[HANASHIR:1581] Vocal testing

[DurlKare <DurlKare...>]

Ever since Hava Nashira, after which I got hoarse for over a month, I have had
a hard time singing for a long time without getting a little hoarse.  I
FINALLY dragged myself to the doctor, actually, the Vanderbilt Voice Clinic.
Have any of you actually gone through that amazingly...intrusive...test?  They
actually stick a metal tube down your throat while you sing "eeee" in
different notes, while smiling, and while they hold onto your tongue with a
gauze bandage, and all this while you are wide awake.  They tried to spray my
throat numb so I would stop gagging since I was the one person in ten who
really has difficulty with this test, but all that happened was that I
couldn't swallow and gagged more and more... the voice person continued
torturing me until FINALLY after about an hour and a half of trying, she got a
doctor to do it, and then it WORKED.  They were terribly certain that there
would be some problem, but lo and behold, my vocal chords turned up clean as a
whistle, and I was given a PHOTO of the lovely...view!

Phew!  Then I got the same advice all of you on the list had given me: drink
lots of water, don't use menthol stuff, and also, that my asthma inhalers can
cause hoarseness.  Hmmmmph!  I wonder if any of you have had similar
experiences, or if you have gone ahead with the next step, recommended by this
clinic (which has  helped countless country music stars with their voices, by
the way...the walls are plastered with signed photos and gold records):
learning how to sing AND TALK properly!  I evidently speak with much too low a
voice (for a woman).

Sorry, way too long a message!  At least THIS method of communicating doesn't
wear out my voice.
-Karen