Members Notes_Norton Posted November 29, 2011 Members Share Posted November 29, 2011 Normally I'm a healthy guy. I generally catch a mild cold every 5 years or so and that's about it. I haven't missed a gig since I started playing back in the 1960s. I play in a duo, and last weekend the unthinkable happened. I got a cold with a little sore throat. So I gargled with salt water, sucked on zinc lozenges, drank plenty of warm fluids, upped my vitamin C, sucked on a "Fisherman's Friend", drank diluted lemon juice, and prepared to sing anyway. But even then my voice would not cooperate. It cracked, went into the 'yodel zone' and was basically unusable. I sang one song all weekend, played a lot of instrumentals, and my partner held up the weight of the vocals. I couldn't even sing background vocals -- silence sounded much better than what came out of my throat. But still, there were songs that I know I should have sung, they would have been just right at the moment for the audience, but they were 'my songs'. Nothing against my partner's capabilities, she is the better singer in the duo and we did songs that were as close as we could to what the crowd needed. And most, if not all of the audience didn't know something was wrong. The dance floor was full, the people applauded, but I know we could have done a better job. So my question is, what do you all do, especially single acts with no one else to lean on, when your voice goes AWOL? Is there some kind of magic herbal preparation? Aunt Hilda's Home Healing Secrets? Calling in sick is out of the question. The entertainment purchaser is depending on you for either profits or his/her party (try telling the bride that you are calling in sick and can't do her reception - then leave town -- forever ). Subbing out the job is out of the question for a few reasons (1) not enough time to get a replacement (2) if the replacement is worse than you the entertainment purchaser is disappointed and reluctant to re-hire you (3) if the replacement is better than you the entertainment purchaser is reluctant to call you but instead will call your replacement. So is there anything anybody knows that can resuscitate a voice for an evening when it refuses to cooperate? What are the Aunt Harmony, Home, Healing Secrets????????? Notes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ProToneThinline Posted November 29, 2011 Members Share Posted November 29, 2011 Bob, I've found that a little Southern Comfort (good) or Yukon Jack (even more gooder) works wonders. Seriously. I was in the same situation this past weekend. Was booked for a band gig on Friday, and a solo gig on Sunday. Fortunately, the solo gig was only one hour. A little room temp SoCo got me through both gigs. Also, potato chips help. The salt helps clear your vocal chords. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members richardmac Posted November 29, 2011 Members Share Posted November 29, 2011 I do all the stuff you listed, with one addition - I'm not even sure what they call it, but I found these super cold pills designed to throw everything including the kitchen sink at a cold. They were wicked expensive, but they did seem to clear things up a lot faster than normal. I'll have to see if I still have the box sitting around somewhere. The other important thing is to push fluids as much as you can. I've done a gig with a subpar voice a few times - I end up doing only the songs that don't go anywhere near the top of my range. And my range doesn't go very high. I have never had to cancel a gig because I couldn't sing or talk. Been lucky that way. If I could not sing at all, I'd call the venue or person and explain what was going on, then I'd offer to get them a really good musician replacement, or if they don't want that, I'd offer to give them the names and numbers of some good local musicians who would be a good fit for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members doezer Posted November 29, 2011 Members Share Posted November 29, 2011 hi i hope its not this but sometimes people's vocal chords develop nodules which eventually leads to a cracking oft he voice and inability to sing.. sorry to startle but its true.. it has happened a number of well known professionals too... rod stewart etc.. ive a mate who i play with in a duo and it happened him. he had to get an operation done on it in the end and is still recovering, but he can tell already his voice will be OK when it comes back.. theres no guarnatee it will come back apparently but at least it did for him, and it did for mr stewart too apparently... im not saying it is that either btw.. it could just be a nasty cold.. D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BlueStrat Posted November 29, 2011 Members Share Posted November 29, 2011 I use a capo a lot so I can change the keys of the songs if singing is hard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members leftyjay Posted November 30, 2011 Members Share Posted November 30, 2011 i make sure i take a very long hot shower. i even use the shower message around my throat. it tends to sooth the throat.i also drink quite a bit of hot tea, honey, lemon.i even use black berry brandy for sore throat, and ginger brandy for congestion. as for singing on stage, i have about 60 songs that i lowered the key 4-5 notes. i only use them when the voice is laboring.i also can play quite a few entertaining instrumentals. last year i played a 3 hour party with absolutely no voice. i did not sing one song. the people knew i had a bad cold and still had a good time. i took some slow songs i normally sing and turned them into instrumentals. i played some boogies, blues, and even played Malaguena and Dueling banjos. because of doing these songs, i now added them to my regular songlist and play them regularly. if i dont play them, i get requests