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Singing Voice During 'Cold'


BenPreston

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Hi.

 

In the past few days, I think I may have developed a cold, which is obviously a pain if you enjoy singing. It's an even bigger pain if you need your singing voice in your job, but I could go right away from the point of this question if I carry on. Anyway, being a bit of a novice when it comes to singing, I didn't know that it could potentially be dangerous to sing with a cold until I used this very site and went through various different questions (and answers) regarding that particular subject. I've always known that having a cold could make your voice sound off or below your normal standard, but I never knew that it could do some damage if not treated properly.

 

About a week or so ago, I was singing along to the radio (you know, as you do), and I think I might have strained my voice by trying to reach a really high note that I've not been trained to reach (I've never had singing lessons. As I say, I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to knowing how to look after your singing voice too). Immediately afterwards, I felt like my throat was slightly tighter than it was before, which made me automatically think that I'd overdone things and that I needed to stop and drink some water (and cold water at that - sorry, I now know how bad that can be when singing). I did try and sing along to whatever else was on afterwards, but the feeling in my throat was still there so I stopped completely.

 

Now, fast forward to a few days ago were I think my cold might have started. At this point, I realise that those reading might think I'm one of those wimps that thinks he's got something seriously wrong with him when the first minor symptoms show. You'd be right, but let's not go there.

 

My nose is blocked, my throat had felt a little 'tingly'/stuffy and I have a bit of a cough. All the usual really, but being me I still decided to sing despite all signs pointing to me needing to give my voice (and my neigbours) a rest. So that's what I did, but not without the occasional very small sing song (singing a line or two of a song to see if my singing voice was still with me. I refer you back to the part about me being a wimp), but even that has now got me panicking that I've done some permanent damage to my vocal cords.

 

Basically, I'm here to ask if I'm panicking over absolutely nothing. I'm keeping my throat hydrated with water throughout the day (I only drink water, if that would have any impact at all?), but I'm just scared that doing these little sing songs for the last two or three days whilst I'm a bit under the weather could cause permanent/lasting damage to my singing voice? I feel like the cold is going to clear and I'm going to be left disappointed by my singing voice, and obviously by my lack of care for it.

 

My 'cold' seems to be coming to an end, but we aren't quite there yet. Today, perhaps stupidly so, I decided to see if I could sing as I normally can. I couldn't, although my voice was there, it just needs to have a boost to make it more powerful again. It's like it's trapped and needs treatment to be pushed into my mouth once more. So, is that what I should do? Just lay off the singing for a little while longer, or for an extended period of time?

 

Please tell me I'm just being a softy and I need to chill. Thanks in advance!

 

Edit: I should point out that my throat hasn't been in pain at one point, i.e. it hasn't hurt to swallow food or water. For the first day or two it felt a little tighter than usual and there is more mucus in and around my throat and mouth (sometimes making it feel like I have a very small object stuck in my throat), but nothing more really.

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OK. You're just being a softy and you need to chill out. ; ^ )

 

You probably "scratched" your voice when you first sang the note above your range that got your attention. When we irritate our vocal cords, they will swell a little bit. As soon as any swelling happens, we lose some of our range, usually the upper mid range, right around the passagio between chest voice and head voice. That is not a good place to have vocal issues, as it creates a "hole" in your range.

 

This is only temporary, unless you persist in oversinging. Your voice will rehabilitate if you give it a rest from the overuse.

 

Actually it is best to sing lightly through sore throats and colds, unless you have actual hoarseness (swollen cords) or bronchial problems (coughing). If you are able to sing lightly and not irritate the cords, they will bounce back much sooner than if you take a total vocal rest. Total vocal rest often adds extra time to getting back to normal vocal strength. Light, gentle warmups can help your voice to heal faster, as long as it's not hoarseness, laryngitis, or bronchial infection. Those conditions require total vocal rest.

 

Coughing is very hard on your cords, as it is literally scraping the cords together to try to remove mucus from the vocal cords. The more you cough, the worse it is for your vocal cords. If you are coughing, get medical treatment to reduce the coughing to keep from further wearing out your vocal cords.

 

When you are singing, even when you have those moments where you think you can sing any note you choose, always be very careful to avoid oversinging. Right about the time you begin to wonder if maybe you're about to overdo it, you already have. Try to sing just under the radar of that area and you won't have to worry about hurting yourself. Don't use too much air. Blasting air will hurt your cords. Proper breath support is essential to prevent damaging your vocal cords and ensure long life and resiliency in your cords.

 

Take it easy on your voice and it will come back. If your condition persists, go to an E.N.T. and get yourself checked out.

 

 

Bob

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Thank you very much, highmtn. I've been feeling a lot better over the course of this week, although I'm not fully recovered yet. I felt completely fine yesterday so I tried to sing a little bit. My throat still felt a tiny bit irritated when I tried to do this, and my range just wasn't there at all. I took it as a sign of having to rest it out for a bit longer (which I've managed to do without talking for the past week). As I said originally, I'm a wimp so I still persisted in checking online to see if I was in trouble, but luckily nothing really popped up that concerned me.

 

I just want to be back to how I was before, but I know it takes time, unfortunately! Argh. Haha.

 

Do you think I should be worried or should I just carry on as I am? I should point out that my throat felt the tiniest bit more uncomfortable today (we aren't talking much), but I assume that's just because my cold/bug hasn't gone away yet. Oh, and my mum has caught a cold now too, so I could just be picking up the symptoms all over again. Hopefully not though. I think I must have given it her in the first place anyway, so that'd be karma doing it's job ;)

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It's been a while since you first reported you weren't feeling good. Perhaps you should try singing lightly and see if you can get back into the game. Don't do anything dramatic or hard on your voice. Just try to sing some easy exercises or songs, to see how you do. You can always stop if it doesn't work out. You probably won't know much until you're warmed-up anyway, so give it a try. Sometimes we worry that we won't be able to sing, but we haven't even done a warmup yet. There is every possibility that after warming up you will be fine.

 

Bob

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It's been a while since you first reported you weren't feeling good. Perhaps you should try singing lightly and see if you can get back into the game. Don't do anything dramatic or hard on your voice. Just try to sing some easy exercises or songs' date=' to see how you do. You can always stop if it doesn't work out. You probably won't know much until you're warmed-up anyway, so give it a try. Sometimes we worry that we won't be able to sing, but we haven't even done a warmup yet. There is every possibility that after warming up you will be fine. Bob[/quote'] That's all I've done really. Well, if you'd consider attempting to sing a line or two from a song without warming up as 'taking it light'? I also don't think singing without talking first will have helped me, as that itself could be considered a very minimal warm up (before getting into singing warm ups). My singing voice sounded deeper, but I think that's due to the cold really. I think it's still a bit inflamed
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By the talking part, I mean that it could be like going from not speaking at all to an entirely higher level haha. Whenever I've sung before, I've always used my talking voice throughout the rest of the day, as a large majority of people do in their everyday lives.

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