Voice Therapy is Sexy

In the past little while there has been an explosion of voice therapy buzz around a very titillating topic: vibrators and its application to voice therapy. It has been interesting to see the number of links and tweets directing me to this article from readers and friends. It's quite flattering to think that I'm one of the first people they think of when there is a wacky application to voice therapy. It is a topic I find fascinating and makes the voice science part of my brain ponder. If you have not already read the article, I suggest you do that first before reading further.
 
Furthermore, the Speech Therapist in me must begin with the disclaimer that, if you are having voice difficulties, do not just self-diagnose and start using a vibrator to solve your voice difficulties. If you are noticing symptoms such as voice loss, persistent hoarseness longer than two weeks, discomfort and fatigue while voicing where it's affecting functional activities like your job, it's time to get a referral to an otolaryngolost that specializes in voice for a scope and a Speech-Language Pathologist trained in voice disorders for a voice assessment.

You may be curious as to what may be occurring when vibrators are applied to the throat in order to "loosen the vocal chords." First of all, the heritage of my voice training urges me to refer to "vocal chords" as "vocal folds" since they really are folds of tissue layers that vibrate to create sound, and not "chords," which make it sound like they can be plucked. Now that I have clarification of vocabulary out of the way, let us address the question: Why might vibrators work in application to therapy?

I don't know. Even the creator, David Ley, doesn't know. That's the beauty of Science. We hypothesize and experiment in order to find out. However, I will provide my hypotheses.

First of all, vibrating sound sources already have application in the Speech therapy world. Some clients who have had their larynx (i.e. voice box) removed, due to cancer etc., can consider an option for voicing known as electrolarynx. An electrolarynx is a vibrating source which is held against your throat/base of tongue and it replaces the vibrations of your vocal folds.

Photo Credit: Dr. Brook's Blog

In the diagram, you can see that the voice box is removed and there is just a stoma (a.k.a. hole) that allows for air to get into the lungs. All you do is articulate with your lips, tongue etc. and with the buzz of the applied sound source - voilà! you have speech. You can try this out for yourself. If you have your own vibrating sound source (e.g., personal massager using the most concentrated head attachment close to the one seen in the above diagram), you can try applying it to the base of your tongue where it meets your throat and try speaking by just forming vowels and articulating consonants with your tongue. Even though it can be tricky, since I'm assuming you still have your larynx, with some positioning re-adjustments, you may be able to find your own voicing sweet spot. You may be wondering how I know so much about this topic... I'm not going to answer ;)

Here's a video to hear what speech with an electrolarynx sounds like:




O.k., now that it has been established that vibrating sound sources aren't novel in application to Speech Pathology, what is going on in terms of current voice therapy pratice? Currently, there is a standardized voice therapy that exists called Lessac-Madsen Resonant Voice Therapy.



One of the focuses in this type of treatment is to feel the vibrations in the face to produce a more resonant voice. Dr. Verdolini-Abbott taught me while I was Utah last summer and she introduced other tools which may be helpful to feel vibrations. She mentioned the use of an electric toothbrush. These props are not meant to be used as a crutch throughout treatment, but rather, as an initial tool to stimulate that sensation and feeling of where clients should be using their voice. Perhaps using vibrators are yet another tool to help speakers focus where they are supposed to be feeling sensations to produce a resonant voice.

One of the points in the article is that:

“You can actually watch on a spectrograph how vocal energy grows,” said David Ley, who worked on the project. “Even when you take the vibrator off, the frequencies are greater than when first applied.

The increase of vocal energy makes sense from a sound wave acoustics perspective because when you add two sound waves together, in the same phase, there is constructive interference. Which is a fancy way of saying that sounds add together, get bigger, and as a result, sound louder.

Photo Credit: virtualmuseum.ca

Ley chose vibrator frequencies close to the fundamental frequency range of his speakers. Thus, when they are speaking and using the vibrator, they could sound louder, explaining the increase in "vocal energy." Maybe when these frequencies are present, even after the vibrator is taken off, it may reflect how speakers are maintaining resonant voice use because the vibrator has changed their voice focus.

