Singing Sick - My Top 10 Ways to Sing Through a Virus.
This weekend is our annual studio recital, and I will not be singing. I’ve succumbed to the crud that’s going around and have completely lost my voice for three days now. Maybe an odd way to begin a post about how to sing sick, but I’m literally not going to do it. Singing sick is one thing, singing with laryngitis is another, and I can’t in good conscious begin an article about how to take care of your instrument in times of trouble, without rule number one...
Don’t. That’s right, don’t sing. If you don’t have to make sound, the most important thing you can do is rest your voice. Keep talking to a minimum and no singing, which includes warming up, singing to the radio, singing in choir, and/or singing in the car with your friends. Your vocal cords are swollen and mad right now. It is not the time to ask them to do anything beyond what is absolutely necessary. If you have a gig coming up that you can cancel, do it, especially if you have laryngitis. It’s just not worth hurting yourself. I know you’ll want to check and make sure your voice is still there. “Let me just sing a couple of scales…” It’s not there… not today, at least. And if you want your voice to recover as soon as possible, admit defeat, close your mouth, honor your body, and go take a nap.
Sleep. Seems like an obvious one, but it bears repeating. Growing up in southern Illinois, as a child my grandfather was in bed for two weeks when he got sick. His father was a country doctor, and before there were antibiotics, there were beds, sleep, and lots of books. I realize it[‘s virtually impossible to take two weeks to rest up, but could we get to bed earlier? Could we take naps, skip our Netflix show, less social media scrolling, or even just put our feet up and close our eyes for 15 minutes? The answer is yes. Because if the answer is no, then maybe it’s time to admit that we got ourselves into this situation to begin with. We have to take time to rest our bodies, our brains, our hearts and souls, or the body will make you take time. It’s clever like that.
Drink Water. I go through phases where I am super hydrated and phases where I can’t remember when I had a glass of anything. I have noticed, though, that my body will act sick when it’s dehydrated. My throat will start hurting, and I’ll even get a stuffy nose. I aim for 100oz of water per day, (that’s three of my large water bottles), but I feel great when I’ve had anything more than two full ones. When I’m sick, I pay super close attention to hydration. “Pee clear!” my ENT always says. Also, remember, caffeine is dehydrating, so if you’re having a lot of coffee, black tea, soda, etc., you’ll need even more water to compensate. Water, water every where….
No sugar. I removed sugar from my diet years ago and only have it on rare occasions. It lowers my immune system and makes me tired, and I hate getting sick or feeling less than my best. I’ve got stuff to do, you know? So, with that in mind, there are a lot of remedies out there with added sugar- orange juice, vitamin C pouches, and even cough drops. I don’t touch them. Any benefit I find from them, is lost with the added sugar and without sugar, I get sick way less frequently, and I recover faster.
Vitamin C. There are liquid Vitamin C’s out there that don’t have added sugar. I take them when I’m sick. I heard once that Vitamin C helps your body not freak out when it’s sick, and I have absolutely no research to back that up, but it makes sense to me. Will I still be sick? Yes. But it doesn’t feel as bad when I take Vitamin C. To each their own. It’s worth trying.
Throat Coat Tea, I have loved you since the dawn of time. This stuff is great. Again, maybe it’s ugga bugga, but whatever they put in this stuff, combined with the warmth of the liquid, is heaven to me and my throat. I’ve drank this stuff for over 20 years, and I won’t be stopping anytime soon.
Vinegar Toddy- You can start with Throat Coat tea, or just a cup of warm water, but I mix in a Tablespoon of Braggs Apple Cider vinegar, lemon juice, and Manuka honey, with a couple of shakes of Cayenne Pepper. Sorry, no whiskey in this toddy. It is a wonder for my throat and immune system. I know I said no sugar, but this is my exception. If you can drink this without the honey, you are a stronger person than I am. For me, the benefits of this drink far outweigh the added sugar in the honey. The cayenne alone can clear out my sinuses in five minutes. Good stuff!
Salt Water- Guys, this is a seriously beneficial practice. Buy some saline nasal spray and use it after you blow your nose. Our sinus passages can swell when irritated and dry, making clearing our nose very difficult. Then, when that gunk is trapped in there, you get an increased risk for sinus infections, etc. Gross. Nose sprays with JUST salt and water help a ton. Also, I use NeilMed Sinus Rinse when I’m sick or have allergies, and it’s a lifesaver. Even my 10-year-old daughter gets a kick out of “hosing her nose” and watching all that nasty stuff pour out of her face when she’s sick.
Let yourself sound sick- Let’s say you’ve got a bit of a bug but nothing too horrible to have to cancel your next gig. Now what? How do we sing? Warming up is one of the most important things you can do for yourself when you’re in tip-top shape, and it’s especially important when you aren’t. Here’s my trick though- Don’t try to sound “well.” Warm up for a few minutes very easily, and let it sound raspy, gunky, airy, or whatever. Let it be what it is, sick. Number one, you aren’t warmed up, so it’s not supposed to sound good anyway. Number two, you aren’t feeling well, so your voice is going to need more love, care, and time to get its act together. Let it. Whatever you do, don’t start throwing the kitchen sink at your voice to make it work. Leave the tongue, jaw, larynx, etc., out of the equation. Don’t try and fix it. It’s not broken, it’s just groggy and doesn’t feel good. You know it took you an extra half hour to wake up today, so it’s going to take your voice some extra time, too. Easy does it. Once you’ve stayed in the middle, easy range for a few minutes, try some straw phonation exercises. Focus on how the voice feels, not how it sounds. Go easy. Go slow. Give your throat some grace, and it will give you all it has.
Practice Without Singing- Depending on how much you are used to singing per day, now that you’re sick, that will be less. Now is NOT the time to sing through that tricky passage an extra 15 times. Listen to the passage, play the passage out on the piano, imagine yourself singing the tricky passage with freedom and ease, but don’t sing it if you don’t have to. Save your voice. You may only have an hour or two of productive sound before your voice crashes. Use it wisely. Waste not, want not. I have learned entire operas without singing a note, you can too. Listen to the music, walk out the staging and choreography, mouth the words, visualize the set, and review the words in your head. This is all excellent practice, and you haven’t made a sound.
With that, I am going to shut up, make a hot toddy, read a chapter of my book, then take a nap. I hope this cold season avoids you completely, but should it find you, above all listen to your body. When it says rest, rest. When it says drink, drink. As a singer, you are your instrument, and the ONLY one responsible for taking care of it. Cherish your voice like the precious miracle it is, and you’ll be back to belting it out in no time.