for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ke2 Posted November 30, 2011 Members Share Posted November 30, 2011 I had the same problem a while ago, and got some tips that looked reasonable. I wasn't able to try everything, but a summary is: Water, water, water. Warm tea with honey (works a little like an antibiotic), squeezed lemon, ginger root. Read this. It's Google translated, so there might be some strange sentences, but you get the general idea. http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=no&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aftenposten.no%2Fnyheter%2Firiks%2Farticle1352564.ece&act=url I didn't get to try that myself, but it looks and sounds reasonable. And it's cheap. Everybody can afford an empty bottle, two feet of garden hose and some hot water Teaspoon of honey, two drops of peppermint oil and warm water. And get enough rest. And DON'T speak. Especially don't whisper. It's even worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MDLMUSIC Posted November 30, 2011 Members Share Posted November 30, 2011 I've had to do this numerous times. I drink lots of water, suck on lozenges, and utilize my particular liquor of choice... peppermint schnappes. Anesthetizes the throat and opens up the nasal passages at the same time. Plus if you drink too much and pass out, your breath is still minty fresh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Notes_Norton Posted November 30, 2011 Author Members Share Posted November 30, 2011 Thanks. It's not nodules (I breathe correctly and relax my throat) but I appreciate the warning. The voice mostly came back yesterday, all but the very high end and I didn't sing those songs. Today we play background, instrumental music (sonic wallpaper) for a cocktail hour at a theater for some investment bankers, so by this weekend I should be back up to par. Any and all suggestions are appreciated and noted for future use. If anyone has any more, don't hesitate to contribute. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Terry Allan Hall Posted November 30, 2011 Members Share Posted November 30, 2011 I've had to do this numerous times. I drink lots of water, suck on lozenges, and utilize my particular liquor of choice... peppermint schnappes. Anesthetizes the throat and opens up the nasal passages at the same time. Plus if you drink too much and pass out, your breath is still minty fresh. Truly, Mike, you are the Martha Stewart of Solo And Duo Acts! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members astone923 Posted November 30, 2011 Members Share Posted November 30, 2011 About 15 years ago I was in a rock cover band, and had a bad cold for one of our gigs. I was really worried about how it was going to turn out, and asked a fellow muso who came out to see us if he had any suggestions (the whole tea & lemon & honey & cold meds and everything else I tried didn't work). He told me to go across the street to the convenience store and buy a half gallon of OJ and drink the whole thing. He said it would work, but I'd have to make sure the bathroom at the bar was working because I'd have to {censored} myself if it wasn't. I did what he said because I was desperate, and I respected him as a pro... I got through the gig without being 100%, but was able to hit all the notes, and the only people that had any idea I was sick were the guys in the band... it was rather unpleasant to have diarrhea in a bar... but it worked. Last year I spoke to my friend who suggested the OJ thing and he had no recollection of the night or the remedy!! His quote was "I told you that?! I've never heard of that." Maybe it was just the placebo effect, but it worked at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Notes_Norton Posted December 1, 2011 Author Members Share Posted December 1, 2011 A local musician recommended a product called "Singers Saving Grace" - anybody ever try it? I googled it and got:http://singerssavinggracethroatspray.com/ http://vocalhealthcare.com/productinformation.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ProToneThinline Posted December 1, 2011 Members Share Posted December 1, 2011 I wonder what would happen if you combined remedies - half gallon of OJ and peppermint schnaaps................ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EightString Posted December 1, 2011 Members Share Posted December 1, 2011 I don't know if this is coincidence or what, but about 10 years ago, I went to a voice coach who helped me fix my bad habits and got me approaching my singing from a healthier, more relaxed style. Since then, I have certainly had those statistically normal "sick as a dog" nights out on gigs, to the point where I'm talking like a frog and am having trouble swallowing without pain. And yet, since I had that period of vocal coaching, I have never once lost my ability to SING during these periods of cold or flu illness, and I seem to maintain my full range in SPITE of whatever else is going on with the illness. This may have no bearing on fixing your problem, but I find it fascinating that my singing voice seems to have been effectively decoupled from the normal effects of colds and flus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Notes_Norton Posted December 1, 2011 Author Members Share Posted December 1, 2011 I've been playing music for a living since the '60s, and this is about the second or third time this ever happened to me. Thank goodness I'm usually very healthy and I know how to sing properly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EightString Posted December 2, 2011 Members Share Posted December 2, 2011 I've been playing music for a living since the '60s, and this is about the second or third time this ever happened to me. Thank goodness I'm usually very healthy and I know how to sing properly. Yeah, it used to happen to me with some regularity in that