One application that does make the Speechie side of me wary is the use of voice therapy in those with laryngitis. There are times when voice therapy is not recommended, such as laryngitis. In laryngitis the vocal folds are inflamed and voice rest is the recommended first course of action. However, the article doesn't reveal if that actress was just diagnosed with laryngitis or if it was months after and she was still recovering. My main note is just to proceed with caution in cases of laryngitis. As well, to always consume literature and research critically and with caution, even this very blog post.

Another thought as to why vibrators may be working is that there is some recent evidence to suggest that low-impact, medium-high amplitude vibrations may speed the wound healing process in vocal folds (currently, this article is in submission to be published). It comes from a thread of literature that investigates inflammatory mediators secreted by the vocal folds that may assist in the wound healing process.

Complete voice rest or voice habilitation? It's a balance that health care professionals have to consider in the treatment course of client recovery. Semi-occluded vocal tract (SOVT) exercises (e.g., humming, lip trills) describe exercises where the mouth is closed or constricted. SOVT has been shown to have good therapeutic application. These exercises create back pressure in the vocal tract. It creates a buffer of air above and below the vocal folds so they can still vibrate but it's low impact and the vocal folds vibrate with medium-high amplitude (i.e. the distance the tissue moves).

Photo Credit: mediacollege.com

Low impact minimizes further tissue damage. The medium-high amplitude may assist in healing because the mobilization of vocal fold tissues may increase chemical mediators that assist in wound repair. It is possible that vibrators may create these same low impact vibrations in the vocal folds. In this case, it would be important for the speaker's mouth be closed and to not be speaking at the same time. Or else if their mouth is open and they are applying a vibratory sound source - it is no longer low-impact.

I do have some reservations about this vibrator-to-throat method. A critique of this application may be that the vibrations could desensitize the tissues. Perhaps stimulation of these tissues provide the illusion of temporary relief and speakers may be tempted to overuse their voice. As well, if somebody is speaking, and they are using a vibrator, it is no longer a low-impact SOVT exercise. While some low impact vibrations may be helpful if you're just sitting quietly and holding a vibrator to your throat... how does this generalize to when you are speaking? I think what is most important to consider is the source of the difficulty.

Why is a speaker feeling strain, tension, etc. while they are using their voice? If they rely on a vibrator as a tool to provide relief, it may not be addressing the underlying problem. As a therapist, my first inclination is to assess why there are voicing concerns, how it is occurring, and if appropriate for voice therapy, consider options to remediate behaviour. My approach to treatment draws upon motor-learning principles. I believe that learning how to use the voice in a healthy way can generalize to long-term behaviour. It's like programming a new habit. The danger with having a prop, like a vibrator, is that it could create dependency. While vibrators may be helpful to elicit initial resonant sensations and provide muscular release, what do we do when the prop is not there?

Speakers should learn how use their voice in a healthy way in order to have self-control so there isn't dependency upon tools. Do I disagree with the usage of vibrators? Not necessarily, we don't know that much about its applications yet. However, I think we do need to determine what our ultimate voicing goal is and why we are using vibrators. If our goal is to teach long-term skills to use the voice in a healthy way, there are other courses of treatment to consider. However, if vibrator use is proven to be efficacious with supporting evidence from the literature, then maybe we should be using nightstand toys as a therapeutic tool. Either way, I appreciate the amount of interest it has generated in the area of voice therapy. Who knew that voice therapy was so sexy?

A Choral Reflection

There is something to be said for reconnecting with people that put you at complete ease. Yesterday, for the first time in five years, my closest choral companions from my teenage a cappella ensemble, Con Fuoco, reunited for an evening. As we each took turns to provide verbal updates in a round table manner, I just kept thinking how inspiring it was to listen to the paths that some of my friends have chosen. They are diverse and unique but the commonality was that they were completely true to that person's character. Their overall life trajectory appears organic to me as a third-party observer.

It also made me think of what our teenage selves would have thought if they were able to evaluate ten year older versions of themselves. One fellow choir girl remarked how she remembers drafting Plan's A-C and how some of them included aspirations for choral conducting training. She gave a laugh of amusement at how utterly inappropriate that would be for her now. It is amazing to see what predictions form when you're forecasting the future in the formative stages of adulthood. I, too, would be shocked at how I have turned out so far. I had one main career aspiration as an overachieving teen: Medical School.

