I LOST MY VOICE COMPLETELY  my junior year of high school because of abuse, over use, no knowledge of vocal hygiene and poor vocal guidance.  I was the LEADING PLAYER in my high school’s production of PIPPIN, which was very vocally demanding and in a key meant to be sung by a tenor.  I pushed myself through every song at every rehearsal. Yes, I marked it sometimes, but by the time the show came, I had RUN MYSELF RAGGED. It started as a cold, turned into bronchitis and then a SEVERE CASE OF LARYNGITIS!   

 

I went to an ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat Doctor) where I got scoped (they stick a long tube like camera down your throat) and they told me my vocal folds were swollen. I needed VOICE THERAPY, SINGING THERAPY and VOCAL REST.   Well….vocal rest wasn't an option because the show opened that weekend and we didn’t have understudies in high school and I certainly WASN’T GOING TO LET A LITTLE LARYNGITIS GET IN THE WAY of performing this awesome lead role that I had worked on for months.  So I talk-whispered through every song and danced my heart out.   Luckily, some people didn’t even realize that I wasn’t singing…but, of course I did, and my parents did and my cast did and my friends did and the rest of my family did….IT WAS A DEVASTATING LOSS.

 

Therapy helped me recover and get my voice back.  I LOVED therapy.  My singing and voice therapists were so knowledgeable and I began thinking about my voice as an instrument and how to maintain my strength and endurance overtime. However, once I was healthy, they wouldn’t let me continue to come and see them.  

 

I had a VOICE TEACHER and took singing lessons for many years.  My teacher was CLASSICALLY trained and taught me a lot but our goals didn’t align.  She was teaching what she knew...how to sing a classical style but I was getting cast in roles that required me to BELT!  She didn’t believe that belting was an appropriate way to sing.  So I practiced my classical styling with her and ON MY OWN TIME, I practiced belting the songs I was going to have to perform, with NO KNOWLEDGE HOW TO DO IT SAFELY. 

 

Without proper guidance, I was RIGHT BACK TO MY OLD ANTICS.  Every show that followed, I ran myself ragged in rehearsal and got sick during the dress rehearsal and tech week and never knew IF MY VOICE WOULD LAST until the show.  This pattern SQUASHED MY CONFIDENCE.  How could I be a PROFESSIONAL PERFORMER without a RELIABLE INSTRUMENT?!

 

Years passed and I got better at listening to my body and my voice.  I thought back to the therapists who helped me in my time of need and knew this was the right path for me.  So here I am, a Speech Language Pathologist and Singing Teacher to make sure that YOU CAN LEARN TO SING THE RIGHT WAY!