>I wanted to give you some great advice that I received from Sherrill
>Milnes in a master class. Mr. Milnes said that you shouldn't sing
>for 24 hours after a performance. He said that the chords get
>swollen and out of shape, and it takes 24 hours for them to heal.
>He was so steadfast about his advice that he didn't sing one note
>during the class. I suck on a lot of ice cubes now, which I hope
>is good? I have also heard that taking any medication that numbs
>the throat can damage your chords? Does anyone else have any
>good tips for protecting your vocal chords?
It's a nice idea to have 24 hours off after a performance but it's a
luxury not all of us can attain. If you're doing, for example, an
oratorio gig with multiple performances, you're likely to do a Friday
night, Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. It takes a while to
learn to pace yourself! The more so if you're doing a show with up
to 8 performances a week!
In the absence of the 24 hour rest (or as a supplement to it), it's a
good idea to cultivate the habit of steaming yourself after a
performance. This can help reduce the swelling. The warm down
exercise mentioned by Mike is also a great idea. Getting a decent
night's sleep is also essential. This may mean cutting short your
time at the shindigs after performing if there's another concert the
next day.
Medication that numbs the throat doesn't damage the cords directly,
but it can cause us to push harder than we should because we can't
feel what's going on. That's what can damage the cords.
Naomi
www.naomigurtlind.net
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