I stopped smoking and now everything's wrong.

[joshual]

Hi,

good thing for my health, i quit smoking. I had some throat problems and decided it was the time to really quit those cigarettes for ever. I was smoking about 20 cigarettes minimum a day. I have not train for almost 3 weeks...

So it's a great thing but, strangely my singing is worse then ever:(. It like i'm pushing too much, i just blow off my voice in minutes. And i'm not able to fix it like the way i used to do before.

I gain some notes in head voice, but can't sing in a good mix and my passagio is horrible. I put too much weight on my voice and can't get rid of it...

It's seems like i never worked on my voice, i'm so sad....

So as it seems that i have to start again, i wanted to know what exercices i can do to REALLY lose the weight on middle voice. And what to practice to have a good and efficient restart.

Hope you can help me,

Thanxs in advance,

Josh.

[Robert Lunte]

Welcome to The Modern Vocalist.

I thnk if you had some warm tea around it would help a lot to break up mucous and some of the toxins that are breaking free from your repiratory syste and upper vocal tract. This will be part of the cleansing process and good for your voice.

Also, my educated guess is that this stage is a temporary stage, it wont last. IF your working with a good vocal training system and practicing, and stay off the smokes too, your voice will come around with new strength, endurance and capabilities.

Dont be sad, although I understand... in the beginning singing can be sad when you want to be great so bad and you know its not working right. The fact that you recognize that you have too much weight in your voice is a good sign, part of getting to a great voice is being able to recognize whats not right as well. At TVS we have a mantra that I want to invite you to repeat when your practicing, "lighter, brighter, wider".

I can really help you, but I got to be able to hear your voice... please send a link.

Its most likely that you can sing amazing Josh, you just need a good teacher... I hate to say it, I dont want to sound like Im pitching my own service here... but you need a good voice teacher and guidance and you'll most likely be great.

Also, know that the frustrations you feel today about your singing is not unique. All singers have these same physiological challenges you are having, everyone goes through this to one degree or another in the sport of singing. Everyone needs to first learn to sing with "top down" phonation. Josh sing more ringy, behind the resonators/face... not "bottom-up" phonation which is dark, weighty, whoofy, whindy, throaty.

send me a link so I can hear you.

In the meantime do some resonant buzzing or lip trills to lift the voice and slow octave sirens to calibrate your timing for register bridging.

I hope this helps...

[Joanna]

(speech pathologist/singer here)

Your vocal cords were probably swollen and heavy when you smoked, which means both the closure pattern and breath pressure would be different now that they are returning to healthier status. It is not unusual to go through a big change in technique at such a time.

I'd strongly recommend getting a good vocal exam (videostroboscopy) if at all possible. The chronic inflammation from smoking might have obscured some other subtle problem or weakness that's now showing up. Or, as I said, you may just be adjusting to a very different instrument. Either way, you'll get back to normal sound a lot faster with some knowledge of how the cords are working NOW.

feel free to contact me directly for a referral in your area, or with other anatomical questions.

and of course, on behalf of vocal cords everywhere, THANK YOU for not smoking! A Great Step for so many layers of wellness.

Joanna

http://www.stopsmokingcenter.net/education/benefits.aspx

[Adolph Namlik]

Josh,

I can certainly relate to your concerns and FRUSTRATIONS !!! What you are describing was nearly identical for me when I quit smoking.

What worked for me was L-Glutathione and Chamomile Tea.

L-Glutathione is an anti-oxidant amino acid that will detoxify your system. It will also make you feel more energetic and reduce stress. CAUTION : If you have HYPOTHYROIDISM, do not take this product.

Chamomile Tea will relax your body and also the vocal folds.

A more radical procedure is Botox injections. It is used for "cosmetic" and other purposes, but also treats vocal cord spasms. It blocks nerve signals in the central nervous system that tells your muscles to contract.

HOWEVER, it is unlikely that your doctor will do these injections to help you quit smoking. It is generally used for more extreme circumstances, such as an injury to the vocal folds due to an accident, etc.

L-Glutathione can be found at most health food stores. It can also be purchased at:

http:www.I-Herb.com

If you decide to order, here's a code you can use at I-Herb to receive a discount on your first purchase : DOL-154.

Chamomile tea can be purchased nearly anywhere.

I hope this has helped !!!

Adolph

[joshual]

Thanxs for you replies and help .

I quit one month ago and now everything seems fine and much better!!!

I also had some acid reflux at this time, it may also be coming from that. And also to adapt myself to my new clean vocal instrument.

My voice is more flexible now, my range is better too, i'm really happy!!!

The wrong side is that is have to work a lot on my support (that have always been my main problem) and on to loose some weigth on my voice...

Thanxs again!!

[ronws]

My redneck idea is that when you quit smoking, as your lung tissue repairs itself and your muscles retrain for breathing, you are producing more air pressure than you have become used to producing. That is, you really do have more wind available. And it will take some re-training to back off the air pressure but I bet you will now have some note durations that will be amazing.

[Steven Fraser]

Thanxs for you replies and help .

I quit one month ago and now everything seems fine and much better!!!

I also had some acid reflux at this time, it may also be coming from that. And also to adapt myself to my new clean vocal instrument.

My voice is more flexible now, my range is better too, i'm really happy!!!

The wrong side is that is have to work a lot on my support (that have always been my main problem) and on to loose some weigth on my voice...

Thanxs again!!

Joshual: Extending some of the thoughts already mentioned: As you recover from the effects of smoking, a thing of importance to note (!) is that your vocal bands will be less swollen, so they will be less adducted and less heavily registered. This means that your former kinesthetic (body-feeling) sense of balance between breath energy and laryngeal action will not be as trustworthy or useful. Your body is 'used' to providing more breath energy than you now need, so when you mention that you have to work a lot on support, to me that suggests that you are doing extra work to hold back your 'normal breath energy.

I suggest that you go at this the other direction, which is to work on lessening the breath energy, by taking some time singing softer, less energetically. Put your body in positions where you cannot force breath, so that you can lessen both the breath energy effort, and also the support effort.

At the end of the day, what counts at the level of the larynx is the combination of the breath energy and the laryngeal adjustment. They must match. For now, I think you can get headed in the right direction if you just work less.