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This is pretty useless I guess but I was surprised, and a bit pleased this morning by the outcome. I am leaving in two days and will be singing everyday for 7 days 2-4 songs per day. The passed two weeks my voice has been phlegmy and a little liquidy on certain notes. This had/has me concerned. I have been doing exercises and practicing and clearing my throat often. I have felt as if my throat was laced with mucus or something. I keep clearing my throat and spiting but it hasn’t helped much.

This morning on the way to work while practicing with much the same result, I decided to try something different. This time I cleared my nose rather than my throat. Well I’ll be! That worked. Well waddaya know? So I guess my throat wasn’t involved in my singing it was my nasal cavities and that is where the fluid was. I just assumed cords/throat. You learn something new every day.. Well at least I know another way to clear my voice.

Ok….back to more important matters :D

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Already 19 views for this thread. It's amazing how many people will click on something that says "useless." :lol:

Bob, I felt like I had to clear my throat. I say this because in everyday use I had no stuffy nose or runny or anything to speak of but every now and then I'd have to spit. I assumed it was coming from my throat as that is where it felt like. However whenever I sang, for the last week or two, when hit a certain pitch, what I thought was my throat would get sort of gurgley/gravelly or like I had phlegmn. You know the deal....can't get a clean note and on the higher ones you lose it.

So I kept popping throat lozenges, drinking water, humming, straw exercise (without the straw) and all that; and when I sang and hit those bad spots I would attempt to clear my throat and spit. It wasn't working well. Today I decided to try something else. I snorted and cleared my nose and spit out whatever came up, clearing my nasal passages. Walla! My voice was clear....at least for awhile. But from that point I stuck to nose/nasal clearing rather than from the throat.

I have no further information because I have been straining a bit trying to get passed this all week and decided to rest my voice as my throat was starting to get tight and I need to sing on Sunday. So more experimentation is needed, but at least now when one thing doesn't work I have another path to try. I guess my voice was up in my nasal cavities rather than throaty.

Maybe not much help Bob, but you never know. :) Good luck. I go through this phlegm crap often.

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Hey bob- just wanted to tell ya that I have had mucus issues... So much that sometimes when I sing a note, I can feel / hear it flying off my cords ( or whatever it is on) what I started doing is taking one of those (one a day) acid reflux pills. It ha helped a ton! Apparently, one can have acid reflux and not even know it.

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thanks guys...keith i live on prilosec once a day, but still get it. with me, if i sing, after 2 or more hours it gets okay, but if i should stop singing, it comes right back. also, if i sit up in the high notes it's less of an issue..medium to low notes kicks back in.

really sucks. it spoils things....it really does.

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I live in the Land of Eternal Allergies. So, before I record something or even if in the midst of something, if I still sound phlegmy, I blow my nose.

Yes, I clicked on it because it said "useless." Considering I have a head full of useless information, it seemed like "home" to me.

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Well, the phlegm is back and worse. I was wondering if saline (through the nose) would do anything. I still think it's in the sinus somewhere especially in light of the clearing I wrote about in this thread. This time it isn't working though. Today I really can't sing. This sucks because I leave tomorrow and will be singing tomorrow night. I just hope it is just allergies and being out at sea will help.

Anyway, see you guys in a week. Wish me luck.

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Good luck Tommy - I wish I had a good remedie for the phlem thing.

Bob - I've been told that long term use of Prilosec is not good - along with inhibiting bad stuff in your stomach, I've been told it also inhibits some good stuff too.

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keith, outside of a cigar as a treat once in a while ....no i don't..don't drink either.

geno, i know, i apprecaite what you're saying...but what can i do? i need to keep the acid pumps off...

my next move is going to be a very bland diet, although it's already pretty bland. i'm pretty sure it's lpr.

all my allergy tests came back negative except for dust mites and trees. like i always say...i keep trying...

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Well, I'm back and the week went unbelievably well despite my phlegm issues, which got worse and eventually turned into a post nasal drip scratchy throat also. I can't really describe how the cruise went because unless you were there you would think I was lying or at least bragging! :D I had people going out of there way to come up to me all over the ship. Even at dinner I wasn't left alone. The other couple traveling with me were joking and counting how many people stop me within a certain amount of time or feet we walk. People were coming to karaoke specifically to hear me sing and if I walked into something non karaoke where there was singing going on by ship performers some guests would ask if I could sing. "Georgia On My Mind" was a popular request and I sang that a few times.

Mustang Sally went over real big. A woman stopped me in the elevator and said she loved "Come to Papa" and that her husband was singing it all night!! I sang a lot. Three and sometimes 4 songs or more per night for seven nights. I was asked often if I sang professionally.

I also auditioned again for singing in the ship's final show of the cruise (a non karaoke event...a real show) and I made it once again. Third time for me. I thought my performance was better for the show last cruise (Garth Brooks' Friends In Low Places in full costume with ship performers) but this time i got a standing ovation. I actually thought my audition went better. Go figure. I was not feeling it. My throat was at its worst. Hey...but the people liked it!!:D Bob (Videohere) wrote about a similar success in another thread and I guess like he suggests. We think to much...just sing! People aren't hearing every mistake we think we are making.

