Vocalist.org archive


From:  Karen <kjensen@c...>
Karen <kjensen@c...>
Date:  Wed May 16, 2001  3:33 pm
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] RE: Voice cuts out


(re: Voice cuts off)
Dear Laura Sharp and All - what a fascinating post. Lots of good advice for
anyone with a busy life.
Thank you! Karen Jensen
...
>Now I don't doubt that I have silent reflux or nasty allergies and I'm
>grateful (though poorer) to have had these diagnosed and now managed. But
>none of those treatments alleviated the vocal problems. When I went to the
>speech therapist, she had me sing, read, and converse with her. Then she
>said these very important things:
>
>1. You're stressed. Go have two massages and see me in two weeks.
>2. Your timing is off. When you read or sing, you are breathing well, but
>your coordination when you're just sitting there or describing your problem
>is really off. You hold your breath, have to think to breathe low, etc. So
>10 times a day, I want you to take 10 relaxed, abdominal breaths.
>
>So I duly had my massages and actually followed through with the physical
>therapy for my shoulder injury which I'd been putting off.
>And I put signs all over my house reminding me to breathe. I made myself a
>rule: Whenever I saw one of the signs, I had to stop and breathe 10 times,
>even if I was in a rush. I found that I'd been hurtling through my
>over-scheduled day without stopping to breathe. .... (snip)

>The end result: After two years(!!!!) of being scoped from here to there,
>$160+/month of medicines and endless Dr. visits, I focused on breathing well
>during my daily activities for a week, and did exercises to free up my
>injured shoulder, and my voice returned in all its glory (when you haven't
>been able to sing consistently for 2 years, it does seem glorious when it
>comes back!). .... (snip)

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