Vocal Nodules

I've never had them, but I wanted to share my condolences...that's so terrible, I'm sorry!

I will, say, however, that I do know people who have been able to recover fairly well from them...good luck!

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I'm sorry.

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Updated On: 11/21/05 at 11:39 PM

Julie Andrews had a cyst, not nodes. She'd had it for decades but when she started having problems during V/V a doctor convinced her that removing the cyst *might* improve things a little. Hers really was an elective surgery and it didn't heal well. Every time she tried to sing there was hemorrhaging.

Nodes - it depends whether hard or soft. Think of them as blisters - if still soft they can go away with rest - if hard then they're more problematic - either way you need to learn how to avoid the irritation that causes them

Julie's issue was that she had a cyst, which had been around since her 3 1/2 years doing Eliza in MY FAIR LADY. What saved her voice for so long was her ability to allow it the proper rest. Her stint in CAMELOT put no real strain on her cords, because the show was so easy for her to sing. MFL is a far more demanding show, vocally. In fact, no other Eliza comes close to performing the role as many times as Julie, because it is so vocally demanding (singing in chest, head and screaming, etc.) Then she did films, and only an occasional concert, so her cords got lots of rest. When she did VICTOR/VICTORIA, she was on the road for an entire year, prior to its Broadway opening, so that by the time the show opened on Broadway, her cyst was causing vocal problems. She went another year and a half, singing with a voice that should have had rest. She was scheduled to take V/V to Houston, and a doctor advised her that she could have surgery and repair her voice. Of course, the surgery was botched and her voice was destroyed. She sued and won millions. Bottom-line; give your cords, lots of rest!

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