Roline, NO! You need to get paid for that one. You know. . .copyright, market, sell....that type of thing! I see dollar signs all over that idea.
Good point, Sharon. But I think we should explore the number of gospel singers who develop throat cancer or some other illnesses and HOW we get those. A friend of mine went to the doctor yesterday to find out that she has nodules. She went to an ENT doctor who suggested vocal therapy. Other people have said that there is a surgical procedure to remove nodules, but the after-effects can be dangerous. We need to know WHAT nodules are, how you get them, how to avoid them, etc. Apparently this affects a lot of singers (gospel and otherwise), but I am just really hearing of it. Other newbies are probably just hearing too.
Well, nodules are actually forms of scars. Whenever we sing, your vocal chords are vibrating at an incredibly fast speed causing friction. That friction causes scrapes to fomrm on the vocal chords. Normally resting a day or so will let the vocal chords heal fine, but if they are used too much and not properly taken care of, they will form scar tissue. This scar tissue will form a bump on the vocal folds so that when they try to vibrate, the chords will not close all the way causing breath to escape. Often we will try to compensate for that by pushing harder causing futher damage. By singing improperly, AKA sangin (in some cases), you greater increase your risk to form them.
On a side note, I am a classically trained singer and I can do all of those things mentioned about doing runs and shouting (I can't growl though...I have tried really hard). But for me it is easier to do and I still maintain my voice after I finish singing. My voice isn't scratchy or remotely tired because I have learned how to let the natural acoustics of my voice, along with an open throat, and the correct breath support, do all the work for me. It allows me to use the full extent of my range from A3-E
b5 comfotrably not to mention my F
#5 that I can hit (not necessarily sustain) full voice. I don't sound like an opera singer, I sound like a relzed singer, unstrained and unrestrained.
