OMIGOD!!! I HAVE A NODULE ON MY VOCAL CHORDS!!!

WHAT DO I DO NOW! OMIGAWD!!!!!

What most people do is cry for a week, go to a doctor, where he will tell you to rest your voice for an unlimited number of months to a year or he will suggest surgery on your vocal chords to remove your node. Most often that will not work, and your voice will always be breathy and the top will never be the same again. He will, after you refuse surgery, after a time, recommend a vocal therapist where he/she will teach you how to talk again!! What nonsense, poo-poo and folderol!! ( I love exclamation points, don't you?)

Before panicking and crying all week, think about this: REHABILITATION!

To avoid this catastrophe you should have been:
1. going to a reputable voice teacher. No? then you deserve nodes.
2. can't afford a teacher? With all that money you spend on frivolous things and not a penny keep your voice healthy, since that is your career, then you deserve nodes

OK: enough finger pointing. This is what you do. FIRST, you have to understand what causes nodules. What really causes nodes is the fact that, in a two register technique you have pushed the "chest register" too high, into the passaggio or break area, therefore compromising the break and the head register that you have, and pushing the head register up higher or totally out of the voice. One starts to hear the voice become raspy, or the voice coming in and out, and totally losing your voice in a very short time. This is the beginning of a nodule on your chords. At one point or another, those who abuse their voice will get nodes, like speakers, belters, and those who constantly are talking too loud and too high.

SECOND: Rehabilitate your voice by putting back the head register you blew out. Now this might take some time, depending on the severity of the crime. But what I do as a voice teacher, besides calming the student/patient, is teach the student how to help himself/herself and give them vocal exercises to do. One has to practice a lot of head register, with no mix, back into the passaggio area using the headiest of the vowels like "oo". Do triads or a 1-1-3 2-1 only on head voice. Sometimes it may be hard, but persevere and the results will be there.

THIRD: another exercise to add the the first one is to do triad falsetto (head voice, no mix) notes "until the cows come home" throughout the voice, particularly on the top of your range. After all, you banged out your voice in that area. Just p0ut the head voice you pushed out. Now, doesn't that make sense?

FOURTH: Starting on a "g" or any note in the middle of your range, using the full voice and do a 1-3-5-8-5-3-1 scale dropping as much weight or chest register going up the scale as possible ending in the passaggio with only falsetto or head register. This is called "stripping the voice" and does wonders for the voice.

FIFTH: Octave chest-head-chest yodel to the top and then back to chest. so its chest/ head/ chest (don't forget to yodel on the top note).

Whatever you do, don't go to a vocal therapist. Every vocal therapist I have known knows nothing of singing and can't help you. Go to a reputable voice teacher. Yes, rest is good and wonderful, but rehabilitation is better along with the rest.

Now, its difficult to tell you how long its going to take to get better. After all, you have been banging the voice for a long time. Nodes don't happen overnight! Just practice using only head/falsetto.

I will not lie, some times you feel like what you do is not helping. Yes it is. If its too slow, you need to see if you are "mixing" the top with chest. If you are, that's a no-no! Make sure its head register or falsetto ONLY!!!! It will take time but after a few weeks you will feel a little better, and after time you will gain your full voice without the need for surgery.

Finally, feel good about yourself. Learn about your voice and how it works and how to keep it healthy.