0776 – Help! I’m Getting A Cold!

2023.02.15 – 0776 – Help! I’m Getting A Cold!    Help! I’m getting a cold! (Or blocked nose, sneezes and sniffles, itchy mouth, catarrh, sore throat, dry cough, headache, hoarseness and general feeling of being unwell… it’s all literally a pain in the neck.)During this period your voice will sound deeper, rougher and may almost disappear, because swollen vocal cords vibrate more slowly and unevenly. With a blocked nose, your sound will be nasally because of reduced resonance. And you will have less projection. Coughing will be slamming your vocal cords together at high speed. Prevention - Using anti-bac hand gel on hands and surfaces, and not sharing cups and cutlery and so on will help. As will being physically fit in the first place with a good diet and exercise regime.If you’re already infected:Keep your nose and throat warm and wetDrink plenty of water or hot drinks, and keep well hydrated to thin down mucus and wash away any inhaled irritants Use a water-only steamer to reduce swelling of the mucous membranesTurn off air-drying systems such as air con and air convection heating and keep the room humidBeware OTC meds: they are ok in an emergency but decongestants don’t last long; medicated lozenges literally don’t touch the problem (although can help produce helpful saliva)Some say gargling with salt water can helpCancel any immediate studio work and begin complete voice rest - Talking can delay recovery even longer, affecting vocal stamina and quality for several weeks or even months. Don’t whisper!Avoid irritants such as alcohol and smoking (including other people’s smoke)Sip water and inhale steam to rehydrate and flush out the bugsInstead of coughing (which irritates the throat even more) sip a drink or do a hard swallow Mental and physical rest – to give your body a chance to recoverEat plenty of fruit and vegetablesIn ‘recovery mode’, short periods of talking but stop if your voice feels hurt or tired and build in plenty of vocal rest. Do some gentle voice exercises with lots of air such as ‘woos’ and ‘yawns’ (see below for more warm-up exercises).Taking a couple of days to develop, it may be two weeks before you properly sound and feel yourself again. And for a pro, if your voice is unreliable, work may be significantly affected or simply impossible, which knocks on to your earning-power.If your voice isn’t back to normal within 3 weeks, seek professional help. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Om Podcasten

Year THREE of short daily episodes to improve the quality of your speaking voice.Through these around-5-minute episodes, you can build your confidence and competence with advice on breathing and reading, inflection and projection, the roles played by better scripting and better sitting, mic techniques and voice care tips... with exercises and anecdotes from a career spent in TV and radio studios. If you're wondering about how to start a podcast, or have had one for a while - download every episode!And as themes develop over the weeks (that is, they are not random topics day-by-day), this is a free, course to help you GET A BETTER BROADCAST, PODCAST AND VOICE OVER VOICE.Look out for more details of the book during 2024.Contacts: https://linktr.ee/Peter_StewartAudio recording script and show notes (c) 2021, 2022, 2023 Peter StewartPeter has been around voice and audio all his working life and has trained hundreds of broadcasters in all styles of radio from pop music stations such as Capital FM and BBC Radio 1, the classical music station BBC Radio 3 and regional BBC stations. He’s trained news presenters on regional TV, the BBC News Channel and on flagship programmes such as the BBC’s Panorama. He has written a number of books on audio and video presentation and production (see contacts clink above) and presented hundreds of radio shows (you may have heard him on BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 4, Virgin Radio or Kiss, as well as BBC regional radio) with various formats. He has read tens of thousands of news bulletins and hosted 3,000+ podcast episodes.The podcast title refers to those who may wish to change their speaking voice in some way. It is not a suggestion that anyone should, or be pressured into needing to. We love accents and dialects, and are well aware that how we speak changes over time. The key is: is your voice successfully communicating your message, so it is being understood (and potentially being acted upon) by your target audience?This podcast is London-based and examples are spoken in the RP (Received Pronunciation) / standard-English / BBC English pronunciation, although invariably applicable to other languages, accents and dialects.The 'Peter Stewart' show is perhaps of great interest to those in broadcast voice overs, the broadcast voice, how to start a voice podcast, broadcasting voice training, your speaking voice, breathing technique, and conversational speaking. You may also find it useful if you are searching for information on voice coaching, voice training, voice overs, podcasting, broadcasting, presenting, being a voice over actor and newsreading, audio branding, public speaking, the recorded voice, vocal tips, performance, vocal health education, vocal technique and voice over training.Music credits: all Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Beauty Flow" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5025-beauty-flow Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.