Having a cold

Jake_____Clark

This past week I've found myself with a cold, I've been off and on with KTVA for a year now and I'm on volume two. I was having a hard time committing with college being so difficult but I've been getting back at it recently. So with this cold I took a few days off to let my throat feel better. My throat feels fine but I'm still really stuffed up. I there a way I can still practice as normal? Should I take it light? Or should I just not practice until I am back to 100% health?

highmtn

Ken recommends that you tough it out and keep singing when you are sick, UNLESS you have a respiratory/bronchial infection, OR laryngitis/hoarse. The reason for this is that you often have a setback when you are ill. But you will recover from the setback much more quickly if you just sing through it. If you pamper the voice, and take a break, your illness will work its setback more deeply into your voice, and it will actually take you LONGER to recover vocally if you take the rest.

On the items where you should take vocal rest, hoarseness or infections, those will be worsened by trying to sing, so we lay off on those.

Furious_Phil

Agreed. I just did a 3 hour rehearsal while sick and exhausted last night, and was told I was in rare form LOL
So I proved to myself that I really can perform when I'm under the weather, I just needed to keep guzzling the water during it

band

So sing through a cold, but with cautioun, unless your voice is hoarse/raspy? I have had a throat infection lately so my falsetto and head voice is super raspy or non-existent, but my chest register is still powerful... should I take a break for a few days?
Did Ken post exercises to do during a cold?

highmtn

Ken recommends to sing through illnesses UNLESS they are due to laryngitis, bronchial infections, or hoarseness. Those particular items can worsen your vocal recovery. But for colds, flu, etc, even though your voice may not be "up to par", your setbacks will be lessened if you keep singing. When we take time off for illnesses, the recovery time when your voice is back to full function will take longer if you pamper your voice and wait until you are completely well. So to bounce back more quickly, just tough it out and keep singing, even though it's not your full, healthy voice.

bentk

I was actually surprised i still had quite a lot of my range during a nasty cold i had a while back. My voice was really messed up, so i tried to resolve my throat issues with all kinds of 'remedies' that are known to help, or help remove mucus etc. It seemed that my throat recovered relatively quickly. So maybe the few exercises i did during the time helped, but i have no idea.

So i totally get where @highmtn is coming from when you have an 'ordinary' cold.