A Case Study of a Singer: From Vocal Nodules to Health and Freedom

This post helps you get started, but it’s only the beginning. What would it feel like to finally reach your vocal potential and feel an actual transformation in your voice in 8 weeks? Come join the thousands of singers who have already transformed their voice and vocal health with the?Cole Vocal Method?. Set your voice free in only 20 minutes a day with these transformative vocal techniques found only here!?Click here to find out more.

A Case Study of a Singer: From Vocal Nodules to Health and Freedom

Today I am presenting a case study of a singer I treated who came to me with nodules and how we completely restored her voice within a few short months. I will start with where she was when she came to me and the exact treatment plan I used from vocal therapy and technique to natural remedies.

Whether you have nodules or just want better vocal health, the following treatment plan is the way to recover your singing voice and get on the path to vocal health and recovery.

To learn my vocal therapy and conditioning exercises to reduce inflammation at the vocal folds get my Vocal Rescue Kit here, or join my Vocal Freedom Circle where you can learn my master holistic vocal method: The Cole Vocal Method—over 70+ exercise system on audio and video, yours to keep.

A Case Study of a Singer: From Vocal Nodules to Health and Freedom

She came to me with nodules and possibly needing surgery —to a free and clear completely restored singing voice in 3 months following the steps outlined below.

1. Where she was at at the start of the treatment program:

She was in the middle of recording her record and had to hit pause because she was experiencing vocal problems and couldn’t sing. She was experiencing the following:

• Hoarseness: unwanted raspiness on her notes that she couldn’t control
• Loss of range: she couldn’t reach her high notes anymore and it was shaking her confidence and causing severe performance anxiety.
• Vocal loss: she had lost some of her range.
• Voice was cracking and breaking on notes she had no prior issue with.
• Lack of vocal recovery: her voice wasn’t bouncing back like it usually did and it was making her really nervous.
• Pain upon speaking or singing, general pain when not singing or speaking.

2. How nodules were affecting her life and voice

• She had to put her first album project with her new record label on hold was scary and anxiety-provoking
• It was embarrassing that her voice wasn’t performing as she wanted it to and usually did. She was confused and deflated.
• She was really worried she had damaged her voice for good and that it might not return – which was devastating as this was her primary career as a singer and songwriter.
• She was literally losing sleep worried that she was going to blow the biggest chance she had ever had.

3. She went to the ENT and all they identified that:

• She had nodules and reflux.
• She had to stop all singing for at least 1 month.
• She might possibly have to have an operation if it wasn’t better after the vocal rest.
• This caused even more stress and delays to her record with her new label deal.
• There was a possibility that the operation could damage her vocal cords.

As you can imagine, this singer was a ball of nerves when she came to see me and really worried she had permanently damaged her voice. I assured her that I had been through the process many times in helping singers recover their voices from nodules and was extremely confident that we could turn things around for her, and we got to work.

Here’s what we did and how we not only avoided surgery, but we completely got rid of her nodules and she’s never had problems again. We had to address every aspect of what might be causing the nodules and one by one come up with a solution. She had an album to record and was under a deadline and pressure from the label and we needed to get her voice back asap.

As I roll through this case study, think of your voice and ways to improve it. Whether you’ve ever had vocal problems or not, the healthier your voice and technique is, the stronger and freer your instrument and the better your voice will perform when you need it most.

If you’d like to watch me roll through this case study – WATCH my recent webinar on Building a World-Class Voice: A Step-by-step Method to Building a Strong and Healthy Award Winning Voice. The case study starts about half way through.

4. The Vocal Assessment:

I started with a full Vocal Assessment. In her vocal assessment I discovered that she had:

• Extreme muscle tension in the muscles surrounding her instrument constricting her voice causing muscle tension at the instrument
• Tightness in her diaphragm area constricting diaphragmatic movement limiting her breath capacity.
• Poor alignment – she was tall and tended to slump causing a lack of support for her singing voice – and had a long neck which caused more issues connecting to support: dropped chest, forward head, pronated and weak under-active pectorals, shortened cervical spine (neck) shortened spine in the lower back, locked knees
• High larynx from oversinging and never having real technical training
• Lowered soft palate
• Weakness in support muscles
• Weakness in breath
• Dehydration – causes vocal problems, loss of range,
• Allergies- causes vocal issues, dryness, mucous, loss of range, inflammation
• Some asthma and a little wheezing, mucous, loss of range, inflammation
• Inflamed vocal folds, swelling, lack of precision, pitch issues, burning sensation
• She also had laryngeal reflux – burned cords, issues with vocal production, causes cracks and breaks in the voice
• Dietary issues causing reflux: Daily seltzer and carbonated drinks, daily balsamic vinegar, eating late at night
• Baby nodules – luckily for her we caught them in time. They had just occurred.
• No prior vocal technique which needed to get into place asap.

