Hey!!!… It’s been a while since my last post and that’s only because I got ridiculously sick and I was absolutely miserable. There is nothing worse than being sick and not being able to take a day off and rest. Everything is great now though, I went through about 6 days where I could only sing at about 50-75% because I either couldn’t breathe out of congestion or every time I went to breathe I started to cough. Whatever little sickness I had was frustrating as heck because I felt physically fine, but all the gross stuff went straight to my chest and I was coughing all day long which inevitably led to my throat being sore and my vocal chords being tired. It got so bad at one point that for the first time in my life I went to sing notes and what I wanted to sing was NOT what was coming out of my mouth. I couldn’t actually control the pitch of the notes; I would sing and I could hear the note in my brain, but my vocal chords were weak and the muscles would fatigue and force the sound coming out of my mouth the either squeak or fall egregiousness flat. I was scared and freaked out and almost called out of a show in Waterbury, CT but I had friends who were roadtripping up from Virginia, so I enacted emergency remedies and managed to essentially falsetto my way through that show. After that show I worked hard with our tour music director and made it my 100% priority to have perfect breath and perfect mask placement of the notes so that I could sing with a little more power with the least amount of vocal effort. It paid off… I made it through that week without needing to call out. The experience definitely helped me in two crucial ways – 1. I now have a huge respect for the necessity of vocal rest. I stopped talking in order to save the muscle strength for the shows and I noticed the difference. The muscles felt more rested going into those performances that I was sick and it definitely saved me from missing a show: 2. Since I spent almost an entire week focusing on proper technique, I’m feeling the notes in a better placement now that I’m healthy again, and I can feel the growth in the way my voice sounds with this music. Loving it!
As for the tour itself… The theatre in Waterbury, CT was GORGEOUS!!!… where we were in Waterbury, CT…….. sketchy as heck. So bad, in fact, that the crew got stuck at the theatre during load out because a person was stabbed to death at the bar across the street, so the block was locked off by the cops……. craaazy. Last week, we finally had an easy week since we were able to stay in Syracuse for a few days, and then Scranton for a few days. Now we’re on the road down to South Carolina heading into our last week before Thanksgiving break. Then I’ll be staying with a friend from tour in Florida to save money, lol, and then heading back to Sarasota, FL to start the last leg of the tour for this year.
And in honor of this past Veteran’s Day – thank you to all the people who have served and are serving in the armed services, the personal sacrifices that you all have made and make deserve the utmost respect.
Love, Kyle