<p>Can I just say I love you all here on CC!! You guys provide so much info. I am not sick, but it's always great to hear tips for future reference.</p>
<p>Hi Artsymom,</p>
<p>Of course we all feel your pain. I think that it is often harder on the parents than on the kids - being so far away and feeling so helpless to "make it all better."</p>
<p>Hope this doesn't sound heartless, but I also want you to think about another way of helping your D if it proves necessary, i.e., helping her understand that as much as she wants to audition for and be cast in this production, her long term health is so much more important. The information CoachC has provided is the rationale for this approach. Your D is only a freshman and many more opportunities await. Don't know what the casting policies are at Santa Fe, but I'm guessing that her chances for being cast in lead roles will only increase in her soph, junior and senior years. If she has to give this one up for the sake of not damaging her voice, her faculty and her peers will respect her choice and admire her maturity in understanding her own best long term interests.</p>
<p>I see that your posts and those that followed all came last night, so perhaps the morning dawned and she is much improved and all fears have been swept away - this is my hope for you both, of course. 24 hour bugs can be really nasty but can leave as quickly as they come.</p>
<p>We all send our best wishes and good healing karma and await an update. We're here!!</p>
<p>You people are absolutely the best. And Theatermom, your comments are by no means heartless -- they're wise, which seems to be your hallmark. Long-term health, vocally and otherwise, is of course the top priority; and perspective is always a valuable thing to gain. I haven't talked with my D yet today. I'm in Maryland, she's two hours behind me in New Mexico, so I'm just waiting for her to call when she's awake and able. I'll let you know what happens. Thanks!!!</p>
<p>"Can I just say I love you all here on CC!! You guys provide so much info. I am not sick, but it's always great to hear tips for future reference."</p>
<p>Except that we're mostly gals.....:-)</p>
<p>Artsymom,
I hope your D is feeling better today. I truly empathize. It's hard to be so far away and have to dole out advice long distance.</p>
<p>My D went through a similar situation in November. During opening week for Marat/Sade, my H and I made the long trip to FSU to pick up D after a Friday night performance so we could drive her to Lakeland, FL, 4 1/2 hours away, to do the state of Florida preliminary auditions for the SETC. We left Tallahassee at 2:30 A.M. so D could be in Lakeland in time for the 8:00 A.M. sign-in. </p>
<p>We discovered that our asthmatic D had caught the nasty cold that had been making its way through the eastern half of the U.S. Both my H and I had had it. I had total laryngitis with it. Both of us coughed for a month. D had a loud cough, but she said her voice seemed to be okay during her performance Friday night.</p>
<p>At the Florida preliminaries, students were taken into the audition room in groups of 20. D says she coughed loudly between students and tried her best to hold back the coughs while others were singing. She says the auditors couldn't possibly have missed her hacking. D said that during her vocal warmups, her voice did not feel right. She elected to "hold back" during her audition. She sang in a relatively quiet voice and did not try to fill the audition room with sound. She felt her voice was just okay; it was certainly not her best sound. A friend from FSU, who was in the room, agreed with her self-assessment. But, it was good enough. She was passed on to the SETC auditions. Hopefully, she won't be sick when they come up in March!</p>
<p>We drove D back to school that afternoon and attended that evening's performance of Marat. I heard D sing softer and softer as the performance went on. By act two, she was barely singing. After the show, she came out the stage door in tears. She told us that her vocal cords had actually started hurting during the show and she feared she was doing damage. She had 7 shows remaining after that night. We told her to go on vocal rest, took her back to her apartment, and told her to go straight to bed. She slept 12 hours and did not use her voice until a couple of hours before the Sunday performance. As it turned out, her voice was much better. She sang quietly during the Sunday performance and by the next show, on Thursday, her voice felt pretty good. She did as little speaking as possible during the week and no vocal practicing. </p>
<p>I hope your D is well enough to go through her audition this afternoon. I'm sending healing thoughts her way.</p>
<p>artsymom,</p>
<p>Grammar Office Lisa here, and it is correct to say "I want her to feel good," and "I want her to feel well." The mistake people make is to overcorrect and say "I feel badly." That implies that there is something wrong with the <em>sense</em> of feeling ... as in, my fingertips have lost their sense of touch, etc. "Badly" modifies feel in that case.</p>
<p>In any case, I sure hope your daughter is on the mend. What an awful thing to have happen! Please keep us posted. My D is only a sophomore, and I am already worried about how to keep her healthy during this cold and flu seasons, which also happens to be audition season!</p>
<p>Lisa</p>
<p>Dancersmom, that must have been such a nail-biting ordeal! I'm glad it turned out well for your D in the end, and I hope the SETCs go wonderfully and healthfully!</p>
