Numb vocal cords

Philip_G

Hi!

So I'm a new student of the 3.0 course.
And my first message here!

This will be a fairly long message. I apologize for that in advance. But I feel a backstory would benefit my questions.

The issue is this:
When I do the LA-AAH exercises (no matter which vowel) I feel a pretty heavy numbness in my throat afterwards. And it restricts my range and dynamic a lot!
Why is this?
I want to believe it has to do with a faulty support and/or misunderstanding of tonal placement.

My usual routine looks like this:
Every morning I hum in a straw into a bottle of water. I only do this in my speaking register except for slides through the passagio.
If I hum in a higher register or headvoice the numbness appears.
I wake up the support by blowing through the straw without a waterbottle, and then I do some "HEY!s".
After this I sing along with my favorite tracks at the moment which also fit what I feel is a good exercise at this point in time.

After this morning routine my voice feels great! No numbness, hoarseness or any problems.

However, I tried starting the day with the 30 min singer course.
And my throat went completely numb, almost as if the vocal cords got stiff or a thin film of some kind cover them. The passagio went from smooth to a brick wall and my power went way down.

So I tried doing it in the afternoon instead.
Same thing.

It feels good when doing the exercises but it gradually gets more and more difficult getting a stable tone and ping.

What is going on!?

Am I pushing to hard? To little?
Could it be that I somehow manage to engage the throat even though it feels open?


Any ideas are welcome!

Best regards
Philip

Terence

We'd need to hear you sing a Lah-Ah arpeggio to make useful comments on this. From your description, alone, I don't read anything that would lead to numbness. And where do you feel this numbness, in the mouth, tongue, throat?

How long have you been on the course?

Philip_G

I'll try to film me while singing it so you can see and hear.

I feel it around the vocal cords. Almost like they don't want to close and get very airy.

Philip_G

I have been on the course on and off for about a year.

Philip_G

My issue for a long time has been to grasp how support actually works.
I do feel however that I understand and utilize it now. Although it is my main focus when training.
I do feel it warms up rather slowly and it takes some effort to get it going.

Philip_G

Support and basic vowels is the topics I'm doing in the course.
And has been for a couple of months or so. But since I don't feel it is second nature yet, I have not moved on to other areas.
I am a firm believer in time makes excellence.