Hello again, everybody!
Firstly, apologies for being quiet. I can't believe it's been two months since I last wrote here.
Things have been very busy. The vocal booth fell down so we (me and my much more able sound engineering housemate, Joe) rebuilt it with wooden beams supporting the plastic piping. Our plan in the next few months is to replace it entirely with a wooden frame and plywood panels with sound proof material attached.
Jobs, jobs, jobs! I've been working hard and will soon have completed by 10th job on Voices.com . I've already made my first £1,000. Which doesn't sound like much, but for me it is a huge deal and is really helping to supplement my income while I still have to work at the record shop in Camden. I've found that while I don't have a particular niche, I tend to get hired for medical and corporate voice overs, because my natural voice is quite soothing and calming, I suppose? This means I need to spend more time on my acting chops.
Sending a huge shout out to the amazing Peter Warnock, my vocal coach. We are working on the final touches of my Commercial and Video Game reels before recording them in the next month. Peter has just been treated for a potentially serious illness, and I'm thrilled that he is recovering well and can't wait to get in the studio with him. The reels should lead to better paid work and (eventually) representation from an agent. This is what I'm very much hoping for!
You'll be pleased to know (unless you're some sort of mortal enemy who reads these blogs to find my weak spots) that my recovery from covid inflicted vocal fold paresis is continuing to progress. I had a second endoscopy about a month ago on behalf of the NHS (because they originally wanted to make sure the paresis wasn't underlying anything more serious, like cancer) and the right vocal fold was still closing at a weaker rate than the left. I don't know how long that will take to recover, but I can say that my voice feels stronger and takes much longer to get tired than it did previously. This is a huge relief and I want to pay tribute to the incredible Dr Ruth Epstein for helping me through my vocal therapy journey.
Vocal therapy (in my case, at least) has involved straw phonation therapy (that is – blowing through different width straws to create different amounts of resistance on the vocal chords. I am now only using the thinnest straw and, quite frankly, am smashing it! Not only does this help my cords become stronger, but it also teaches me that most vital of skills in a professional voice user:
USE YOUR DIAPHRAGM!
I can't stress this enough. For years I was on the road in a punk band, wreaking havoc on my voice by putting all the pressure on my neck, tons of air in my cheeks and just ripping through hour long sets with tons of screaming and shouting. It's amazing that I didn't encounter polyps before now. Another technique Dr Epstein showed me was the use of a Kazoo. Yes, the stupid, annoying kazoo. This, again, is designed to show the voice user if they are projecting from the diaphragm or from the throat. When you are using the throat the kazoo will sound deep, full and irritating. When from the throat, the sound is narrower, weaker and irritating.
Finally, trilling. And lots of it. Trilling is where you roll your tongue or blow your lips when creating a sound. The paresis mainly effected the upper part of my register, and I noticed a lot of cracking as I would go up. Trilling upwards has helped my voice open up massively and I am now able to do full scales without any cracking.
Yes, there's no getting away from that part. It's been quite an exercise in social bravery walking down the street with my kazoo and my trilling. But all for the greater good of a happy, healthy, stronger voice.
Rightio, that's enough verbiage from me,
Hear you later :)
George
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