<p>So since it is winter and I will be on planes frequently, there is always that chance of being sick on an audition. So I was wondering if anyone has any last minute tips if anyone were to be sick the day before or day of an audition?</p>
<p>Oh and I’m auditioning for vocal performance So this would be related to the voice.</p>
<p>Have a dvd/cd of your audition repertoire so that if you are unable to audition due to illness, weather or travel delays you will still be able to have something to turn in with your explanation. Obviously, use hand sanitizer, get plenty of sleep and eat a healthy diet. Good luck!</p>
<p>If you go over to the Musical Theater section there is a TON of information on this subject.</p>
<p>Keep well hydrated ( drink extra water while flying), use hand sanitizer religiously, consider packing a small humidifier/vaporizer. D has one I picked up at Walgreens that uses regular sized bottles of water and she swears by those vitamin/ immunity smoothies you can find many places. She also begins taking Airborne a day before traveling and sticks with it. It can’t hurt!
Remember not to touch your face- that’s a quick way to transmit gems, and is where the hand sanitizer comes in.</p>
<p>Start taking zinc now. Agree about getting a personal steamer. The neti pot is your friend. Get plenty of sleep and drink plenty of water.</p>
<p>I just bought a nifty “Travel Ultrasonic Humidifier” on Amazon. It’s tiny and you screw in a regular water bottle. Tested it yesterday and it ran all day and night on a 16 oz bottle.</p>
<p>Are those water bottle humidifiers any good? I almost bought a couple at the drugstore the other day, but the price tag put me off an impulse purchase.</p>
<p>I tested the one I got online at Amazon.com and it works pretty well. It won’t humidify your house but it would be fine in a hotel room.</p>
<p>My son had to back out of a regional Lawrence U. audition this week. He’s been sick all week. We’ve rescheduled for an on-campus audition. Might be a blessing in disguise, as he wasn’t able to meet the trumpet prof on our first trip, and now my wife will get to see the campus. Maybe the snow cover won’t be so deep this Feb., versus last.</p>
<p>He toughed it out this morning at Berklee and says it went well.</p>
<p>The mini-humidifiers work just fine for a hotel bedside and even for a really dry practice room. They are about $10 at Walgreens, etc.
Singers, always read the ingredients on the labels of throat/cough drops, even if you’ve used that brand in the past. Menthol is a huge no-no for singers and we’ve found that several brands of drops which had been just fine either have new formulas or use different ingredients in various flavors. Do remember to tell your parents or anyone else who may be shopping for you too.</p>
<p>Airborne. And with the neti pot? Do NOT use tap water - distilled is best.</p>
<p>Be careful with Airborne. It has too much and you get what approaches a toxic amount if you take what is recommended, with no evidence at all that it helps with a cold.</p>
<p>
Thanks, MM. I didn’t know this about menthol. Soon to head off for acting program auditions for D4 (spoken, not MT, but voice is still critical.) It also did not occur to me that ingredients would change, although now that I think about it, that makes sense.</p>
<p>What do you think about Throat Coat? My whole family has been sick for week-- we keep recovering, then going under again. We’ve been drinking a lot of it, and it seems to help, although possibly just a combo of placebo/warmth. D4 said they swore by it at Stagedoor Manor.</p>
<p>They were running $29.95 at CVS, so maybe I’ll drive the extra few blocks to Walgreens. I’m thinking back-to-school gifts for the girls. Already got the cough and cold medicine, microwave pasta, and some sort of cake mix you can make in a coffee mug.</p>
<p>I don’t think anyone has mentioned the flu shot here yet. I would strongly consider this. It will not protect against colds or minor flus but if you get influenza you will likely be coughing for a minimum of 2 weeks. It takes 2 weeks to take effect.</p>
<p>Other items we carried on our trips last year: salt. If you are staying at a hotel without a restaurant I would bring some. Gargling with salt water saved my D, who woke up with horrible throat pain and congestion the morning of one of her auditions. Half-tsp salt in 8 oz of warm water. Also, consider a non-drowsy anti-histamine and decongestant nose spray. (The singers can comment on decongestants, I know they can be overly drying.)</p>
<p>As far as prevention, I totally agree with frequent use of hand gel and avoid touching your face. We also brought sanitizing wipes for the hotel rooms. For her first audition, I was the one who got sick and I was so afraid she would get it but I avoided her best I could and wiped down all the bathroom surfaces constantly. </p>
<p>You see a lot more people on airplanes now with masks on their faces. Might be something to consider. Don’t know how much this really helps.</p>
<p>Lastly, don’t forget to avoid sick people back at home. D has a “nasty” habit of hugging all her friends! Don’t do this during audition season! And remember to use your hand gel at school, especially before you eat. Don’t share phones or keyboards and use the hand gel after passing any items back and forth, even money at the grocery store. </p>
<p>I know I sound like a neurotic Howard Hughes. The whole audition process made me crazy.</p>
<p>If you have more vitamins then your body needs, you just pee it out.</p>
<p>
True for water-soluble vitamins like C, but it is absolutely possible to overdose on fat-soluble vitamins. I heard a lot about this growing up because my grandfather, who lived to 102, was a disciple of Linus Pauling and carried a tackle box (I’m not kidding) containing his regimen of vitamins and other supplement.</p>
<p>Yes, Vitamin A is fat soluble and gets stored in your body, mostly in your liver so you have to be careful. Even those that are water soluble can still cause problems like diarhhea and long term overdose may lead to kidney disease so high doses of vitamin C on a regular basis can compromise your health.</p>
<p>@glassharmonica- D keeps a supply if Throat Coat tea on hand ( she says that the pink box kind is good but the yellow box kind is “disgusting”!), and also drinks copious amounts of water and tea with honey. Same rules apply to actors as to singers, the voice is critical.
Flu shots? Definitely. Face masks? Well, they are the preventative of choice in many Asian countries; but you have to take them off to drink or eat anything, so germs can sneak in. It’s better to keep a bit of distance- hugging friends is out for the time being!- hand washing and hand sanitizer are the best options. Avoid crowds, sit in he last row of theatres, don’t use drinking fountains,and get plenty of rest.
For what it’s worth, D, who spent most of her year in the dorm sick, didn’t even get a sniffle during audition season.</p>