What do you do when you are sick?

Posted on | November 3, 2007 | No Comments

As a singer our body is our instrument, and when our instrument is “out of tune” we cannot perform at our best. I have just come down with a nasty virus which is affecting my voice badly. If I talk for any length of time, it hurts. My glands in my neck are swollen. It feels awful. Am I singing? No. I am resting. Now. A few days of rest and maybe the worst will pass. Maybe it will take longer, but my voice is out of action.

How many of us ignore the signs of oncoming illness and continue on in the hope that it will go away. I wish I had listened to my body in the last few weeks. My voice was a bit croaky, I have been tired, but not bad enough to stop. Perhaps if I had slowed down I wouldn’t be so sick now. Or maybe I would? Who knows? All I know is I sang when not feeling the best on Sunday, by Monday night I was cancelling lessons and by Wednesday I was sleeping all day. Take care of your body, take care of your instrument. Not being able to sing for me is like a typist losing a couple of fingers for a couple of weeks, a runner having a constant muscle strain. It means a loss of income. Prevention, rest, healthy lifestyle. Guitarists can play with a cold. Pianists can play with a cold. Singers – well, you get it!

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