APRIL 2022


with their voices. Worship singers have always been a large proportion of my clinical caseload.


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In many ways, I think worship singers have one of the most challenging performing lives, and pastoral musicians in the instrumental realm face vocal burdens as well. As a pastoral musician, you need your voice to be in top shape to meet your performance demands, which can be especially trying when performances often take place in the early hours of the day and rehearsals extend voice use late into the evening. Beyond this, your voice is also intimately entwined with your spiritual life, worship activities, and relationship with your Creator, which can make it especially distressing to have a voice problem.


For all people, the voice is intricately bound to personal identity, self-esteem, and self-image. Tis is even more true for singers, for whom voice is the source of artistic and creative expression and may also represent livelihood and income. Te voice is the singer’s instrument and, unlike other instruments, it can never be replaced if irreparable damage occurs. A voice problem represents a crisis for the singer. Furthermore, the athleticism of singing and the demands of the singing career put vocal performers at high risk for developing a voice injury. Tese are long-standing principles, but some interesting and novel variations on this theme have developed over the course of the COVID era.


For example, my work with pastoral musicians often includes a focus on vocal pacing: how much you’re using your voice, how intensely, and in what situations. Pre-pandemic, this work was typically oriented around bringing a heavy and demanding vocal load into better balance, looking for opportunities to offload vocal demands, and finding time for voice breaks. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine we would all be put on an extended break from singing for a period of months, and for some, years.


As 2020 drew to an end and the hope of vaccines dawned on the horizon, I began to see a brand-new set of vocal difficulties emerging in my patients (and


s a classical singer, singing teacher, and speech- language pathologist, I work with singers who have voice injuries or are otherwise struggling


“For all people, the voice is intricately bound to personal identity, self-esteem, and self-image.”


myself). Day after day, I saw singers and music directors whose voices had deconditioned (gotten out of shape) due to prolonged periods of time without regular practice, rehearsal, and performance. Singing is athletic voice use and just like any other athletic endeavor, we need regular training and exercise to keep our voices in shape. Many singers found that when they resumed singing after a long pandemic-driven break, their voices


had changed. Typical symptoms reported have been: •


• quickly than before • Difficulty with register transitions • Loss of pitch and loudness range • Voice breaks or cracks/unstable voice Changes in vocal quality (weak, breathy, strained,


• raspy, hoarse, etc.) Tension/strain/pain with speaking or singing


In addition, many people have experienced new vocal


tribulations, such as: •


• Speaking and singing through masks Difficulty monitoring vocal loudness/effort in virtual


• meetings/rehearsals • Many hours spent speaking in video/phone meetings Having had to repeatedly record and listen to


themselves when preparing parts for virtual ensembles, which highlighted technical challenges


• and altered vocal quality Singing/speaking while frustrated (“You’re on mute,” connectivity problems, navigating sound settings, etc.)


Decreased vocal stamina—the voice fatiguing more


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