who had not much vocal talent and who had difficulty to release old habits and adopt new ones. 

This time I would like to speak more about my voice repair clients, and more so, speakers rather than singers.

As I mentioned in one of my recent blogs, it is evidently much harder to work with speakers than singers, as speakers are just ordinary people who by chance have lost/damaged their voices; whereas singers have been much more aware that there is a huge task and demand being put on their singing voices, and thus at any given time they could expect that the vocal injury may occur. 

While the ordinary speakers are being taken by a “big surprise,” their distress, disappointment, fear and panic had a huge impact on their psyche and emotions. 

Some of them never could suspect that something wrong may happen with their voice, let alone almost losing it completely.

At first these people are usually in denial, then they become angry that it happened to them, then they question why it happened to them, and not knowing the answer or how to solve the problem, they go to a deep depression. 

However, with help from their relatives and friends, they gradually, at least on the surface, come out of the depression; or at least the people close to them think so. 

Then everybody goes to research how to solve this unpredicted voice problem and finally they land at my studio for a non-surgical voice repair course and natural herbal treatment. 

The sound of it is very innocent and very promising, however, it is not at all as easy as it sounds for all the parties involved.

As I indicated in my first chapter, “Vocal Labour – Vocal Delivery,” I do engage myself fully in the process of instructing the student and, more so, while nurturing the vocally injured person in front of me.

Those innocent sufferers unfortunately have no idea what it entails. 

I have to engage very deeply into them and connect with them almost like by the “umbilical cord.” 

For the greater success, I have to think what they think, and feel what they feel, which I definitely have the unique ability to do so.

That’s where the whole story begins to unravel; all the scare, all the fears, all the frustration, all the tears, and yes, complete deeply hidden depression surfaces outright. 

Especially those with muscle tension dysphonia and spasmodic dysphonia are holding on tight to their neck muscles and afraid to let go, while concurrently their head and their emotions are playing a number on them. 

Both, muscle and spasmodic dysphonia, are very nasty vocal diseases and it’s extremely difficult to get rid of them, especially from spasmodic dysphonia.

Again, as strange as it sounds, it is much easier to cure or at least to improve the vocal condition with singers rather than speakers. 

The singers know what the hard work is, they’re very goal oriented and know how to work towards it and accustomed to the lengthy labour. 

The innocent speakers who were caught there, so to speak, by fluke, now are facing a huge labour – syllable-on-syllable, word-on-word instruction and a discipline taking numerous herbs and natural remedies which will also play an essential role in their voice recovery.

They’re evidently are not accustomed to any of this and therefore the process becomes even more tragic for them. 

They never thought that it would be so difficult. 

Therefore, often, I have to give them a comparison to a baby delivery. 

Not every labour is easy, some of them, in fact, could be very complicated. 

The baby could be placed the wrong way, or could be a bigger size for the actual opening and that’s where forceps and sometimes vacuum is used. 

I’m pretty sure that this process is not exactly a picnic either, but has to be done for a successful healthy baby delivery.

I’m desperately trying to get my doomed voice repair clients out of holding on tightly to their necks. 

Unless I separate their voice from their lower anatomy such as their neck, shoulders, chest and needless to say their vocal box, as a whole, I cannot conduct any voice repair, whatsoever. 

It’s like the person who is trying to deliver a baby will be refusing to push to help the doctors to pull the baby out of the womb. 

Some of my clients trying harder than others, but muscle tension and spasmodic dysphonia has a tendency just like a swamp to suck the voice right back to the neck muscles. 

After all, those who suffer longer than others, as strange as it sounds, have almost found an “ill” comfort into their condition which, even more so, complicates their voice recovery.

However, when I have the full cooperation from my voice repair client, it makes my work that much easier and that much more successful.

After all, there is a saying: “It takes two to tango.”