The desire wasn't motivated by any cultural pressure. My parents watched on in silence as I self-motivated myself through a full courseload of an academically-oriented program. They chose to stay out of my path of academic frenzy when I made conscious choices to forgo Halloween festivities in order to finish a Styrofoam model of a eukaryotic cell or when I started video taping for an English class project when there was a school hiatus from a teacher's strike. In University, I realized that it wasn't so much the actual dream of "Medical School" that had enticed me, but the prospect of helping people. It was difficult to realize that there are multiple options to reach this goal with my limited teenage worldview. In the early years of my undergrad, I had these thoughts when I was still convincing myself of my Medical School aspirations.

"I'm in a perpetual state of stress. I'm not enjoying my courses. I'm not doing that well in them. This sucks."

During this time, I wasn't singing regularly. I was still in Belle Canto, but after a few weeks of missed rehearsal, I was starting to feel the emotional imbalance as I had no outlet for all of these negative feelings.

As I reflected on this last night, I realized that even if I was in Medical School at this very moment in time, I know, for a fact, that I would not be singing as much as I do now. While I understand that sacrifices must be made in order to pursue career aspirations.... I do not wish to compromise doing the things I love. I am also allowed to love doing more than one thing. That includes singing in choir. It is a component of my life that more than just a frivolous leisure activity. At this point in time, my Speech Pathology and choral interests have equal priority.

I've done a mental review of my blogging year; it's staggering to see the creative explosion of content I've generated through the blog this year. I had more opportunities to sing in new ensembles in the city which included my concert with the Scona Singers and the Ordo Collective. The latter providing me the opportunity to tour to Victoria and Vancouver to perform the work. I survived the Pro Coro audition process under the direction of Pro Coro's newly appointed artistic director, Michael Zaugg. I also began writing for Sound + Noise after editor-in-chief, Michael MacDonald, contacted me via Twitter to attend a meeting. There is something to be said for meeting a mentor at the right point in time. MacDonald was the one who encouraged me to do interviews and social media coverage of the Podium 2012 choral conference in Ottawa since I was going there anyway with Belle Canto. This shaped my social media experience at the conference and gave me the confidence to dream big with my blog. As a result, I have a series of Podium posts and interviews with conductors, Heather Johnson, Ivars Taurins, Hilary Apfelstadt, Lydia Adams, and Michael Zaugg to add to my archives. My Podium 2012 coverage also led to my first paper print article in the Fall version of Choral Canada's "Anacrusis" Journal. As well, my blog garnered some local media attention for the first time in an Edmonton Sun article. My studies at the Summer Vocology Institute in Salt Lake City inspired some voice science posts as well.

To say that 2012 has been a great speechie, singing, and blogging year is an understatement. In some ways, I wonder if I have peaked given the burst of opportunity that I have been presented with this past year. No matter what, I am certain if my teenage self had to reevaluate my current path, she would initially be surprised but proud that I have not compromised either my career aspirations or musical passion. I have developed a multi-faceted area of interests such as voice science, rehabilitation, choral singing, and blogging and, by doing the things I enjoy, I have somehow formed a life template that incorporates all of my interests.

Thank-you to all of my readers this past year. I hope to bring you more inspired content in 2013.

Con Fuoco Reunited

My favorite blog posts of 2012:

What do Choristers Do?

My inaugural post for Sound + Noise and my chance to introduce myself to new audiences in a refreshing format.

The Culture of Fear

A post that challenged me to evaluate what I find fulfilling in past choral relationships and my personal feelings on how this has shaped me into the performer I am today.

A Vocal Diagnosis

A post incorporating my approach to voice rehabilitation and how this extends to vocal pedagogy.

Painting the Nightingale

This post resulted after I came home from Pro Coro rehearsal and could not sleep because I was too buzzed. The rehearsal process for Praulin's "The Nightingale" was utterly consuming and rewarding. I have been waiting a long time to sing music like this. As well, receiving a personal message from Praulins himself in response to my post was a choir girl highlight.

