Quit smoking, can't sing
October 2, 2013 8:27 PM Subscribe
Why did my singing voice get worse when I quit smoking? How can I fix it?
Ever since I was a little girl I enjoyed singing and have have spent most of my lifetime being a pretty decent singer. I have never had professional or creative aspirations as a singer, I have just always loved it and was really rather good at it. Throughout my teens and twenties I was a regular smoker, at a rate of anywhere between half a pack and a pack a day. About a year and a half ago I quit on a whim and it hasn't been much of a challenge to continue to abstain (I do have the occasional cigarette when out with friends, but I mean like an average of 1 cigarette a week, and I never have cravings, so I consider myself a non-smoker now).
The thing I was most looking forward to was an improvement and new clarity in my voice. But WTF I can barely sing at all anymore! I can't stay on key, my range has shrunk to almost nothing, I sometimes drop notes entirely and just a squeaky breath comes out. What gives??!? It's the most depressing thing to me to not be able to sing along with songs that I used whip out to impress strangers on occasion (brought the house down in karaoke a few times in the past). It really makes me almost want to become a regular smoker again, even though I won't, but I don't want lose one of greatest pleasures and one of my few talents permanently. Originally I thought perhaps there was just an adjustment period, but it's getting progressively worse as time goes on.
There's no way I can afford voice lessons. No way in hell, unless you know someone in New York that will do it for $10 a week or something. So what can I do to get it back? HALP ME
Ever since I was a little girl I enjoyed singing and have have spent most of my lifetime being a pretty decent singer. I have never had professional or creative aspirations as a singer, I have just always loved it and was really rather good at it. Throughout my teens and twenties I was a regular smoker, at a rate of anywhere between half a pack and a pack a day. About a year and a half ago I quit on a whim and it hasn't been much of a challenge to continue to abstain (I do have the occasional cigarette when out with friends, but I mean like an average of 1 cigarette a week, and I never have cravings, so I consider myself a non-smoker now).
The thing I was most looking forward to was an improvement and new clarity in my voice. But WTF I can barely sing at all anymore! I can't stay on key, my range has shrunk to almost nothing, I sometimes drop notes entirely and just a squeaky breath comes out. What gives??!? It's the most depressing thing to me to not be able to sing along with songs that I used whip out to impress strangers on occasion (brought the house down in karaoke a few times in the past). It really makes me almost want to become a regular smoker again, even though I won't, but I don't want lose one of greatest pleasures and one of my few talents permanently. Originally I thought perhaps there was just an adjustment period, but it's getting progressively worse as time goes on.
There's no way I can afford voice lessons. No way in hell, unless you know someone in New York that will do it for $10 a week or something. So what can I do to get it back? HALP ME
You haven't adjusted your technique.
Singing with smoke damaged larynx/pharynx can take a lot more glottal pressure to overcome the onset resistance than a healthy larynx.
Many singers need to retrain after they stop smoking. The biofeedback they're getting from their voice is different, and how they have to interpret it is different.
Remember, we can never really "hear" ourselves, so singing is mostly a matter of muscle memory and going by how it feels when other people say you sound good.
When you stop smoking, everything changes, so retraining is frequently necessary.
Sometimes, it just works magically, but that is often the case when someone had set their essential technique up before they started to smoke.
So it's really a matter of changing vocal habits.
So - think about seeing a vocal coach (or watching youtube coaching videos)! You're in NYC, you have all sorts of starving artists in your area code - why not post a craigslist ad offering to swap services?
posted by arnicae at 9:07 PM on October 2, 2013 [2 favorites]
Singing with smoke damaged larynx/pharynx can take a lot more glottal pressure to overcome the onset resistance than a healthy larynx.
Many singers need to retrain after they stop smoking. The biofeedback they're getting from their voice is different, and how they have to interpret it is different.
Remember, we can never really "hear" ourselves, so singing is mostly a matter of muscle memory and going by how it feels when other people say you sound good.
When you stop smoking, everything changes, so retraining is frequently necessary.
Sometimes, it just works magically, but that is often the case when someone had set their essential technique up before they started to smoke.
So it's really a matter of changing vocal habits.