So, I dealt with the phlegm and sang around it. I heard and felt rumbling in my voice but my wife said she didn't. I guess no one else did. I used a good deal of rasp to cover certain notes that were particularly rumbley.

I sang Thank you for my wife (remember that practice recording a few months back?) and I hit the high note...hahaha. I went up high and into my nose closing the cords. (I thought the rest of the song was pitch though.) I was afraid to sing it because of the high note and my throat, and practiced on the beach that morning.

EDIT:

Just a note as I forgot to mention. Mustang Sally was sung with a band, not regular karaoke. Like I said, it went over big. Someone told me later that I had the crowd in my hand. I also did Let it Be and Brown Eyed girl with the band. For some reason, let it be always goes well and it gets mentioned to me throughout the cruise.

I had posted my practice version, when I was just learning the song, "I'd Rather Go Blind" by Etta James here.

I sang that my second night there and that one wowed them. (I finally perfected it). That is where I got my following of the soul crowd. I tend to get a big African American following :)

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Great report Tommy sounds like you had a blast. You know what my advice to you would be so I won't embarrass you again with it but just think how much fun you could have on Friday and Saturday nights. :D. I forgot about you singing Thank You to your wife, I knew it was comming up. I bet she loved it. Congrats

Steve

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Great report Tommy sounds like you had a blast. You know what my advice to you would be so I won't embarrass you again with it but just think how much fun you could have on Friday and Saturday nights. :D

Steve

I ran into a woman on the breakfast line that reminded me of you. She kept on trying to convince me and I kept telling her I had no time. I also said I should have thought about it when I was younger but she said "it's never too late." Geez....lady you remind me of someone. :D She just wasn't having any of it. She had an answer for every excuse.

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Way to go Tommy. Very Professional of you to sing even though you had some nasal issues.

Glad to hear that it did not give you any major problems.

Thank you for sharing that with us. It brings back good memories for me.

You worked hard to get to this point. You deserve the recognition. :D

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Thanks MDEW. Between my throat and what was going on with my nose kind of stuffed (I can't believe allergies are still a problem at sea) I was concerned about tone. But I guess it went well. My worst time was the stage show and my Garth Brooks performance the last night. I really didn't feel like singing at all and the whole day was one that had me wishing I didn't have to sing. I didn't even speak the whole day. Funny thing is that once you start singing you forget everything and just go. Like going to work when you don't feel up to it. Just do it!! :D

I was backstage sitting silent while the other performers (especially the first timers) were chatting and nervous. I felt nothing. I had one throat lozenge left and I saved it for just the right moment. I watched the show backstage on the monitor and timed the taking of it. Britney Spears, Madonna then me. At Britney I took the Lozenge and at Madonna my Dancer came to get me in prep for my entrance to the stage. My Lozenge was finished and I stood behind the curtain waiting my cue with my dancer/presenter. Madonna and the dancers came through the curtain and I walked out through the curtain raised my hand to wave to the crowd as me and my escort (who had me by the arm) paused. " She guided me to the little star on the stage floor as the band (in the pit) played the intro, she presented me walked off and out came my first note. It worked!!! :D And I was off to the races! Now to just remember the dance steps and timing of the finale!! :o

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Cool! Not just another Karaoke a whole routine dance steps and all. :) Soon you'll need your very own Pink Cowboy Hat. :P

:D

Yea, there are three separate things. One is the regular karaoke. Then on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday nights they have karaoke but with a band backing you rather than a karaoke track. For this they only have a handful of songs to choose from...maybe about 25.

Then there is the show. The show is something completely different. On the second and third night of the cruise they hold auditions for 10 parts in a 45 minute show. James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Elton John, Britney, Madonna, Garth Brooks, Elvis, Ricky Martin, Gloria Esteban and Sinatra. This show is in the main theater which is huge, two levels, balcony seats and all. It is the stage where they hold all the broadway type shows, with a band pit a rising stage and all. The show goes through genre's, Soul, rock, country and Latin music. There are dance numbers and an opening dance and singing routine by the regular ship entertainment and they sing and dance around us during the show. It is supposedly the biggest show on the cruise.

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Well, just to make something clear. Compliments are one thing while singing karaoke and even after the show. That stuff is really appreciated by me especially if someone goes out of their way to do it. But as for the show...being chosen doesn't mean squat. Usually if there are a lot of people auditioning it is more meaningful. I came in second in a filed of 5 or 6 once. Other times there are only 2 people auditioning and someone has to be chosen so it could end up being the better of two bad singers. Other times only one person comes up to audition no matter how much begging the guy running it does. So he wins no matter how bad. In essence the show can be real good or it can be 80% good with 8 good singers and 2 bad ones. It's more about the spirit of the show and your fellow guests getting up there to perform. Some good singers end up screwing up and some forget the words.it isn't karaoke and there are no monitors with words on them. you're on your own.

But once again, being in the show doesn't mean you're good. I'd like to think I was the popular vote (I went against two others) but it doesn't always mean you're good. Only that you were better than who you went against.

Although my audition was on fire!!! :lol:

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Don't let it bug you if you lose out either! The other guy may have more friends and family and no matter how good you are the other guy may win.

Expierience! Battle of the Bands. House band won by 2 votes. :( Life goes on :rolleyes:

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