5. Here's a brief outline of the treatment plan I used to restored her voice

• Reduce tension in the muscles surrounding the voice?
• The first thing was we had to reduce tension and stop the rubbing of the nodules
• Vocal rest for 2 weeks to reduce nodules. No speaking or singing for Week 1. No singing with limited speaking for Week 2.
• Reduce tension: Deep tissue vocal massage, muscle balm daily, traction daily (subluxation on cervical vertabrae), and cranial sacral therapy and acupuncture
• Restore her alignment. With her forward head and slumped posture I knew we had to restore her alignment and get her chest and torso supporting her voice taking the pressure and strain off of the throat.Improve alignment with the Cole Vocal Method techniques. We worked to lengthen her spine and neck muscles, to hold better posture to support her singing voice. Exercises to strengthen alignment – pectorals
• Address her diet. We needed to restricted her diet for the time being by eliminating foods and beverages that were contributing to her reflux. No fried, no dairy; no wheat; no vinegar; no marinara sauce; no orange juice or oranges, tangerines; no tomato soup. Lemon water and no carbonated drinks, no alcohol
• Increase hydration. Increasing hydration is much more than drinking water. It’s about increasing the water content with water, foods high in water content, steaming to bring hydration to the vocal folds and foods that are moisturizing to the throat. Water, 8 glasses of water per day for hydration (spring water in glass bottles) Foods to moisturize the throat areaMelon in waterEat melon and strawberries daily. Foods with a high water contentOrganic green vegetable salad daily with romaine, celery, carrots, cucumbers, bell peppers (red, orange or yellow), other vegetables with a lemon and olive oil dressing. Organic green juice daily using a variety of veggies in a base of celery and cucumbers with green apple and lemon.?Steam 3x day for hydration to the vocal folds. Vocal Eze spray for extra hydration, moisture.?Learn more here.
• Addressing her vocal nodules. The first thing to address was to reduce swelling at vocal folds and get her to stop rubbing the cords as much as possible.Singing voice. Vocal therapy exercises – 2-3 monthsHomeopathic remedy to reduce swelling on vocal folds. We started with complete vocal rest followed by vocal therapy: Vocal rest 2 weeks. Vocal therapy exercises 2-3 months. We used the Vocal Rescue Kit which comes with a set of vocal therapy exercises, a set of cool downs and conditioning exercises that reduce inflammation at the vocal folds. Reduce glottal attacks that smack the cords together to reduce nodules (inside the Speaking exercises in the Vocal Rescue Kit)Speaking voice. Reduced tension and strain caused by her speaking voice.Reduced volume to 5-6 instead of 8 (1-10 scale) Realigned the way she spoke. Eliminated over-functioning of the compensatory muscles – in her case her neck and laryngeals to reduce pressure and get her voice back.
• Massage to decrease tension. Weekly deep tissue vocal massage to reduce tension at throat and neck which were in a grid lock constricting the vocal muscles causing them to rub. Vocal stretches and massages to reduce tension.?Get my vocal massages inside my Singers Gift Vocal Warmups here.
• Address her issues with laryngeal reflux. Many singers struggle with laryngeal reflux. Laryngeal reflux is “silent reflux” which means you don’t necessarily burp up stomach acid or know you have it. Some of the signs can be waking up with a lot of mucus in the throat, constantly clearing your throat or the voice cracking or breaking when singing. The throat can often feel sore and irritated. We started with homeopathic remedies that help to reduce swelling at the vocal folds. Herbs – concoctions to soothe the stomach, reduce irritation, balance microbiome (eating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables to restore microbial balance). Eliminated certain foods we tested we causing the problemTested for helio-bacter pylori which is a bacteria that causes reflux.?Had her finish eating 3 hours before bed so the digestive system was calm and settled before going to bed.
• Weakness in support musclesExercise series to strengthen pectorals and rhomboids to establish support from the torso and trunk of the body anchoring the laryngeals decreasing tension at the throat.
• Diaphragmatic breathing to improve the muscle-air balance to decrease “squeezing” or “pushing” that was causing the vocal problems. Building breath support in the lower triangles of the lungs to support the voice with a reserve of air below the glottis.
• Allergies and immune systemChinese herbs to strengthen her lungs (asthma) Red light therapy to improve the immune system and mitochondrial balance. Sauna 2-3x a week to improve overall health and to sweat out toxins. Acupuncture to decrease nodules and decrease overall tension in the neck and throat area.

