Singers' Worst Nightmare

I was going to write about something totally different today, but I just got a call from one of my best friends who is a singer. She just had an appointment with an ear, nose and throat specialist because of some prolonged hoarseness that she has been dealing with and found out that she has a small nodular on her right vocal chord. It's small enough that she probably won't have to have surgery if she follows the doctor's orders. The good news is that she caught it early and it could actually go away. The doctor said that it was most likely caused by stress (not only do we have to worry about singing correctly but now we need to keep our stess levels in check to keep our voices happy. We aren't the divas;it's our vocal chords!). She is supposed to keep her talking to a minimum and absolutely no singing for at least six weeks! All of us singers know how hard it is to not sing when we just have a cold, but this would be agony! She is also supposed to go to speech therepy to learn how to talk "around" the nodular. And absolutely no smoking again ever! I feel so bad for her, because a singer's voice is his/her most treasured possession and for it to be threatened this way is heartbreaking. Unlike other musicians, our voice is our instrument. We can't just go out and buy a new one when it starts behaving strangely. We have to take care of it. Of course, this situation really freaks me out, because it makes me think of all of the ways that I'm not such a great vocalist. Shoot, I'm lazy about warming up and even my breath control isn't always what it should be. In my defense, I have never smoked and I almost never scream (except when everyone made ride Big Thunder Mountain and the Matterhorn at Disneyland! I'm not a rollercoaster person. They really weren't that bad, though.). As singers, our voice is our identity and singing is our passion. It sets us apart and makes us unique. I would be miserable if there came a day when I could no longer sing. I wouldn't know what to do. It's how I express myself. That always makes me think of Julie Andrews: one of the great icons of musical theater who can barely sing today because of vocal chord surgery. What a tragedy! I'm definitely looking at this experience as a wake-up call to be more vigilant about singing correctly and taking care of the instrument that I love. I am not at all implying that this person was wreckless with her voice; it's just a reality check. Please keep her in your prayers, especially all you singers who can definitely imagine how she's feeling right now.