I am sure at one time or another you have had a short-term illness of some kind that has slowed you down with your singing development. It can be so frustrating when this happens and the only solution is to not sing AT ALL. This requires a lot of discipline, but rather than feel defeated this is an opportunity for you to explore other facets of your creativity.

Think about the things you don’t get to spend enough time on as you dedicate so much time to your vocal training and technique. Do you usually get any time to spend time working on improving performance skills, learning to play an instrument, writing some original songs? I understand being a singer myself who writes this article in the middle of a severe bout of tonsillitis, I could feel sorry for myself or take action and use my time wisely to improve on myself as an artist.

This is the time to do research, all those things that have been on your to do list and now you have a prime opportunity.

1. Learn to play an instrument or practice playing your instrument
   There are lots of great music teachers around who you can work with. Piano or guitar are great instruments to start with especially if you want to write songs. If your budget is tight there are many instrument tutorial videos on youtube that could get you started with the basics. If you already play an instrument well what a better time to stretch yourself and learn something more advanced or review old material.
2. Find your role model and study them Do you know who influences you musically? Who do you look up to? It’s important to know this so in order to identify with a music role model you need to have a good sense of your own style. Remember also to look back beyond the latest hitmakers, study the greats from years gone by, they are the true originals breaking ground and shaping music as we know it today. Youtube has so much footage of artists performing live you can learn a great deal on how you could model that same style of performance.
3. Find your rhythm and take a dance class (if you are well enough) Would you know the timing of the songs you sing if you had to state it? In theoretical terms it’s called a time signature. Common song time signatures for many songs are either 4/4 or 3/4. It’s really important to learn this. To be a singer is also to be a performer and your whole body needs to be involved. Can your body identify the rhythm of one of the songs you sing by the click of your fingers, the clap of your hands in time. Taking a dance class or even an aerobics class helps you build confidence in finding your rhythm and will really enhance your performances if you can incorporate movement that is appropriate for the song you are delivering to an audience.
4. Start writing an original song
   When you aren’t able to sing at full ability due to illness, there is nothing stopping you to create your own original compositions. You can hum a tune quietly to yourself and record it for future reference. As for writing lyrics, that can be done in absolute silence, preserving your voice if you must be on full vocal rest. If by now you have a few basic chords mastered on an instrument this can also enhance the songwriting process.
5. Set or Review your Goals This is a great opportunity to take stock and review, why are you singing? What is your purpose? What do you want to achieve this year, next year or in 5 years time. Without goals, you may very well get stuck and even though you are having vocal coaching, unless you are honest with what you want to do and sometimes it can make us feel fearful you will stay at the same level, nothing will change.
6. Still go to your vocal lessons if you can, you can still chat with your Vocal Coach about what to focus on, or skype in the lesson. If you are in a group lesson, often just sitting in and listening is invaluable. You can learn so much by observing other students experiences and relate back to your own. You could potentially team up with someone to write a song during this lesson if time allowed. If you are having private one on one vocal coaching then you could discuss many things about setting goals, thinking about a different genre that you haven’t thought about singing before. Moving away from Pop and trying some Musical Theatre for example. Sometimes we are just that sick that the best thing to do is just stay home, rest up and rest your voice. Recovery sometimes means just stopping everything.
7. Look at your potential set lists If you needed to prepare for a performance and you were asked to sing 5-10 songs would you be ready? If you aren’t well you can still go through and organize your songs whether it be having your backup tracks in one place on a CD or on your smartphone or other device or having your lyrics neatly organized in your folder. I speak to a number of professional musicians who often say they love it when a singer is organized and knows what they are there to do. If and when you come to play in a band setting you will have instilled a good routine of being prepared.
8. Ease back into vocal training When you do start to feel better and your illness has affected your voice in some way whether it be a sore throat or losing your voice, be sure to go gently when you decide to start doing vocal exercises. You will notice you may have lost some muscle and intensity and you will need to build it up again. Basic gentle warm ups are the best. Always talk to your vocal coach about this, too much too soon, could see you back to where you started.
9. Ask your doctor if something doesn’t feel right Many singers who may have sung for many years incorrectly may not realise that they have an underlying vocal cord issue that could be the reason for your feeling unwell or having no singing voice. Only just recently Sam Smith and Meaghan Trainor have both had surgery to treat haemhorrage of the vocal cords and that can happen when you overwork your voice or sing incorrectly for a lengthy period of time. Your GP is a good place to start and they can refer you on if you need any intervention.
10. Respect that instrument of yours as a singer When we as singers are unwell, we need to follow the doctors orders. Often we are told to rest, drink lots of fluids, take all of our medication and recover properly. If things don’t improve come back. The same could be said about our voices in general, we need to respect our voice as it is the most important thing for us as singers. We need to ALWAYS warm up our voice before singing, and properly. Not just going through the motions, we need to pay attention we are warming up properly, not straining and are completely relaxed. We need to drink lots of water to keep our vocal cords hydrated. Try to avoid clearing your throat repeatedly as this just causes aggrevation of the vocal cords, try just swallowing. To avoid phlegm in the throat sometimes we need to avoid dairy before performing to ensure our voice is at its best.Being unwell is not pleasant at any time, but if we fully appreciate that it won’t be forever and do all the right things and that means not singing it will serve you better in the long run. Shift your focus and still immerse yourself in activities that relate to singing as described above and you will be well on your way and who knows you may just keep going with those other pursuits and it will completely fulfill your creative desires.