How long for a lost voice to heal ?

I spent a hard working, yet fun hour with all the community last evening. We warmed up with the old favourite scales, just to get everyone back in the swing of using the mouth, lips, teeth and tongue, and then had a hilarious 10 minutes with the new tongue , and mind twisting word exercises, before launching into learning the new Mozart part song.

They learn so quickly and within 10 minutes we had all three parts of this beautiful setting of the Dona Nobis Pacem intertwining very nicely. Mozart writes such amazing melodies, some are almost painful in their beauty. This is not one of his most exquisite of moments, but it certainly has all the hallmarks of true Mozartian elegance and sweetness.

I took one of the sisters up to a B flat in her scales today, she was beside herself with joy, and so astonished she could have wept. Another young sister told me about her loss of voice from a bad throat infection a couple of months ago. She is a nurse in the nursing home, and picked up a cold from one of her elderly patients I think, and I heard myself telling her what I say to my pupils, to candidates at festivals and professionals alike. Your voice is another muscle, and if you had a sprained ankle you would not run on it ! How hard must it be though, when your Opus Dei, and days work revolves around singing. She sadly told me how unfulfilled she felt when she could not sing the daily office, so croaks or not she went on singing. This was 6 months ago, and her voice is still not right! I think she has finally learnt now, that a short period of lost singing is better than an endless 6 months of slow recovery.

On with the motley, and another choir practise in 15 minutes, must down my dark brown builder's tea, in the beautiful drawing room !

See below and weep !