Halfway through March 2025 I was walloped by the flu and lost my voice. This was followed by bronchitis and six weeks of coughing, followed by several colds. The result: I was dealing with big vocal problems for over eight weeks. I had a couple of important shows coming up in May for which I’d begun to rehearse when the flu hit me.
I’m a long-time voice coach who has frequently dealt with problems like this with my students and with my own voice. But I hadn’t had vocal problems of this duration and intensity in many years, and I found that I was sometimes doing what I had told countless singers not to do. I thought it might be helpful for other singers if I documented my journey, and what did and didn’t help.
Week 1: the flu. I had no voice and was too sick to vocalize anyway. I slept or lay in a feverish haze. It was a major coup when I could keep my eyes open long enough to watch an episode of Severence.
Week 2: the flu turned into bronchitis with lots of coughing. I slept sitting up. My doctor told me to skips meds and wait it out. I was exhausted and my voice was just beginning to return, but it was still shot. I continued vocal rest, drank herbal tea with honey, and gargled with warm salt water. The latter two really do help, according to my physician brother.
Week 3: more bronchitis, but my energy was returning. My vocal cords felt like someone had been drag racing on them. So I followed my own advice, which is “If it hurts to sing, don’t”. Instead, I began rehearsing all the songs for my show on guitar while I silently mouthed all the words in front of the mirror. I needed the guitar practice, and I knew this would help me remember lyrics and work on my focus and performance without taxing my vocal cords.
Meanwhile, I was speaking as little as I possibly could. I emailed and texted friends and family and told them long chatty phone calls were off the table for the time being. I taught my dog to come when I whistled instead of calling his name. I canceled all lessons with singers. When I spoke I aimed for a high teenage pitch at a soft volume since that’s easier on the voice. But I kept forgetting and went back to my normal speaking range which was vocally tiring.
Weeks 4 & 5: more bronchitis plus occasional colds. My doctor thought it was time for antibiotics but I was wary of the side effects, and my physician brother said they might not help anyway.
Normally I warm up daily but I knew this would fatigue my voice, so I skipped all warmups. Instead I sang loads of loose lip trills, and occasionally did the same over actual notes. That was the only sound that felt okay.
Singers know about the value of placement, which is feeling resonance in the face when singing. Feeling the voice in your throat is fatiguing, and that’s all I felt post-flu. With lip trills I could get my placement right, and afterward I sometimes also felt good placement talking and singing. At this point on some days I could sing in a light head voice, so I rehearsed my set on mic, singing very lightly. Usually I sing in my chest voice but that wore me out, and even the light singing was taxing. I tried to get back to deep singer inhalations and good singing posture and support--those had all gone out the window with the flu and bronchitis. I also started swimming laps again to rebuild my lung capacity.
I sing in a choir, so I went to rehearsals and mouthed the words. My social life was tanking and I was well past the infectious stage, so I’d go to events with my husband and let him do all the talking (for once!). But I had to pipe up sometimes, and loud restaurants were treacherous. Several times I felt that I’d taken a vocal step backwards. Paul Simon has said that he avoids loud restaurants when he’s on tour--I should have listened to him.
Week 6: still coughing, still catching colds. At this point I was very anxious about my lack of voice. I could talk a bit but my singing voice remained weak, and my husband and friends heard way too much about my worries of whether I’d be able to sing at my upcoming shows. I’ve prided myself over the years on not being a self-obsessed diva, but I sure was acting like one. I mention this because singers are so identified with their voices, and it rocks your world when your voice disappears. I’ve read that Frank Sinatra used to plunge into depression whenever he had a cold. I felt like I had mild anxiety or a low-grade depression much of this time, and it eased up only on days when my voice was stronger. I was also a bit angry sometimes. Normally I love the challenge and focus of preparing for a show or album project, but my voice was too iffy to thoroughly enjoy the process.
Week 7: bronchitis gone, coughing easing up, still getting colds, vocal strength 35-55% depending on the day. On some days I could finally sing in my chest voice again. I ran my songs and sang out more, which is when a new level of vocal trouble happened. I’ve talked to students a lot about compensation, when muscles around the vocal cords take over if there’s a lack of breath support or vocal strength. This can affect tone, pitch, and endurance. Then it happened to me: I sang, compensation happened, and the throat tension caused me to sing flat. I could hear it, so I began to record myself to work on my pitch--but hearing myself sing flat just made me tense up more, so I’d get up to pitch but only in a very tight squeezed sound. This went on for over a week and it drove me nuts until I realized I was having the same problem I’ve worked on with many a stressed-out student. What helped was to ease the tension, particularly in the muscles on the sides of the throat. I did the “Stevie Wonder Maneuver” as I sang, which is slowly shaking your head No as you sing. What helped even more was massaging the sides of my neck, either manually or with a massager device. I’d do this before I sang and I’d also stop in the middle of practice for more massage as soon as I noticed tension creeping in.
Week 8: no cough, vocal strength 45-60%. I continued to record myself for pitch while steering clear of compensation with awareness and massage. My tone was not how I like it but there was nothing I could do about it. I babied my voice and practiced as if my voice would eventually regain its strength. I worked on delivery, focus, and movement, and thought about what to say to the audience between songs.
Week 9: vocal strength 65-75%. The first show was a week away and I figured this was as good as it would get. On good days I sang out, on iffy days I continued to baby my voice. Slowly but surely singing began to be fun again. I accepted that my voice wouldn’t be as strong as I’d like at the shows but I’d still be able to do a decent job.
I often get strong stage nerves and I figured I’d be nervous at these shows. Years ago I tried beta-blockers which definitely eased the shakiness, but made me feel removed and distant when I was on stage. Also, beta-blockers interfere with adrenaline, and I wanted that adrenaline rush on-stage because it knocks out many symptoms of colds and allergies. Though I rarely drink alcohol, I experimented and decided that 3-5 small sips of mescal was what worked for me. That meant that when I had an early morning TV interview before leaving town I was sipping mescal at 6:30 AM!
I flew to Nashville, rehearsed with my band there, then performed the next day. At the rehearsal my voice began to wimp out again. The day of the show I mostly rested my voice and I was fine at the show--not wailing Superwoman singing, but fine. Here’s a video of one of the songs from that show. Afterward my voice felt better then it had since before the flu.
Then I flew home to Santa Fe and rehearsed with a different band here the day before the show. The same thing happened: big vocal fatigue at the rehearsal. Maybe it was pre-gig stress at both rehearsals. Once again I rested my voice the day of the show and was fine that evening. The adrenaline kicked in and I finally felt that I could trust my voice to do what I wanted. It seemed that my eight+ weeks of vocal troubles were finally over, and I could feel the joy of singing once again.
Here’s what I learned or had to relearn during this time:
1. Don’t sing sick: if it hurts to sing, don’t.
2. If illness has caused your vocal problems trust that your voice will come back, even when it takes a long time. If you’re having vocal problems for weeks and don’t know the cause please see a vocal coach or a voice doctor.
3. If you have a gig coming up rehearse while mouthing your songs. Sometimes vocal rest is what’s in order.
4. Baby your voice as much as you can, including your speaking voice. Avoid long chats and loud restaurants.
5. Lip trills are your friend, do them a lot as your voice returns.
6. Watch for compensation as your vocal strength returns. Massage and slowly shaking your head ‘no’ as you sing can help prevent compensation.
Remember that you can still do a good performance even if your voice isn’t 100%.
Here’s a video I recorded several years ago that reviews lip trills and other post-cold sounds you can try.
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