So - think about seeing a vocal coach (or watching youtube coaching videos)! You're in NYC, you have all sorts of starving artists in your area code - why not post a craigslist ad offering to swap services?
posted by arnicae at 9:07 PM on October 2, 2013 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: I have neither services nor money to swap! Are there any YouTube coaching videos you'd recommend?
posted by greta simone at 9:21 PM on October 2, 2013
posted by greta simone at 9:21 PM on October 2, 2013
I don't have a solution for you except to try to relax (I know!) and take baby steps...start doing very basic warm-up exercises, slowly, focus carefully on your breath support, and be patient with yourself.
(You have to relax. If you get a big ol' case of anxiety over your singing voice being "gone," the anxiety is going to do the same thing to your voice that the post-smoker-adjustment period is doing to your voice, and then you have to get over another set of bad habits to find your pipes again!)
It may be comforting to know that this is pretty common among former smokers. Myself included. Anxiety warning is personal experience.
posted by desuetude at 9:23 PM on October 2, 2013 [2 favorites]
(You have to relax. If you get a big ol' case of anxiety over your singing voice being "gone," the anxiety is going to do the same thing to your voice that the post-smoker-adjustment period is doing to your voice, and then you have to get over another set of bad habits to find your pipes again!)
It may be comforting to know that this is pretty common among former smokers. Myself included. Anxiety warning is personal experience.
posted by desuetude at 9:23 PM on October 2, 2013 [2 favorites]
Your voice hasn't gone; it's just changed!
A good way to get some free voice training is to join a choir with a good director. It's also good just for getting and staying in shape, like doing physical therapy after a major change to any other part of your body.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:30 PM on October 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
A good way to get some free voice training is to join a choir with a good director. It's also good just for getting and staying in shape, like doing physical therapy after a major change to any other part of your body.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:30 PM on October 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
I know this is probably terrible advice, and a professional singer friend confirms this, but in my experience smoking just ONE cigarette a day gives me at least a whole step lower in my vocal range and greater control over the lower end of my range.
Given your history, though, I wouldn't mess around with smoking again if you have already quit.
posted by MonsieurBon at 11:19 PM on October 2, 2013
Given your history, though, I wouldn't mess around with smoking again if you have already quit.
posted by MonsieurBon at 11:19 PM on October 2, 2013
Consider: You have always been a pretty decent singer. So, you had the talent before you started smoking. Are you overdoing it? Trying to push yourself past limits, because you were suddenly expecting this new wonderful clarity to appear?
It could be a host of things. But retraining and starting from the beginning is good advice above. Pick some easy songs.. even if they're childhood songs, and start with slowly working on those.
As an aside - I've found the electronic cigarettes ('vaporizers') have done wonders for keeping me off cigarettes. They even have zero nicotine options in different flavors. Better to have one of those around for your weekly cheating instead of the real thing.
posted by rich at 4:14 AM on October 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
It could be a host of things. But retraining and starting from the beginning is good advice above. Pick some easy songs.. even if they're childhood songs, and start with slowly working on those.
As an aside - I've found the electronic cigarettes ('vaporizers') have done wonders for keeping me off cigarettes. They even have zero nicotine options in different flavors. Better to have one of those around for your weekly cheating instead of the real thing.
posted by rich at 4:14 AM on October 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
I have neither services nor money to swap!
At a minimum you could offer to trade cleaning time for skills. Also your previous questions suggest you sometimes do childcare and have a background in social work/nonprofits, so I bet you could think of a list of services you could offer to swap.
posted by arnicae at 9:29 AM on October 3, 2013
At a minimum you could offer to trade cleaning time for skills. Also your previous questions suggest you sometimes do childcare and have a background in social work/nonprofits, so I bet you could think of a list of services you could offer to swap.
posted by arnicae at 9:29 AM on October 3, 2013
Response by poster: FWIW when I say average I mean average since quitting. I have gone up to two months without a cigarette during this time, and maybe I'll have two cigarettes one week and none for three more. I don't ever HAVE to have one and I certainly don't have some kind of weekly ration that I allow myself or anything like that. I'll just have one occasionally when I'm out at a bar, that sort of thing.
posted by greta simone at 11:48 AM on October 3, 2013
posted by greta simone at 11:48 AM on October 3, 2013
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You may consider yourself a non-smoker, but, it doesn't seem to me like you've actually quit if you have an average # of smokes per time period X, whatever those numbers are. Unless you stop completely for a longer period of time than one week, I don't know if you've given your lungs & throat time to recover from the damage done in the previous years.
Have you been checked out by an ENT specialist? Maybe there's something going on with your vocal chords and the timing is just coincidence.
posted by oh yeah! at 8:57 PM on October 2, 2013