That is very serious. If surgery is necessary, it has to be most carefully done, or the poor kid could lose her voice permanently.
This happens often to young people who overuse their voices, usually when they have been pushed to perform beyond their vocal range, and when the immature voice has not been properly trained. It’s becoming more and more common with the advent of the Super-Stage Mother (or father—in Monchichi’s case.)
I’m sure that Hetty could tell us more about this.
It’s sad, happening on the eve of Jordin’s biggest tour so far.
“This happens often to young people who overuse their voices, usually when they have been pushed to perform beyond their vocal range, and when the immature voice has not been properly trained. It’s becoming more and more common with the advent of the Super-Stage Mother (or father—in Monchichi’s case.) I’m sure that Hetty could tell us more about this.”
Palladin, you flatter me — you said it very well already. I cringe when I hear youngsters “pushing” their chest voices into a higher range to creat the big, blasting sound that everyone seems to want these days. Some people have vocal cords that are seemingly made of steel and can take anything (think Ethel Merman), but most do not. And if you do that sort of thing when the vocal cords are already inflamed from illness, well, you’re asking for trouble. It really bothered me early on in this year’s AI season when everyone seemed to be sick with some unspecified flu, and yet they still had to perform. Very bad for the voice. You can also get vocal cord nodes that interfere with vocal production — I think that’s what happened to Julie Andrews.
Stage parents aren’t the only cause of this sort of thing. The theater has a culture of “the show must go on” and youngsters internalize this eagerly. Also, sometimes directors and other authority figures who don’t really understand the mechanics of the human voice put pressure on them to perform when they really, really should not, for their voice’s health.
I just hope Jordin does not try to push past this injury and come back too soon. She could indeed suffer permanent injury to her voice, which would be awful at her young age. I wish her absolutely the best. Prayers are definitely in order. Poor kid.