Another day of singing. I had to be at the rehearsal venue this morning at 11:00 am to practice for the Sacred Music Festival next week. The Lyric Opera Adult Chorus is just giving supporting voices to the Children's Chorus. Our artistic director really went all out to pick on us today. She stopped us at every interval, screamed at us on our technique and generally made us cower in fear. I had to go for a voice projection workshop (insisted by my artistic director) after lunch. I have never sung for a straight six hours before! Goodness me, my voice is going to give way soon again, especially since my sore throat is still on and off.
My artistic director is great for voice therapy. I was recommended to her by my speech therapist when I was still a teacher. My voice went down 3 octaves after teaching for a while, and there was a period of time when I lost my voice often. I was often hoarse. As a result, all my music classes and song-leading were affected. My choir was affected as I could not teach properly due to my loss in voice.
The saddest part was that I could not even reach the high notes anymore! After seeing numerous doctors, I was referred to the ENT department of National University Hospital. Guess what? The specialist found a nodule in my throat! Horrors of horrors! That accounted for all the hoarseness and airiness when I spoke. The doctor said luckily I was trained in singing so my voice projection was there, otherwise the nodule problem would be worse. So I was referred to the resident speech therapist to try to get rid of the nodule in my throat.
That was when I made the decision to quit. Nothing interferes with my singing. Singing is part of my life. If I cannot even conduct the choir or song-lead anymore, what is the use continuing? It was not worth it if my voice had to suffer because of my line of work. Even now, my voice is still not fully back to normal, but at least it is better than before already. At least I am able to reach the high soprano parts again, which is a good thing! That was also part of the reason why I was reluctant to take up a full-time tutoring or music teaching post at this point in time.
Nevertheless today was a fruitful day. I accompanied my friend to the Esplanade Library after our rehearsal to borrow some operatic songs, then on to Genki Sushi at Marina Square for dinner. I suspect there may be another guy who is trying to get my attention, which my friend asked me to consider.
How do I know? He seems to be messaging me quite often during the day, asking me how I am, what I am doing, etc. He called me once and we talked for about an hour. Actually he is rather friendly and mature, and we seem to be able to get along rather well, but unfortunately a little too young for me. As I told my friend, I will not consider as long as he does not meet all my requirements. She kept on saying that age should not be a factor, what is important is compatibility. Well, I have not dated any guy younger than me. All the guys I like (or used to like) are all my age. Come to think of it, I have not dated any guy older than me as well. Shall I expand my horizons then?
My artistic director is great for voice therapy. I was recommended to her by my speech therapist when I was still a teacher. My voice went down 3 octaves after teaching for a while, and there was a period of time when I lost my voice often. I was often hoarse. As a result, all my music classes and song-leading were affected. My choir was affected as I could not teach properly due to my loss in voice.
The saddest part was that I could not even reach the high notes anymore! After seeing numerous doctors, I was referred to the ENT department of National University Hospital. Guess what? The specialist found a nodule in my throat! Horrors of horrors! That accounted for all the hoarseness and airiness when I spoke. The doctor said luckily I was trained in singing so my voice projection was there, otherwise the nodule problem would be worse. So I was referred to the resident speech therapist to try to get rid of the nodule in my throat.
That was when I made the decision to quit. Nothing interferes with my singing. Singing is part of my life. If I cannot even conduct the choir or song-lead anymore, what is the use continuing? It was not worth it if my voice had to suffer because of my line of work. Even now, my voice is still not fully back to normal, but at least it is better than before already. At least I am able to reach the high soprano parts again, which is a good thing! That was also part of the reason why I was reluctant to take up a full-time tutoring or music teaching post at this point in time.
Nevertheless today was a fruitful day. I accompanied my friend to the Esplanade Library after our rehearsal to borrow some operatic songs, then on to Genki Sushi at Marina Square for dinner. I suspect there may be another guy who is trying to get my attention, which my friend asked me to consider.
How do I know? He seems to be messaging me quite often during the day, asking me how I am, what I am doing, etc. He called me once and we talked for about an hour. Actually he is rather friendly and mature, and we seem to be able to get along rather well, but unfortunately a little too young for me. As I told my friend, I will not consider as long as he does not meet all my requirements. She kept on saying that age should not be a factor, what is important is compatibility. Well, I have not dated any guy younger than me. All the guys I like (or used to like) are all my age. Come to think of it, I have not dated any guy older than me as well. Shall I expand my horizons then?
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