Mormon Tabernacle Choir

Greetings readers,

Yes, I finally did it. I saw the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in concert. I've been here in Salt Lake City almost two full months and almost went without hearing the choir. It is the quintessential thing that everybody recommended to me before coming here: "You have to hear the choir." This includes non-choral people. It was not due to a lack of trying. My very first Sunday here I actually woke up early to attend their Sunday morning service, but upon arriving at the train on campus... I found out that they didn't start running until after the service was over. Alas, I was stranded on campus for Sunday morning service. Thus, I knew there was no way I could get to a Sunday service unless I did a one hour walk downtown from the campus or found somebody with a vehicle who might be interested in seeing the choir. The choir also has Thursday evening rehearsals open to the public but I don't often stay out late on a weekday, at the risk of being stranded, yet again, by public transit. The woes of a student without a car.

However, after a group homework session on Saturday, a bright classmate of mine decided to look up Sunday service information for the choir. Instead, she found that they were actually singing in a free Pioneer Day concert (the day the Mormon pioneers arrived with Brigham Young in Salt Lake City) that very evening. Doors opened at 8 PM and there would be standby tickets available. We looked at our watches. It was 6:45 PM. We had time to get downtown. I frankly would prefer to see the choir tackle some sacred and secular repertoire on a significant religious holiday. I like to see how Mormons celebrate.

My friends and I piled into the Conference Centre which can seat over 21,000 people.  In the summer, the choir performs and rehearses in the Conference Centre instead of the Tabernacle due to the summer tourist crowds. It definitely was the largest church building I have ever been in. While the concert was not sold out, there were only a few seats available in the outermost sections. When we arrived at the Conference Centre the lines were so huge that we had to snake throughout the courtyard and garden planters before we could even enter one of the numerous doors to pass through metal detectors.

My first thoughts upon seeing the Mormon Tabernacle Choir: They look so uniform. It's almost as if they were sorted according to height in each of the rows since the level of conformity was unparalled.  Their program had lots of listener-friendly pieces with Welsh soprano, Katherine Jenkins, leading the way.

I found the acoustics in the Conference Centre kind of strange because even though I was looking at the choir, all I could hear was this muffled speaker sound radiating towards me. While I'm sure they were amplified, it was unfortunate I couldn't hear more of what they sounded like. They didn't have the power and oomph I imaged from a choir that large. There was some breathy blend going on and I'm not sure if that's what they were doing or what was being broadcast to me. They posted a Youtube video of the entire performance and they sound much clearer on the video. What was impressive is that they did the entire concert memorized. As well, the concert was filmed for national and national TV broadcast so camera crews pan throughout the choir and settle on particular faces. I can only imagine the stress of possibly being video recorded at any given time throughout the performance. All I can say is, singing isn't the prettiest when you try to capture it in still form. There's a lot of vowel modification, lip postures etc. it's easy to snap a picture when somebody not looking their best.

The soloist Katherine Jenkins sang a large range of popular music from "I Could Have Danced All Night" and "The Prayer." And throughout it all she maintained a very dark resonant space with extreme lip postures. Take a look at the Youtube video and you can probably see and hear what I mean. I have to say, it's nice having a video to share with you all since you can see the exact performance I watched in Salt Lake City.


Overall, it was quite an experience to hear the choir with their high-tech set-up and in their massive Conference Centre. I was told that all the choir members of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir are unpaid and one can tell there is a high level of musical proficiency throughout the group. It was staggering to see the thousands of audience members attending a cultural event. It's not every city you can get that many people attending a live concert produced by locals. Thus, I can finally leave Salt Lake City with the knowledge that I was able to hear the famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Until next time readers, take care!

Salt Lake Temple

The Role of Vocal Cool-Downs in Wound Healing

Greetings readers,

I'm right in the middle of my voice habilitation course (note: it is not called "re"habilitation because that term suggests it is a process of regaining lost function and, instead, we want to focus on the function we can obtain).

