The Bmmming Cure
On the odyssey of getting rid of the nasty common cold. Last week was pretty much a wash. I missed symphony chorus practice last Tuesday evening because I could only talk in a whisper, much less sing. Besides, I felt rotten. So although I still could not sing this week, I decided that this Tuesday I had to attend. We are only allowed two missed performances and I will miss a second practice to go to West Virginia. I decided to go to the rehearsal and just lip sync.
It’s really hard not to make any sound when you are programmed to start when the director starts directing. So I soon found myself singing softly. If you could call it singing. John Carlson likes to do innovative things with his choir. One of his most often used techniques is to make us do whole two-and-a-half-hour rehearsals sing-counting. Those of us who are counting-impaired dread those practices. However, this was not a sing-counting night.
Instead, John asked us to Bmmm on every word. We could open our mouths to do a “b”, but we were to immediately close on the “m”, and so each note was essentially hummed. Not a pretty sound, but very effective for hearing all the notes around you.
I found that although I couldn’t sing without coughing, I could bmmm just fine. So for two and a half hours I bmmmed along with the rest of the choir. On the way home I noticed that for the first time since I came down with the cold, my sinuses felt clear. I went to bed without coughing and when I woke this morning I had not a sign of head congestion.
I think I have found the new cure for sinus congestion: bmmming!
It’s really hard not to make any sound when you are programmed to start when the director starts directing. So I soon found myself singing softly. If you could call it singing. John Carlson likes to do innovative things with his choir. One of his most often used techniques is to make us do whole two-and-a-half-hour rehearsals sing-counting. Those of us who are counting-impaired dread those practices. However, this was not a sing-counting night.
Instead, John asked us to Bmmm on every word. We could open our mouths to do a “b”, but we were to immediately close on the “m”, and so each note was essentially hummed. Not a pretty sound, but very effective for hearing all the notes around you.
I found that although I couldn’t sing without coughing, I could bmmm just fine. So for two and a half hours I bmmmed along with the rest of the choir. On the way home I noticed that for the first time since I came down with the cold, my sinuses felt clear. I went to bed without coughing and when I woke this morning I had not a sign of head congestion.
I think I have found the new cure for sinus congestion: bmmming!