Sing Out Loud (but not too loud)

I have blown out my voice! That's not as dramatic as it seems (the exclamation mark probably doesn't help).

In my job, my voice is a big part of what I do, especially when it comes to ventriloquism (obviously).

Having said that, yesterday I performed in an incredibly noisy snooker hall, so I did an almost silent act for the group of kids in front of me, and they loved it!

Back to the point though, almost two weeks ago I was driving for almost two hours. A return journey from a really enjoyable gig.

When I drive, I usually listen to a podcast, but on this day, I was in a great mood and I fancied a song. I put on my Spotify driving playlist and set off.

Within seconds I was singing along. And I sang for the whole journey, almost. I can't sing, but I belted out a whole load of tunes, until fifteen minutes before I reached my hometown, when I felt like something 'went' between my chest and my mouth. There was no pop or snap or croak, but I suddenly lost a lot of range in my voice!

I turned the music down and spoke to myself for a while, not out of madness, just to make sure I could still talk, and I could. I still can, and to speak to me you wouldn't know anything has changed, but if you happened to have seen my kids show with Dinky, before and after my singing marathon, you would notice that his voice isn't quite as high pitched these days.

As far as I can tell from my in-depth research (Google) my voice will return to its full out-of-tune glory within a few weeks, with proper rest and care. I'll be honest though, I was worried. I can't sing but I love to sing, and ventriloquism is a huge part of my kids shows.

I'll keep you updated, but my point is, take care of the tools of your trade, whether that's your voice, your uniform or your hammer and nails. It's sometimes too easy to take them for granted.