A Voice Apart

Feeling uncertain, anxious, scared and even hopeless?  WE CAN HELP! When a sudden voice problem or vocal issue occurs, the person becomes quite confused (not understanding what had just happened with their speaking and/or singing voice and why their voice became not only raspy and hoarse, but also their throat had gone on fire with a lot of pain...).  Nevertheless, the sufferer also begins to experience not only a lot of pain in the throat, but also experience severe tightness in their neck - to the point that the person would actually be reluctant to speak at all... What is happening…?! Why is it happening?!  They were exclaiming in their minds! These people have been desperately searching for answers!! But, apparently, it is not as easy as it sounds! They urgently ran to their family doctor and of course, those sufferers had gotten a referral to see an ENT specialist. However, they still haven’t received any definitive diagnosis or even satisfactory answers ...

To find out what they are, Please Read On... Due to this digital and very chemically polluted world, we are receiving more and more inquiries about various vocal disorders which people experience on a day by day basis.  Our fruits and vegetables are chemically altered and our chickens (for example) are double-sized, due to be fed and raised with hormones and antibiotics.  All of the above weakens our immune systems and makes us susceptible to all kinds of diseases; and unfortunately, cancer is one of them. Almost on an everyday basis, we are hearing about peoples’ thyroids being removed (usually due to cancer); and then, as a result of that, one (or even both) vocal cords  become paralyzed ! Also, people who have their regular diets consisting of a lot of fat, mucus and acids, could get a problem with the excess of gastric acid in their bodies, which could produce what’s called acid reflux; and which, in turn, may burn ones’ vocal cords and (on top of it) res...

This Holiday season, we wish you the best of voice and the best of health and prosperity for this upcoming New Year, and always! For the last 42 years, I have worked on a lot of voices; fixing them, restoring them, or just turning amateur speakers and singers into professionals . I have noticed that, o ver the last decade, the attitude of all of those people who were seeking my services ha s vastly changed. Before 2005, people in general were happy-go-lucky, so to speak. They were gladly making commitments to work on their voices (to whichever degree it was needed), gladly kept their appointments and happily paid for our professional services . Needless to say that, in the past, the music scene in Toronto was pretty much thriving and was attracting a lot of wannabe singers. There were a lot of bands formed at H igh Sch ools and even M iddle S chools, let alone Universities. Those guys and girls had a goal in mind; they wanted to become well-known singers/perform...

More and more, we are hearing about well-known artists losing their voices, cancelling their shows and tours and undergoing vocal surgeries. Nevertheless, the amateur singers lose their voices in an everyday basis as well, we just don’t hear about it as much. And lastly speakers: They are caught completely by surprise when their speaking voice seizes on them “out of the blue” or, at least, they think so. In reality, the voice loss is always premeditated. The worse it is for speakers, as they’re completely not expecting anything like that and the lost voice is getting them, the least to say, in shock. The fact is that they do not realize that the voice is a vulnerable organ and could break very easily. Singers are, by far, more aware about it and those who proceed with caution, so to speak, are able to keep their voice healthy and lengthy for the rest of their lives. So what about those who don’t know about voice preservation? We have the answer for th...

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...

When the vocal disorder occurs, whether you are just a speaker, (regular person), or a singer, it is always a devastation to say the least.  For those who are not singers, it appears to be even more devastating than to the actual singers who have lost their singing voice; sometimes their speaking voice as well, and possibly, at least temporarily, lost their singing career, which a lot of the times they have been working on all their lives for. You would think that the process of voice recovery would be easier for people who just lost their speaking voice, but interestingly enough, it is exactly the opposite. The fact is that to recover your voice out of any voice or vocal disorder, takes a lot of strength, a lot of energy, sometimes quite a bit of time and money as well. It is a very tedious process, syllable on syllable and word on word. Especially those with muscle tension or spasmodic dysphonia seem to be suffering the most. They have drawn their voices in a very low...