Firstly, well done for prioritising your voice.

You use it every day when you order coffee, answer the phone, talk to friends… and that’s before you even get to the singing part.

If you have been worried about your voice, please read the below:
Current evidence suggests that any change in your voice that persists for longer than three weeks should be checked out by a medical professional. Whilst the likelihood of anything being medically wrong is low, it is best to check it out and rule it out. Regardless of your country of origin, if you’ve experienced persistent hoarseness, gaps in your range, discomfort or something just doesn’t feel right, see your primary carer or GP and ask for referral to see a voice specialist ENT/ Laryngologist. If you are worried about who to refer to in the UK, I can assist you in navigating this part of the journey.

In the meantime…keep calm!

As a professional singer I’ve been there with worrying about my voice and how it might affect my ability to do my job.
There are lots of things you can do to take care of your voice when ill.
Do prioritise vocal rest (avoiding long stints of talking especially over loud background noise, loud shouting,) but not necessarily complete silence. Sometimes full vocal rest is not the best solution, there are specific, gentle vocal exercises we can work on together to keep your voice moving and pliable.
Hydration, hydration, hydration. This supports the tissues of your vocal cords. Be sure to maintain optimum, whole body hydration as well as surface or topical hydration through steaming or saline nebulising.
Eat well with foods that nourish you. Nothing you eat or drink touches your vocal cords so there’s no need to eliminate certain foods as “bad”. If you know a food doesn’t agree with your digestive system, by all means avoid it, but you don’t need to go on a radical elimination diet unless you’ve been guided by a nutritional specialist.

Prioritise as much sleep as possible as well as rest and relaxation during the day. Laugh, watch funny films, hug your loved ones and get out into nature if you can. Any and all of these things can help to release tension that understandably builds up if you are concerned.

Finally, if you’ve done all of that, you’ve seen an ENT/Laryngologist and been told that your vocal cords look fine. Wonderful! But, what next?

You’ve lost confidence and need to get back into singing with someone who understands. In a singing voice rehabilitation session we can work together to examine which parts of your voice are functioning easily and which parts need rebalancing. Think of it as an MOT for your voice. My job is to help you unpick where you’ve just become a bit “stuck” and help to reduce tension patterns and remap newer, more efficient vocal habits. When you’ve been through a wobble with your voice, the last thing you want is to feel judged or like it was your fault! Elite athletes get injured. Voices go through changes related to age, hormones, changes of repertoire or emotional upheaval.

There’s always a way through the wilderness.

What if you’ve recovered from a vocal injury, had the all-clear from speech therapy, but now want to return to voice lessons? It’s understandable if this feels daunting.

It is important to work with a highly-trained singing specialist who is clinically informed about the injury you’ve had and the treatment that has so far been administered.

I work with a network of trusted professionals who can support singers with all of their vocal health needs. Alongside singing voice coaching, I can recommend other practitioners such as osteopaths, vocal massage specialists, nutritional specialists, mental health specialists and performance coaches who can all help support you in your journey back to vocal wellness.