A Voice Apart

Were you also, perhaps, ordered to keep your mouth shut and not to sing…ever…? For the majority of you, it was happening in your childhood, but had this “minor insult” really left your mind now that you are in your adulthood?  Not really… as it appears to be. More and more people are inquiring about singing lessons who had never sung before and, nevertheless, would dare to sing at all!  How so; you, my reader, may ask? Apparently, the majority of those people were traumatized in their school’s music programs, choirs, auditions for music plays and what have you; or even some family gatherings like Christmas caroling during Christmas time, etc. Now these traumatized individuals finally decided to find out the truth and to discover whether or not they could actually sing. Luckily for them, the Vocal Science technique is designed to give the gift of singing to practically anybody! Very recently, we were running a Healthy Voice/Vocal Workshop and one of our participant

The term Muscle Tension Dysphonia is a general term that could be associated with an imbalance in the vocal anatomy's muscles coordination as well as breathing patterns required to create the sound of the human voice. Muscle Tension Dysphonia (MTD) may occur suddenly, or, most likely, as a result of a strained voice being pulled into the neck muscles. The reason behind this disorder is not always known. It may be triggered by allergies, illness,  acid reflux or, by whichever other means... Symptoms - The most common symptom of this disorder is a change in voice quality, often associated with discomfort of the throat and/or vocal box in general while speaking or singing. Also, almost always, symptoms like hoarseness and raspiness will be associated with an increased effort to talk or sing, coupled with subsequent fatigue during continuous voice overuse and/or (outright) misuse. Treatment - There is an alternative form of voice therapy which is the gold standard for th

What do we mean by that? We mean… NO singing and NO skating… per say. “It’s quality of skating, not quantity of jumps” - states Canadian figure skating champion, Patric Chan. “Skating can be rewarded” -   said the figure skating commentator, Rod Black, after the U.S. well-known skater, James Brown’s ice performance. James Brown himself said: “ Of course, I can land ripples and quads, but not in the expense of the artistry!” Given all that, in this case, the skaters themselves are revolting against “ice acrobatics” and overall “ice circus”, so to speak.  They actually have been missing the artistry of their craft, as well as poise and grace, which had always made figure skating field a very special place where they had an opportunity to show off their very special skills (and not just very dangerous and vigorous jumps which, in turn, could, at any time, become very detrimental to their body’s anatomy and physiology). I just watched a pre-holiday movie where the

An intense round of alternative speech therapy can be a better solution for restoration speaking or singing voice skills (lost in an accident or stroke) and, no doubt, it will supersede any other traditional methods.  Specialists have found that post-accident/stroke survivors who have difficulty in speaking or even understanding speech, showed some good improvements in language and communication skills after a reasonably short term of intense alternative speech therapy.  Speech impairment occurs in more than a third of people after various accidents or strokes. Sometimes, however quite seldom, and due to unknown circumstances and occurrences, speech may return all of a sudden (to some degree) on its own even without any treatments. This occurrence happens generally after a minor accident or minor stroke. If the survivor’s speech returns, it often happens within a few days, although, it's good to keep in mind that this kind of president still happens quite rarely. Anyon