volksdragon: (Music)
volksdragon ([personal profile] volksdragon) wrote2006-10-30 12:07 pm

Sunday Singing

I went to church Sunday to practice, and found out we were singing for that service. Riiiight. Crap. My voice was for shit, I've got a low-grade headcold going on, and that always renders me baritonic (and not in a good way) in the mornings. All morning I was drinking hot tea, sucking cough drops, and trying to clear the crap out of my throat.

I muddled through rehearsal, not really able to make any relatively high notes without sounding flat out BAD. I was pretty stressed out. After rehearsal, I made myself some more hot tea, hung out in the bathroom making unpleasant throaty noises, and then just decided I'd sing what I could and the rest be damned.

Wouldn't you know it, we started singing, and my voice was FINE. It was as if I wasn't even sick, it sounded just the same, and we got compliments on how good we sounded. We even sounded good from the inside, we were on just about everything right, and I really got into the songs we were singing.

I'm back to sounding terrible this morning, and singing in the car was a joke. We'll see if I can muster another recovery for practicing The Messiah tonight.

[identity profile] talesinsdaughtr.livejournal.com 2006-10-30 05:12 pm (UTC)(link)
Good luck!

[identity profile] noodlefan.livejournal.com 2006-10-30 05:12 pm (UTC)(link)
Wow, sounds like a miracle happened... ;-)

[identity profile] biophile6.livejournal.com 2006-10-30 05:16 pm (UTC)(link)
christ knew you were singing about him. throat better.

[identity profile] scirocco.livejournal.com 2006-10-30 05:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Shhh, we don't say that C word in UNITARIAN Church. :)

[identity profile] biophile6.livejournal.com 2006-10-30 06:23 pm (UTC)(link)
our formless worshipped one
who art in heaven
hallowed by the pronoun for which you are known...
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[identity profile] whuffle.livejournal.com 2006-10-30 05:20 pm (UTC)(link)
When forced to sing while dealing with a cold try the following:

(a)Hot lemon and water
(b)Hot Lemonade, Rum, and Honey

You can add peppermint or wintergreen oil to either of these to sooth the raw throat too.

The citrus will help loosen up the phlegm and make you more comfortable singing and breathing for a little while.

[identity profile] scirocco.livejournal.com 2006-10-30 05:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Hot Tea (usually cinnamon Apple), with Honey, and lemon throat drops, that's my method so far. I mixed in some Mint tea yesterday as well, and it seemed to work.
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[identity profile] whuffle.livejournal.com 2006-10-30 05:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, speaking of which, I discovered Tazo's "Refresh" tea when I had a really bad head cold a couple years ago. Its wonderful stuff, its a combination of different kinds of mint and tarragon. Really pleasant to drink and it seems to help with the sore throat.

[identity profile] nemomori.livejournal.com 2006-10-30 07:12 pm (UTC)(link)
I love that tea and I use it for everything, morning tea, evening tea, great tea overall. For colds I use Earl Grey with copious amounts of honey and lemon.

Word about coughdrops, avoid ones with methol lyptus. It is an anethestic and numbs your throat, great to help you stop coughing but bad for singers because you can end up abusing your chords and not realizing it. Avoid halls and go for more herby cough drops. Even better if while singing try just using Vit C drops or Fruit Soothers or non-numbing coughdrops. Fisherman's Friend is pretty good if I remember correctly.

[identity profile] curiosus.livejournal.com 2006-10-31 12:14 am (UTC)(link)
Hmmm, "baritonic." Think a gin'n'tonic would help? ;-)

Glad the singing went well and hope you are well soon.