In an ideal world, whenever you sing you will be in top shape, healthy, and feeling good both physically and emotionally. But this is, unfortunately, not always the case. If singing is your profession, you do not have the luxury of performing only when you are in the pink of health. Your commitments to your job, your colleagues, your audience and, last but not least, your paycheck, may dictate that on occasion you will have to sing when you are not at your best.
How well you do this depends on many factors, but it is certainly the mark of a professional. As the eminent English laryngologist Norman Punt once quipped, “The difference between a professional and an amateur singer is that the professional can sing even when she doesn’t want to, while an amateur can’t sing even when she does.” Being realistic about the limitations imposed by your illness, working around those limitations, and still putting on an acceptable performance is truly the essence of professionalism.
Our discussion here deals with a specific set of circumstances. We are talking about a temporary illness, such as a cold, rather than chronic and serious disability. We are also talking about a situation where you truly need to perform and are not able to cancel. This would be a case where there is a single concert that involves other singers and musicians, a circumstance where you do not have a cover, and the welfare of others depends on you being there. This is hopefully an uncommon set of circumstances: if you are frequently ill or are put into a position where you must sing many performances when you are not at your best, you need to reassess what you are doing rather than to charge through.
In my medical experience, while both classical and non-classical singers find themselves in this situation, each requires a different approach. Classical singers usually have fewer performances but are held to a higher vocal standard, both by colleagues and audience. Musical theatre performers may have more options to cover a temporary impairment, but their schedule can be far more strenuous and, ultimately, destructive. While I can usually get a classical singer through a specific performance or audition, the musical theatre singer—especially where there is no cover—presents a more difficult dilemma.
You have a cold—sore throat, congestion, mucus, perhaps a cough—and cannot cancel. What to do?
First, recognize that you are sick. While this sounds silly, many singers believe that if they just continue their usual schedule, including an hour at the gym, the cold will somehow disappear. Remember that your body is fighting an infection—usually viral, but an infection nonetheless. This is work for your immune system, and no antibiotics can help. So, don’t put additional strain on yourself by running on a treadmill! You need to put your non-performance hours at the disposal of your body rather than ask it to work even harder. Baby yourself: rest, sleep, stay warm—anything that will support your immune system and get you better.
Second, take an unemotional and honest look at how the sickness is affecting your vocal production. A sore throat often leads to an elevated larynx and reduces vocal power and resonance. Swelling of the mucous membranes of the vocal tract absorbs more of your sound, altering how you hear your own voice internally as well as what comes out of your mouth. With pain and swelling, your sense of proprioception is altered, and this can affect how you position your larynx. A tight chest or cough reduces your ability to rapidly fill your lungs, decreases total pulmonary capacity, and may make you change the way you support the voice. General muscle aches and malaise can further impair your vocal and physical endurance.
Awareness of how the illness specifically impairs your vocal production will let you make rational adjustments. The first step in this process is to reduce your expectations. Don’t try to feel or sound like you usually do. You will not achieve the usual loudness, resonance, or color, since both output (voice production) and input (your auditory and proprioceptive perception of the voice) are temporarily altered. If you try to produce your “usual” voice, you will not only be disappointed but may find that you have adopted compensatory maneuvers that are potentially harmful and may continue after your illness is gone. Persistent vocal strain, throat discomfort, and a voice that is muscled, inadequately supported, and with high larynx and constricted pharynx may be the residual effect of trying to sing “as usual” when you are sick.
So, cut yourself some slack! Your illness—whether a cold, flu, or other condition—is temporary. You just need to get through your gig. Reduce your expectations: just try to sing in tune, in time, and on cue. You may not be as dramatic, as loud, and as resonant as usual but, for the moment, these are less important aspects of your performance. Certainly, make your colleagues aware that you are not at your best. You may find that they are more understanding and accepting than you thought—and less hard on you than you may be on yourself. After all, who is always perfect? Showing up, performing, and demonstrating professionalism is part of a singer’s life, and everyone should reasonably understand this.
Of course, this is not to say that you shouldn’t do your best to relieve your symptoms. Analgesics, decongestants, mucus thinners, vitamin C, slippery elm lozenges—take everything that may help you to reduce your impairment. At the same time, be aware that some medications do have vocal side effects and, despite all medications, you need to temporarily change your expectations of your voice. Even with the use of cortisone (something I rarely recommend to a singer with an infection), your false sense of well being only temporarily hides the fact that you are not well.
So, singing while sick involves many considerations: a realistic appraisal of whether you really need to sing or are able to cancel, a sober and unemotional checklist of how your vocal production is impaired, a strategy for working around those impairments, using medications and adjustments in technique, and an accepting philosophical attitude toward a temporary setback.
And, finally, while performing is very much “in the moment,” remember that you will wake up again tomorrow morning, whether your performance was great or just adequate—and next time you sing, you will be well and will wow every listener.
