Now,
goddammit! I
KNOW I replied to this Monday. I mean, I remember looking at my post with quotes from your post and all.. WTF? (my only explanation is that perhaps I "previewed" my response and never "posted" it, which is entirely possible considering the way things go for me during work hours around here, but it's just another frustrating testament to my failing brain!
grrrrr)
Wish there was an easy answer for you on this one, snot creates issues when singing, some good, some not so good.
For what it's worth, I more or less "survived." I made it most of the way through the second set with no noticeable problems, but for the remainder of the night, thanks to all the normal reasons, attendance was thinner, and those still there were likely too drunk to notice the issues that did ensue..:Smug:
Hydration is the biggest thing on this one and bringing up some nice room temp water to help stay moist..
Well, in addition to drinking herbal teas (w/ honey) all day, I brought with me about 1.25 gal of additional herbal tea w/ honey (would've been water, but since I was under the weather, I went the extra mile on tea.)
Staying relaxed and flexible to morph to the new chords you're singing with every couple of minutes seems the best advise.
This actually segues nicely into one of the other questions I did have for you. My current warm-up is the program taken from [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Screaming-Vocal-Instruction-Breed/dp/B000AVZVTY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1249584834&sr=1-1"]Melizza Cross' "Zen of Screaming"[/ame]. which involves some facial muscle movement, some breathing, and a series of 14 vocal "drills." It's about 20 min to a half-hour's worth. I'm curious what you recommend as limits on how early or late to warm-up in relation to a show? The way things are around here, there's no such thing as a "dressing room" or any other place to sequester one's self for the purposes of doing such goofy things as the "Mee Gee Monkey Exercise," for instance, so you're either outside or in your car being a nuisance to smokers and other stragglers, and or feeling quite goofy. I usually tend to do it in the car on my way to the venue in the first place, but that may be too far in advance of the actual performance to be optimally effective.. Any thoughts?
..Sometimes a shot of Jag will help loosen you up as much as your throat ; ). I'd personally stay far away from any whiskey though or beer. Tuaka (spelling?) is a really nice Italian sweetened brandy that is nice for this if they have it (not many clubs do).
As a matter of fact, the venue we played at last Friday did indeed carry Tuaca, so I could have partaken had I felt so inclined.