...take care

I've not made a blog in a while because I've been ill with migraines. I tried to carry on working but it was a strain on my voice when I tried to sing. This led me to thinking about health for singers and looking after the voice, and most of my research into this area depressed my spirits further! I read about the two great Marias— Malibran and Callas — who liked a party too much, and the great smokers, like Caruso, who ruined their lungs; also very talented singers I've never heard of before, because they had to give up their careers as they couldn't cure their excessive catarrh: a problem I identify with more than the other two!

One of the books I have been reading recently is Lilli Lehmann's How To Sing, which is really interesting and useful. She wrote a whole chapter on 'Indispositions', but there is a part nearer the beginning of the book that is particularly relevant to my recent indisposition:

"Any physical reason is sufficient to make singing difficult, or even impossible; it need not be connected necessarily with the vocal organs; in fact, I believe it very rarely is."

She says that the singer must understand their body thoroughly so that they can identify the problem and work round it or cure it. She also gives the very encouraging quote:

"If you wish to sing only when you are in good form, you must excuse yourself ninety-nine times out of a hundred."

And she gives examples of performances she gave despite indisposition of some sort or other.

Another book I am reading is The Secrets of Svengali, written by John Duval in the 1920s (borrowing the name Svengali to cache in on the huge success of the novel Trilby). It gives a whole list of Dos and Don'ts for the singer. He expanded on the list about thirty years later when he wrote a follow-up book, but the basic list is:

"Sleep well; eat nourishing food, and not too much of it;
Exercise the whole body, and not to excess;
Do your vocalise every morning, one half hour off and on, rest the voice completely one day a week;
Don't sing within three hours of eating;
Don't sing when you are hoarse;
Don't sing when your nose or throat is being treated with menthol in any form;
Don't continually repeat difficult notes or phrases without the rest of the piece in which they appear;
Don't talk in the open air in Winter."

It doesn't sound like a lot of fun, because he then goes on to say that you also mustn't party too hard or engage in many other activities which most people consider very fun if you want to have a great career like Lilli Lehmann's!

But a singer's body is their instrument; you can't exchange it for a new one if it gets damaged, so if you want to keep your voice, you really do have to take care of your health. As Duval closes by saying:

"Live for your singing."