The Musical Home

This week, I find myself having a head-cold and still having to sing.  What to do?  If you’ve ever found yourself in this same quandary, you’ve probably been warned that “if you sing, you’ll ruin your voice.”  That may not necessarily be true.  Here are a few tips.

1) If your throat hurts, avoid singing. If you must sing, make it short and use a lozenge or a warm honey, lemon and tea combo beforehand.

2) If your voice feels more strained than normal, don’t push it.  Go easy or stop.  A runner doesn’t run a marathon on  a sprained ankle.

3) If your lower range hurts, but your upper is fine, use the one that doesn’t hurt.

4) Avoid speaking before performing as it can prematurely tire your voice.

5) For a sick person warm-up, humming while running a warm shower is helpful.  Also, to loosen up any nasal passages, warm up on the letter “V” (Vah, Vah, Vah or Vvvvvvvvv)

6) If your high range is a fatality of your cold, practice your sultry jazz voice 😉

7) Figure out what’s smartest for you.

Do you have any tips that help you out when you’re sick?

Here’s my first “Tip of the Week.” Enjoy!

Recently, a few people and I have gotten together to shed some new light on the old “Age of enlightenment.”  Yes, it’s Renaissance music (I can’t believe I spelled that correctly!).  We’re currently trying to come up with a shnazzy name for our little group.  Names like the Romanticklers came up–no.  How about Renais-saucy?  Okay, so we’re musicians, not publicists.  Any ideas?

This is the beginning/intermediate ensemble that I directed, playing a piece called “Curse of the Rosin Eating Zombies from Outer Space.”