In class we have been speaking about the wound healing process in vocal folds and what kind of mediators (inflammatory or anti-inflammatory) that are present after periods of heavy vocal use. Mediators are the chemical molecules that are present when there is inflammation. Thus, the presence of mediators signals that there is some damage. Inflammation is a natural part of the wound healing process. Potential problems arise when inflammation persists for prolonged periods after strenuous activities, such as vocal use. There have been recent studies looking at what is most beneficial to do following periods of intensive vocal use.

A soon-to-be published by Verdolini-Abbott (2012), known informally as the "Scream Study," looked at the levels of mediators in a group of 9 individuals following a session of vocal loading (aka. screaming), these individuals were then split into 3 different group conditions afterwards and then their vocal folds were suctioned for secretions to measure the presence and amounts of inflammatory mediators. Each group of individuals had a particular condition applied: one group had to undergo complete vocal rest, another had to use their voice to speak to a clinician, and another group had to do resonant voice exercises (humming etc) after the vocal loading session. Researchers suctioned the vocal folds before the vocal loading sessions (baseline), 4 hours following the session and 24 hours after the session. They found in the condition where subjects had to use speech, they had the highest level of inflammatory mediators 4h and 24h following the session. The vocal rest conditions showed that there were elevated levels of inflammatory mediators 4h following the session and this decreased by 24 hours. However, in the resonant voice condition there were decreased inflammatory mediators 24h after session and there was an anti-inflammatory mediator present. This suggests that following strenuous vocal use, instead of complete vocal rest, there are findings to suggest that low impact resonant voice exercises may can expedite the wound healing process. Thus, providing some of the first empirical evidence for vocal cool-down's following strenuous voice use.

Does this mean that everybody should rush out and start resonant voice exercise cool-downs following voicing? Probably not since there are other cautions to consider. You should be doing resonant exercises properly so that voicing feels easy and resonant. Any exercises where there is strain is counter-productive. Dosage effects have also not been closely studied (how long or often to practice resonant voice exercises for). All it provides is evidence that complete voice rest may not be the way to go. There are other caution factors as well ex. if a subject is at risk for vocal hemorrhage then voice rest is warranted since you don't want to vibrate your vocal folds in case capillaries are ruptured. The most important thing is to be intuitive and listen to your body and how it is responding to variables when you are introducing new exercises. This may not be new information to you since the concept of vocal cool-downs are used by individuals. However, isn't it nice to know the possible "why" behind such an exercise? 

Ultimately, the real questions are: "why do they work?" "what is the evidence behind them?" and "what kind of exercises do I need to do?" and "how long do I need to do them for?" In order to be critical consumers of knowledge, we should always question and not simply accept things because they are the norm. The Verdolini-Abbott (2012) study I'm referencing here is not yet available; however, there are some other related articles from this area of research at this link.

Until next time readers, take care!

A Night Out

Greetings readers,

I took a night off from studying voice disorders and the numerous congenital, genetic, tissue malformation, mechanical stress, and neurological problems that can arise in the human population. Instead, I decided to take a night out to appreciate some non-disordered voices.

My fellow Twitter acquaintance Canadian choral conductor, Charissa Bagan, alerted me to a performance by the Choir of the Cathedral of the Madeleine as a part of the Colloquium XXII Conference happening in Salt Lake City this week. After a quick bus ride away from the University, I was dropped off at the front of the gorgeous Cathedral of the Madeleine. I had wanted to visit this venue for a while now and this concert just so happened to provide the perfect opportunity to visit. It is also important to note that I've been terribly choral deprived since Podium 2012.

I slipped in unnoticed alongside some of the collared-shirt and khaki-wearing crowd. Taking a scan through the program, I mentally prepared myself for the plethora of sacred choral music about to come my way. The choir was a mix of adult men and choristers from the Madeleine Choir School. I wish I was raised in a choir school. You think I'm a choir geek now, imagine what I would be like had I had a more choral-centric academic education.

