Practice 8/21/16

I haven't updated in a while, but some interesting things have happened with my voice in the more recent days.

I've been finding release easier than I have been the past few months, which is nice, but I somehow still feel as though it's not quite "up to par" with how I do in my voice lessons.

Anyways, a couple days ago, my friend from New Jersey came home to visit me, and she took me out to dinner for a belated birthday present. Since it was to celebrate my 21st birthday, we ordered a cocktail to share. It was some sort of vodka blend with fruit. The reason I detail this in my practice record is because of the side effects that I have been experiencing as a result of me drinking half the glass of alcohol. I noticed that the right side of my throat?/larynx? felt irritated, and as the night/days wore on, it felt like a really intense globus, except it felt more raw. Normally, I would have been really concerned, but the sensation was a little familiar since I've had these symptoms before with bad acid reflux days.

The next day, I attempted to practice singing, but I may have pushed a little too hard, since the globus became particularly annoying halfway through, so I stopped.

Swallowing was a little painful, with a lump-in-throat sensation that eventually subsided after a day and a half. Now, I'm left with some very obvious swelling in my vocal folds, and it feels pretty sensitive when I speak. I'm taking things pretty easy, but I've done some small tests to see if there was any inconsistencies when I do a vocal glide up and down in pitch, and when I do short, staccato "beeps." There doesn't seem to be anything particularly alarming about my sound production, except that it's a little uncomfortable and raw feeling.

However, my onsets are the most uncomfortable, with the sensitive/raw feeling being the most pronounced at these times. I've limited my speaking for a bit, and I focus on having very precise onsets whenever I use my voice, with no squeezing or excessive air pressure. It's good that I don't have any work this week, so I can give my voice a rest.