General Music Chat

Anyone ever perform when they're sick?
Like, when you've been coughing, congested, feeling spacey . . .
.
I'm sick, but I'm MC-ing the show at the Buttonwood Tree, tonight.
. . . should be interesting. Yet think I can probably sing without coughing, maybe.
.
I practiced, and my playing/ singing didn't actually sound that much different, to me.
. . . maybe a tad more soulful.
A couple folk have told me my voice sounds different.
I play a lot of styles of music, and tonight I'll probably be doing some folk songs, and a few jazz/rock instrumentals.
My sickness slowed me down, affected my mood, and although it altered the way I felt like playing, I think it revealed some potentially better ways of performing the songs.
Anyone experience this before?
Any thoughts?
- Alan

Many times through out the years but I never missed a gig. For the most part. I just stayed away from people so I wouldn't spread anything and played as if I meant it, even though everything in my aching body wanted to go home. Most people didn't even know I was sick. The only thing missing was the edge that I had when I felt good.

Yes I have.
Several times.
But then, I'm a guitarist not a vocalist.
Thoughts ?
There is nothing quite so selfish as to expose others to potentially contagious conditions.
If your "sick" and not just dealing with allergies . . .
Stay home.

If you're contagious, don't share your microphone!

Been there done that. And still paying for it.

Don't even think about singing if you have a cold or flu. I did a couple of times, played right through new year's eve gig, sick as a dog, woke up with no voice at all. 3 months later when I got it back I couldn't hit about a third (interval) of the high notes I could do before I got sick and kept singing. Next time same thing happened, so now I'm missing a good 5th or more of the high end of my vocal range, mostly due to singing while sick.

Play if you have the gig, I've never missed a gig either, but stay away from people and avoid passing it to them, and don't even try to sing. Bad idea...I've been paying for it for over 20 years.

What I have is a severe reaction to mold, the symptoms are similar to the flu, but it's noncommunicable.

That's hard to clear up if you're dealing with mold.
Allegra, cough suppressant, and an albuterol inhaler.

Hydrate the throat and don't push it.

Been there done that. And still paying for it.

Don't even think about singing if you have a cold or flu. I did a couple of times, played right through new year's eve gig, sick as a dog, woke up with no voice at all. 3 months later when I got it back I couldn't hit about a third (interval) of the high notes I could do before I got sick and kept singing. Next time same thing happened, so now I'm missing a good 5th or more of the high end of my vocal range, mostly due to singing while sick.

Play if you have the gig, I've never missed a gig either, but stay away from people and avoid passing it to them, and don't even try to sing. Bad idea...I've been paying for it for over 20 years.

Pete, that's the weirdest story I ever heard. I've sung for 6 months with bronchitis and dozens of times with cold/flu/whatever. It had no long-term effect on my voice, though short-term it takes a little while to build up back to full strength.

If you over-extend your vocal cords while sick (or if they are injured), you can indeed damage them for life - just listen to Stevie Nicks as witness. No amount of surgery will get her voice back to what it was back when 'Rumours' was recorded.

If you over-extend your vocal cords while sick (or if they are injured), you can indeed damage them for life - just listen to Stevie Nicks as witness. No amount of surgery will get her voice back to what it was back when 'Rumours' was recorded.

Honestly, I find that hard to believe. In my opinion, a singer only looses their range of voice if they stop using it for a long season. If I take off for even a week or two, it can take a few hours or even a couple of concerts to get the pipes warmed back up. Can't imagine how long it would take if I were to stop singing completely for a few years like Stevie did.

I've been singing professionally rain or shine, well or sick, since 1975. I did a thousand concerts before I was 20 (1979) and currently about 200 shows a year since 2005. I have cancelled because of inability to sing less than a dozen times in my entire career, though I have been unable to perform at peak many times.

Of course, my situation is different because I was never trying to sing like someone else. Doing my own music allows me to choose which notes are the least amount of strain on any particular night, but perhaps the biggest reason I don't wear out for the last decade is that I usually play solo acoustic and use (up to) 3 Bose L1 sticks, so I could whisper and clearly hear it over anything else going on in the room. My singing voice is actually quieter than my talking voice.

In the rare times that my voice was overly tired it was one of these reasons:

Too many concerts in a row without a day off
Too much whiskey & cigarettes (pre 1990)
Too much talking during the day, or having to shout over a loud tour vehicle on a long drive.
Respiratory problem like bronchitis, pnumonia, flu, etc.

But I have never had any trouble getting back in the saddle after a day of rest. Paul McCartney sounds better than ever in his 60s. Recently he was asked if there was anything special he was doing to maintain that level and his answer was "I smoke a lot of weed".

I'm not condoning drug use, but the point is that he sings so much that his voice has never weakened, no matter what he puts it through.

I'm just getting over an illness where I'd been coughing 24 hours a day, for about 10 days . . .
People say that my talking voice sounds different.
I played/sang some guitar songs, and was surprise that my singing voice seemed normal.
. . . Actually, maybe a little bit fuller than normal, a little bit better sound.
.
And I pulled out my looping pedal today, and sang several songs through it, in 4 part harmony.
When I listened to it, I do, indeed, seem to sound better than normal.
Weird.
. . . but it's a 'good' weird.

I never looked up details about Nick's vocal problems, but here it is (perforated septum exacerbated by cocaine use):

Will correcting the septal perforation change Stevie Nicks’s voice?

Fixing her septum will not worsen Nicks’s voice, nor did the perforation cause the changes in her voice. More likely than the perforation, the probable causes of her loss of range and change in quality are:

Cocaine: when cocaine is sniffed, it drips on to the vocal cords, causing chronic swelling
Rock singing: if not done carefully and with excellent technique, this can result in vocal scarring that is irreversible.
Aging: younger vocal cords may be able to “get away with” some of the behaviors (i.e., smoking, drug use, not resting, singing incorrectly) that over time will become unrecoverable. Vocal cords lose their ability to heal from injury with age.

These factors likely resulted in scarring which produces a loss of vocal range and change in vocal quality.

However, repairing the septum will improve her nasal resonance, giving her sound a more rich color and making it less nasal. This is feasible, should she choose to do it, with the help of an expert surgeon.

Luckily, Stevie Nicks’ legacy and gift for songwriting and performing, as well as her passion for music, will continue to inspire fans and music-lovers alike, enabling her to defy what might be career-ending for any other performer.