In the first few pieces I definitely needed to adjust my ears to the choral sound within the Cathedral. While the straight-toned purity of the young voices resonanted within the acoustic peaks of the surroundings, I felt like the musical movement of their lines was lost within the expansive space. It was hard to hear the musical interplay occuring within the music. Thus, the first four songs, Gibbons's "Hosanna to the Son of David," Lobo's "Versa est in luctum," Bassano's "Dic nobis Maria," and Tallis's "Salvator Mundi" sounded more like a choral wash of sound to me than distinct pieces. Their performance of Rachmianioff's "All Night Vigil" gave me more of a glimpse of their true choral color as I could hear the adult men singing with their full voices. Organist, Douglas O'Neill, also provided some refreshing accompaniant during Nicolas de Grigny's "Pange lingua." There were reciprocal lines between the organ and the chant lines from the off-stage choir. At this point in the program, I was pretty saturated. Imagine my surprise when the choir reemerged on stage. I looked down at my program puzzled. Hearing the rustle of paper around me, I turned the program sheet over... there was a second half.

I'm not sure if it's because I've been choral deprived for over a month or my 4 hour voice lectures in the morning but I definitely was saturated at this point. I'm glad they decided to change up the arrangement for Tavener's "A Hymn to the Mother of God" and Harris's "Faire is the Heaven" so I had a new choral arrangement to enjoy. The choir split in half and one group stood facing the other half of the choir at a midpoint in the aisle. At least I could train my ears and listen to individual voices singing near me at this point. I enjoyed contemplating the principles of voice production instilled into me over the past few weeks as I watched the singers.

While I enjoy sacred choral offerings, I think I am definitely a fan of more diverse choral programming. It was interesting to hear male voices paired with unchanged voices from the choir school in order to form an ensemble. Also, another one of my favorite parts of the concert? Epic Brewing was the concert sponsor. I thought this was unexpected but refreshing for a church concert sponsor... in Salt Lake City nonetheless! I'm eager to see what other choral offerings this city has for me. Stay tuned.

Until next time readers, take care!

Being a Critical Choral Consumer

Reference: "Models of Vocal Fold Oscillation" NCVS Website (http://www.ncvs.org/ncvs/tutorials/voiceprod/tutorial/model.html)

Greetings readers,

I hope you are all well and enjoying the start of the summer season. As I last indicated to you in a previous post, I am now living in Salt Lake City until August. Currently, I am learning about the principles of voice production from the father of Vocology in the states, Dr. Ingo Titze. The last two weeks have been an absolute blur of physics equations, understanding formant frequencies of non-uniform tubes and how to maximize resonance, semi-occluded vocal tract exercises (humming, straw exercises, anything where your mouth is almost closed) and the use of back pressure in these exercises to decrease the force of vocal fold adduction (coming together) during warm-ups.



What I find most interesting is how there is physical rationale for why we do some of the abstract things we do when we sing. There is also some debunking of myths in lecture. Each day I feel like I'm given a new lens in which to perceive some of these acoustic phenomena, but often, I just end up with more questions, which is what I find most satisfying because I am an academic at heart. This class really is like utopia for a speechie-chorister.

The next paragraph is a complete physics geek-out section. Feel free to skip if Physics is not your thing. You have been warned.

For example, I came to realize that I didn't even understand the basics of vocal fold vibration properly. I've been taught Bernoulli's Principle as the model for vocal fold vibration, but I learned that that is not the case. The Bernoulli's Principle does not explain the self-sustained oscillation of vocal fold vibration. All Bernoulli states is that when there is high velocity, there is low pressure and vice versa. However, if this was the only force in the vocal folds, these two forces would cancel out. It does not explain how there is continuous vibration of the vocal folds from an input air source. Instead we need to think of the vocal folds like a mass-spring system so when there is a build-up of subglottal pressure from our lungs in our glottis (space between the vocal folds), it creates a positive pressure in our vocal folds. This positive pressure is what pushes our vocal folds apart. What we also need to know is that even before we start phonating there is air already in our air tract above the vocal folds that is equal to atmospheric pressure (because from our lungs to the atmosphere we are essentially an open tube to the world). Thus, when air from our lungs meets this existing air that's already in the air tract (above the vocal folds), the air doesn't accelerate right away. The air in our air tract has it's own mass and inertia which is also why there is a positive build-up of pressure in our vocal folds that pushes the vocal folds apart. The vocal folds act like a recoil spring (due to be ratio of elastin, collagen, and muscle fibers in the different layers of our vocal folds) after the positive pressure in the lungs pushes them apart and they recoil back to their initial position. Then since there is continuous phonation pressure from our lungs, it starts this oscillation cycle once again. I applaud you if you were able to follow me through my verbose rationale. If you're intrigued by this model of vocal fold oscillation check out this tutorial link to learn more.