Treatment: 3 months from nodules and possibly needing surgery — to free and clear restored singing voice!

If you are in need of a customized? treatment plan, schedule a Vocal Therapy Session where I can do a full assessment of your vocal health and set you on a treatment plan for recovery.?Learn more here.

Summary:

• Biomechanical and therapeutic vocal techniques inside the?Cole Vocal Method??restores the singing voice.?Learn more here.
• Vocal therapy is preferred first over surgery – often resulting in no need for surgery.
• Vocal problems are not a life-sentence when you have the right methods.
• You can not only recover from vocal problems you can come back even stronger with a voice that not only never has a problem again but excels to peak performance.
• Holistic and natural methods are superior in restoring the voice over pharmaceuticals which dry the throat and put toxins in the body lowering the immune system and causing disease.

Everything I did with this singer is the process of laying the groundwork for the right vocal foundation of proper techniques to support a strong and healthy singing voice using techniques inside the?Cole Vocal Method?: a master holistic vocal method to reduce strain, improve vocal health and production, and build a world-class singing voice.

6. Learn the Cole Vocal Method?:

A master holistic vocal method to improve vocal health and production, that builds a world-class singing voice.

The?Cole Vocal Method??is a complete master vocal method based in biomechanics, 38 years of vocal mastery, 40 years of vocal science, and over 100 years of application. This method is based in Bel Canto techniques from the true Italian schools of singing. It addresses the core mechanics and function of the voice dramatically improving sound, strength, and resilience. With the health of the voice baked into the foundation of the technique, it also protects singers vocal health and longevity with conditioning elements that reduce wear and tear and strain. It works for ANY genre of singing and alongside any other vocal techniques complimenting and improving vocal health and production.

Learn the Cole Vocal Method?:

Learn the entire?Cole Vocal Method?, including all of the vocal therapy and conditioning techniques, inside The Vocal Freedom Circle, an 8-week online program where you can learn at your own pace. The Cole Vocal Method? works alongside any other technique complementing vocal sound and production.

> LEARN THE CVM HERE: Vocal Freedom Circle

• Level I: Level I of the Cole Vocal Method? starts with the Singers Gift Vocal Warmups.?Click here to learn more. Learn the complete Level I Foundation of the Cole Vocal Method?, Parts 1 – 4 taught in-depth inside the Vocal Freedom Circle (VFC). To learn more about VFC –?click here. VFC is a pre-requisite for Level II and III. In 8 weeks walk away with over 70+ exercises inside the Cole Vocal Method on audio and video—yours to keep and use throughout your entire career.
• Level II: Level II of the Cole Vocal Method? is taught inside the Vocal Mastery Program + Certification Program (VMP Level II). This program is for singers interested in learning Level II of the Cole Vocal Method?, Parts 5 -23 and for those who want to get certified to teach the method. VFC is a pre-requisite for VMP Level II. Registration for VMP Level II opens in 2024. In one year walk away with complete mastery of your vocal instrument; a full method to keep your voice in peak performance; over 170+ exercises of the CVM Level I and II on audio and video, and join the movement voices changing the world. Join the waitlist here.
• Level III: Level III of the Cole Vocal Method? is taught inside the Vocal Mastery Program + Certification Program Year 2 (VMP Level III). This is for singers who want to learn the advanced level of the method and for vocal coaches who want to get Master Certification to teach the method. Level III registration opens in 2025. Level I and II is a prerequisite for Level III.

JOIN ME EVERY WEDNESDAY at 12 pm Eastern: Join me on?YouTube?(and Instagram, Facebook)– where I discuss the Blog of the Week followed by a short Q&A where you can ask me questions.

What would it feel like to finally reach your vocal potential and feel an actual transformation in your voice in 8 weeks? Come join the thousands of singers who have already transformed their voices with my Cole Vocal Method?. Set your voice free in only 20 minutes a day with these transformative vocal method of over my 70+ exercise system found only here!?Click here to find out more.

About Cari Cole

Cari Cole is the CEO / Founder of caricole.com and CCVM: Label Without Walls. She is a Holistic Vocal Coach, Artist Development Expert, A&R Director, and Songwriter based in New York City helping artists for the past 38 years. She is a mentor for Women in Music and The Association of Independent Music Publishers. Her latest venture, CCVM a label services company, provides artists with a seamless path from creation to completion. After 30+ years of observing the overwhelm and challenges that artists face, Cari pulled together the best top creative professionals and designed a new approach to supporting our artists.

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