Singer Tip: Gargle Your Way to a Great Audition

Posted by jill on Apr 29, 2014 in Child Actors | 0 comments

Recently my son Jamie had a nasty cough and an upcoming Broadway audition—that’s a bad combo!

We knew who to call for advice…

Jamie’s crooning uncle, Michael Civisca, came to the rescue with this remedy:

“Here is a gargle recipe that an ENT gave me when I was treated in NYC several years ago. It works to help with some the inflammation of the vocal cords.

4 -8 oz Warm to hot water (warm enough to melt the honey yet not too hot to burn).

1 Tbls Local honey.  Local raw honey contains pollen that is specific to your area and therefore can really help those local seasonal allergies.  Taking a spoonful of raw honey once or twice a day is a great help.

1/2 Tsp Baking Soda

1/2 Tsp Salt

Stir the honey into water first to melt it.  Add the other items.  Then, over a sink perform a soft, silent gargle.  Not the noisy one you hear during mouthwash rituals.  The silent gargle helps to keep the cords loose.  The salt and baking soda help to draw moisture and the honey coats.  If cords are really sore, I also take a Tbls spoon of the honey three times a day… because I like honey.  Also it soothes.  I call that the Winnie The Pooh factor.

Vocalize each day for twenty minutes to keep things in order. With inflammation, you may get discouraged because you can’t execute as well as you are used to. I keep the warm ups to a compressed range and only go for range at the end.”

So Jamie dodged the bullet and got his voice in decent condition to sing at his “A Christmas Story” audition, but he wasn’t out of the woods yet. Stay tuned for my next post on why to always expect the unexpected at auditions!

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