So you my be thinking, who cares how vocal folds vibrate? All I need to know is that they do and it doesn't make my performance any different. True, that may be the case. However, I feel like to use any system effectively, learning the mechanics can help with efficiency. For example, in terms of vocal fold vibration, there are certain threshold pressures from our lungs that need to be present in order to begin vibration. Singers that have a "pressed" voice quality are pushing so much air from their lungs and adducting their vocal folds together too strongly; thus, beginning a very damaging and high-impact vocal fold vibration. The vocal folds have a layered structure and when there is stress and tension on the epithelium (the top/cover layer of the vocal fold muscle) this can cause edema. For example, when there is any shouting, yelling or overall vocal abuse. When there is a build-up of fluid, just like those with arthritis can have a build-up of fluid in their joints, the extra fluid in the vocal fold tissues affect the efficiency of vocal fold vibration and this will be perceptible to a listener as a rough voice. I'm sure many of you already know that singing with a pressed voice means that you are working too hard, but I find it satisfying to know why in terms of a vibration model. I like to know why we do the things we do. Thus, doing voice exercises with easy and soft onsets is a way to reduce the overadduction (squeezing together) of our vocal folds.

I feel like with each of my lectures I could compose numerous posts. While I do intend to share more of what I learn with my readers, I think it is good to self-evaluate why we do the things we do. Conductors and teachers are aware (I hope...) of their rationale for choosing specific warm-up exercises. But as a singer/chorister, it is so easy to become complacent and just follow along without really understanding why we are doing particular exercises. Just like with any rehab treatment you want a therapist to use methods with evidence supporting its use. I feel that singing should be the same way. Of course, there are not the same amount of studies done on which exercises are effective or not, but we need to critical consumers of what we are doing in practice and learning more about an area is a way to do that. As informed singers, I feel like we should understand our instruments. When a violin player breaks a string, they know how to re-string and re-tune. I feel like a singer should be able to do the same. Or at least identify what it is in their regime that caused the difficulty to begin in the first place. The first step is knowledge. That is what I intend to continue pursuing while I am here.

Until next time readers, take care!

Choir Girl in Salt Lake City

Greetings readers,

Alas, I have relocated since my last post... I am now in Salt Lake City! While I still have Podium interview offerings to compose for you all, I have been busy this last little while preparing for my move to Salt Lake City. What am I doing in Utah? You may ask. I will be attending the Summer Vocology Institute hosted at the University of Utah. For the next two months I will be learning about specialized principles of voice production, voice rehabilitation, and working with professional voice users. I'm excited to learn more about this specialized area of Speech Pathology. During my Masters coursework we only spent half a term on this content. As well, I'm hoping to see the potential of voice science clinical applications which will hopefully, in turn, generate some thoughts for future PhD work. It's an ambitious goal I have set for myself, I know. What I do know is that my soon-to-be professor,  Ingo Titze, sang with Pavarobitti.



If that's not cool, then I don't know what is.

Some people may be puzzled at why I am moving after only 2.5 months in an adult outpatient rehab job I secured after my final practicum. This job really was, in many ways, my ideal clinic setting. However, you know that general feeling of unease that makes you question whether you are doing what you are meant to be doing? Well, that was where I was at after a solid year of clinical work with my practicums and going straight into my first S-LP position. While I don't know exactly what to expect in these next two months, I just know I'd rather spend the time finding out instead of wondering. Since I am a fan of self-moderating my emotional responses, I'm approaching the whole situation with wary excitement.

Thus, dear readers, you can expect to read more speech-centric choral posts from me these next two months. Who knows, perhaps I'll be able to squeeze in some choral experiences for myself as well. I hear there's a popular choir in town called the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Perhaps I'll check them out :)

Until next time readers, take care.