if I was sick with a cold, I could bet that my voice was going to be messed up. I look back on that and figure if I had been singing properly back then, those incidents would have been rare or maybe nonexistent. There was one night about 11 years ago, I was horribly sick, but my band HAD to do this gig. So we decided to play our material instrumentally, and I would give the songs the "Satriani" treatment on guitar. NOTHING was working for the voice, I couldn't talk or even croak out a note. Then I drank a Smirnoff Ice, and strangely enough, within minutes, my voice came back just in time for me to pull off a good show on the vocals. I had NOTHING alcoholic that night before that drink, because beer always has a weird constricting effect on my throat, and hard liquor just dries me out horribly. The only reason I hit the Smirnoff Ice was because, what the hell, I wasn't going to be singing anyway. Lemon Halls didn't help me in the least, but a bottle of Smirnoff Ice cleared me right up. Weird. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tomm Williams Posted December 2, 2011 Members Share Posted December 2, 2011 Didn't Milli Vanilli have this problem?-------------Oh yeah, that's because they couldn't sing PERIOD. Had nothing to do with a sore throat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rockerdiva Posted December 2, 2011 Members Share Posted December 2, 2011 No tips, except drinking hot tea with lemon. In 25+ years I have lost my voice twice to laryngitis. One time it was over a 5 day time frame when I had no gig, thankfully. Another time, I had two cancel two shows. I'm not talking voice cracking, I am talking no sound coming out, at all. I have sung with horrible colds, and you just have to persevere and do the best you can. Fortunately the two gigs I had to cancel were bar gigs that could be easily filled by other people, and at places where I had worked for years and had a great relationship with the owners, they totally understood. But if you got laryngitis and couldn't even speak or sing a note for a wedding gig? VERY poor luck, that would NOT be good .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tim_7string Posted December 3, 2011 Members Share Posted December 3, 2011 About 15 years ago I was in a rock cover band, and had a bad cold for one of our gigs. I was really worried about how it was going to turn out, and asked a fellow muso who came out to see us if he had any suggestions (the whole tea & lemon & honey & cold meds and everything else I tried didn't work). He told me to go across the street to the convenience store and buy a half gallon of OJ and drink the whole thing. He said it would work, but I'd have to make sure the bathroom at the bar was working because I'd have to {censored} myself if it wasn't. I did what he said because I was desperate, and I respected him as a pro... I got through the gig without being 100%, but was able to hit all the notes, and the only people that had any idea I was sick were the guys in the band... it was rather unpleasant to have diarrhea in a bar... but it worked. Last year I spoke to my friend who suggested the OJ thing and he had no recollection of the night or the remedy!! His quote was "I told you that?! I've never heard of that." Maybe it was just the placebo effect, but it worked at the time. I tried this remedy myself, along with leftyjay's "very long hot shower" technique. I was super-sick during Thanksgiving Weekend 2001. My group was booked to play at the local bar in town. Lots of former classmates that knew me were there, my cousin drove up from 3 hours away to play the gig. The pressure was on. I almost cancelled, but said, screw it, I will do it. I bought a half-gallon of orange juice and set it on top of my amp and also drank lots and lots of water. Surprisingly, my voice, which was sort of going flat around that period of time, actually sounded BETTER with the cold! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fingerpicker Posted December 4, 2011 Members Share Posted December 4, 2011 Jaeger, meth, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fingerpicker Posted December 4, 2011 Members Share Posted December 4, 2011 Im joking btw! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Columbian Posted December 5, 2011 Members Share Posted December 5, 2011 FWIW, I've found that Zycam--even the new "reformulated in response to harrassment" version to be excellent in killing off colds pretty quickly. If I use it early enough, like as soon as I feel the FIRST symptoms, it gets it right away. I I'm too late, then, yes, SoCo or any medication greater than 80 proof will render me unable to notice or care about my singing. Ee-haw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted December 5, 2011 Moderators Share Posted December 5, 2011 since I sing like a frog anyway, it rarely slows me down anymore...but when I was a backup singer, singing high harmonies, I found gargling with warm salt water typically served as a temporary cure...I would do it before every set....and the whole alcohol thing as a curative works against you because you don't feel the pain, and you do more damage because you don't feel the pain....but, on the plus side, you don't feel the pain...and you get a buzz... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Notes_Norton Posted December 6, 2011 Author Members Share Posted December 6, 2011 Alcohol is not good for the vocal chords, it dries them out and makes them more susceptible to damage. At least that's what I've always been told. Notes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members richardmac Posted December 6, 2011 Members Share Posted December 6, 2011 Alcohol makes me sing out of tune while thinking that I'm singing in tune. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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