Singing Through a Cold
Singing is such a unique instrument because it is the only one that exists as a physical part of our bodies. As such, it is also directly affected by any illnesses our bodies can have, and it is very, very, important to think about how to manage making this instrument work when the body is sick.
I remember one year, going to sleep on Christmas eve feeling a little unwell with a small fever, but just going to bed early and taking some painkillers and thinking “I’ll probably be fine in the morning.” The morning arrives, my throat is completely inflamed, my fever has worsened and worst of all, I need to go play and sing a Christmas day church service in two hours. As a young singer at the time I thought it would be far too hard for them to find a replacement so last minute, it’s just one hour and a half service I’ll push through it and it will be fine. I can now say that absolutely, unequivocally, it is not worth it. Period. Singing through what later turned out to be strep throat with rheumatic fever, even just for that one service, roughed up my chords so much it took a full 6 months before my voice was back to 100 percent. Now I could still sing after, there wasn’t any permanent damage or anything serious, but everything felt harder. I had to stretch my range back up and down, my phonating sound was just never as full as I wanted, and everything felt so off.
I learned my lesson after that experience, so the next time I got strep throat, or laryngitis (twice), I took an incredibly more conservative approach. While it was kind of cool to hear my voice a full tone and a half lower, it definitely did not feel great when I could not phonate past my “chest tone,” essentially losing an entire octave from the inflammation. Even through teaching I had to listen to my body and take time off, I couldn’t talk through a 6-8 hour day with my voice in that condition. It is essential to know your voices’ limits.
Now there are other times, when it was much less serious, and just some sinus congestion and a small cough. In these situations, the neti pot was and still is my go-to solution for nasal congestion. As singers, we really experience the vibrations of our sound (especially in the higher parts) in our nasal passage. Not to say that we all sing through our noses, but the actual vibrations we feel inside our head usually buzz around in our nasal passage. When this suddenly is blocked off, it is going to feel very strange, not necessarily bad, just quite different then we’re used to. Just remember to follow the same techniques that you normally would, even if you are robbed of that instant feedback telling you it’s working. It most likely will still sound the same to the audience.
Thanks to the position of our ears, we experience the sound of our voices coming back to us after bouncing off something first. That is why really learning about how something feels when you are singing will be more helpful than only relying on the return acoustic our ears are receiving (and often misleading our brains). Try singing and covering your ears, that sound is the one you are instantly hearing as it is being created. Keep singing and uncover your ears, and that is the sound being sent back to you after bouncing off something else first.
Now that I have successfully taken off on a tangent, let me reiterate that you can definitely still sing well through a common cold. Drinking extra water will help keep your throat from drying out from any post-nasal drip, but really if something hurts, don’t do it. If the act of singing is causing you pain, stop. Rest your voice, recover and return when you can manage singing without creating extra problems for yourself down the road.
DISCLAIMER
I am not a medical doctor. These posts are all anecdotal, based on experiences through my own learning, understanding and teaching. My musical knowledge is based primarily in the Western classical tradition, which by no means defines the only perspective to learn and understand music.
