HELP Me...i have no voice...?

Question

ok, i have solo and ensamble contest on staurday and i have no voice, my troat is soo sore and it hurts to talk let alone sing...does anyone know anything that i can do?

Answer 1

A couple years ago, I lost my voice four days before All-State auditions. This is what I did to get my voice back (I wasn't perfect after four days of rest, but I auditioned well enough and made it to the next round.)

Stop talking. Do not talk. Do not sing. Do not practice your song. Carry a notepad and pen around to "talk" to people. Warm-up lightly once every afternoon to keep your vocal chords loose and to see the improvement your voice is making as it recovers. But do this for no more than 15 minutes tops, then back to no speaking. At all.

Drink TONS of water. No liquid actually touches your vocal chords as you swallow (you'd choke if it did, since your vocal chords are in your windpipe, headed down to the lungs), but by drinking lots and lots of water your body becomes well hydrated as a whole, and thus so do your vocal chords. I drank about a galloon of water a day in those four days of recouperating. In choir we used to say if you aren't peeing clear every half-hour, you're not drinking enough water. Just make sure to keep eating light snacks throughout the day, too, or that much water could throw off your electrolytes and then you're in real trouble.

Decaf tea with honey is great, as is Theraflu. So soothing...

If your voice is gone because you are or were sick, find some cough drops with vitamin C, zinc, and/or echinecea. If your voice is gone just from overuse, just get the vitamin C ones.

Get enough sleep. Your body needs time to heal itself, and resting helps speed that process.

At night, boil a pot of water and then wait a couple minutes for the steam to go from scalding to warm (you should be comfortable putting your face in the steam). Take a towel and hang your head over the pot, inhaling the steam to get heat directly on your vocal chords. With the towel over your head it will keep more of the steam around your face instead of escaping into the air.

Break a leg! Rest and drink water!!

Answer 2

Drink tons of water and tea or soup and keep sucking Riccola drops. I think the ones with honey work best, not the sugar free ones. They are a mainstay in my opera class. Avoid smoke, dust, alcohol, and cold air. Number one most important thing is DON'T WHISPER! Whispering forces a lot of air over your vocal folds and can actually be worse than talking. It's really hard, but not talking at all will really help. When the day comes, if you are a high voice, you may find dropping higher areas down an octave will sound just fine and can be an alternative to losing your voice when you try to get to those top notes.

Answer 3

An old actor's trick is squeezing lemon juice directly into your throat in the days leading up to your performance. It makes my mouth water just thinking about it but it works! The tea with ginger, honey and lemon is an old staple, as mentioned by another poster. Also, a tea made from Slippery Elm bark will help soothe your throat in the days leading up to your performance.

Answer 4

Better than just honey and tea: put ginger root in boiling water, cook it til the water picks up color... then add the honey and a little lemon.

This is the medicine all serious professional vocalists rely on. It will instantly make you feel better.

Answer 5

All I can say is to get medicine and drink honey + tea. That's what I've been hearing that makes your throat relax. Drink the honey + tea first and then take the medicine. I hope you do awesome!

Answer 6

Don't talk for a couple days (or don't talk much, depending on how hard core you want to be about it). Your vocal chords may just need to rest. Try drinking lots of warm tea or soup, that'll help. Try to stay away from things that aren't good for you vocal chords (milk, soda, coffee, alcohol). Good luck in your competition!!!

Answer 7

stop talking and drink lots of liquids. tea with honey.