A Voice Apart

Attention all Speakers and Singers! If you have noticed that your speaking or singing voice is not performing as per usual and rather sounds lower and somewhat hoarse, PLEASE STOP !!! If you continue speaking in your usual manor and disregard the fact that your voice is feeling scratchy and your throat is feeling itchy, you might lose your voice completely and for some time ahead. Singers: please do not continue singing if you have noticed that it is much harder now to reach your high notes, which normally would not be a problem and if you have to push and pull your voice out of your inflamed, sore throat . At that time, you may also notice that your voice has deepened and has begun to sound scratchy and hoarse. If you don’t stop in time and look into your voice and vocal anatomy problem, that could be very much the end of your singing career. Coaching and repairing voices for over 40 years , I had a lot of cases where the performer did not stop on time...

In this blog, I would like to speak about the human voice in general and the speaking and singing voice in particular. Many people, especially those who are not singers, have no Idea that something may happen to their voice. They get the odd cold or virus, lose their voice momentarily and for a short term, but then regain it fairly quickly and go back about their lives, as per normal. Unfortunately, they do not even have a clue that, at the time of the cold or when the virus occurs, they have to be extra careful and extra gentle to their, somewhat bruised, voice. Being quite unaware of what the consequences might be, they continue as before; speak a lot, speak loud, scream and sing. Then, finally, they get rid of the cold but, to their surprise, find out that their voice never got back to normal!   It still sounds raspy, low and actually, altogether hoarse, as it does not have its usual tone or resonation for that matter. That’s when, unfortunately, the or...