<p>I wish I had happier news, but my D still sounds and feels awful, and she still has a fever (though it's down to 100). She spoke with a nurse, and her BF has gone to pick up more soup, echinacea, etc. Also, she got an email back from the Urinetown director, who also happens to be her acting teacher this semester, so at least he knows her a bit. He said that if it were just an acting audition, it might be OK for her to try it, but that she definitely shouldn't come to an audition that involves singing. She's emailing him back to (a) thank him and (b) ask if she can possibly come to callbacks tomorrow if she's feeling up to it. As for her emotional response to missing the audition, she said that right now she feels too wiped out to be upset. And she readily agreed that her long-term health and the long-term condition of her voice come first. Now, if it turns out she can't audition at all and thus can't be in the show, she may not be so calm about it once she's feeling better. But for now that remains a hypothetical bridge. Also, if she were at various other MT programs as a freshman, she wouldn't be auditioning for anything anyway!</p>
<p>NotMamaRose, you sent me scurrying -- I kid you not -- to my AP Stylebook, and of course you're right, not to mention good. I must be rusty!</p>
<p>I know this info is probably too late for your D, but I always give my S Airborn, at the first sign of any cold like symptons, it oftens keeps it from developing or reduces and shortens the symptoms. Also before any big performances or auditons I give it to him once or twice a day for about a week, it seems to work. And it doesn't have a bunch of chemicals in it. Also vaporise. (knock on wood)</p>
<p>Hi, I just wanted to report in on DD, who had sinus/septum/tonsil surgery back in December. Pre-surgery I was concerned about DD's voice, if the surgery would permanently affect it, if her "sound" would change, etc. Six weeks post-surgery, DD reports that her range is starting to return, and that for the first time in her life she felt the "buzz" in her nose that her voice and choral teachers have always spoken about. She IMed me, all excited, because this was such a new experience. She also commented that she's been back at school for 3 weeks, student teaching for one week (in a first grade class, no less), and she hasn't gotten sick yet. Apparently the surgery did what it was supposed to do, hallelujah! Now she just needs to decide if she's actually going to have a Senior Recital or not - her voice teacher wants her to do it, but she's not so sure. At least, if she doesn't have one it will be because she chose not to, not because she was too sick and froggy to sing in public. Thanks to all for your support and to CoachC for your advice.</p>
<p>bump for oopra :)</p>
<p>bump for oopra :)</p>
<p>D has a performance today at 2pm - was starting to get sick yesterday, made it through performance, woke up today sounding worse. Congestion, but worse is her vioce is getting hoarse. </p>
<p>Does anyone have any good suggestions to try besides the obvious steaming? </p>
<p>This kid NEVER gets sick, why now, of all times???</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>bump for debelli</p>
<p>I am bumping some older threads about this, there are several posts by CoachC, who is an expert in this field.</p>
<p>bump for debelli</p>
<p>bump for debelli- Yipes, I had forgotten how much info is out here!</p>
<p>Look for three different threads that I bumped up near the top, that are about this subject.
One of the people who has offered information on them is CoachC who is a vocal therapist,as well as a vocal coach who knows the most on the subject of anyone I have ever seen.</p>
<p>i'm a McClowsky student and this is sort of an area the technique is strong for.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>this is really obvious, but i have to say it. Don't talk. And, if you must talk, talk in a higher pitch then you are used to if you talk really low in what is called "vocal fry" then you are just going to make your situation worse. </p></li>
<li><p>Throat Coat. It is a miracle. It is tea special formulated for these types of situations. It got me through a couple auditions when i was sick. You can find it at shaws in there like tea isle thing. </p></li>
<li><p>Avoid menthal cough drops. They will dry you out even more, and make it even harder to get your voice back. Same goes for nasle spray. Just dont use them. </p></li>
<li><p>Push the fluids. I wouldnt drink Orange juice or anything acidy..im not sure if that would aggitate the problem, but i would say that its better to be on the safe side. </p></li>
<li><p>Steam. Use a humitifier or even if you are cooking something make sure to take in the steam. </p></li>
<li><p>Staying relaxed is probably the biggest thing. If you create any tention while singing, it will only make your situation worse. Use small circles on your forehead, cheeks, the swallowing mucles, use two hands and move your larnyx back and forth to release tention, and roll your head from left to right. Also, stick out your tongue and slowly let it move back into your mouth. Doing these things will hopefully make it easier to sing. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>...most of that was really obvious but i hope that i helped a little.</p>
<p>Thanks for the bumped threads and the suggestions.</p>
<p>Didn't have much time to do much of anything before she had to leave and be at the theater. Luckily, I remembered about a facial steamer I had picked up a few years ago, and took that out. It seemed to help. I ran to the store and got some stuff to put in the water in hopes it would help more. I'm hoping it did -she had to run out of the house in a hurry she wasn't able to finish the second session, so I have no idea. Just hoping she doesn't get worse, she has 4 more shows to do after today. At least her next show isn't til Thursday night.</p>
<p>I guess I'll be sending this steamer off to college with her just in case.</p>
<p>Thanks again!!!!</p>
<p>I actually just finished attending a 4-day Voice Therapy conference with some world-renowned faculty and have LOTS of great new info to post! :) However, I drove straight from there to the University of Michigan to catch their Mt Senior Showcase tonight, so I will have to post later on - hope it will help for the shows next week, debelli. A quick note, though - putting menthol pads or drops in the steamer is a no-no for the vocal folds, although it will relieve nasal congestion - so she has to decide what is troubling her most - lack of voice or nasal congestion.</p>
<p>More later!</p>