Quote from: PaigeMtl on October 10, 2012, 07:00:35 PM
Did any one else notice that half the voice posts always mention they have a cold...why not wait until after it has passed?
I'm not being mean, it's just an observation that made me chuckle a little. 
JJ: sounds to me like your on the right track.
I did have a cold. I'm not very sure why I chose to record while I had a cold. Maybe because I was sitting around a lot and had very little else to do. Here's me without a cold:
http://soundcloud.com/soundsybil/wikipedia-read/s-J4YlbA lot of other stuff and random background information: the way I start off the track by saying "Parks" is really (super nasally and) unintended for me. I still don't have the best control over my voice; I've been trying to do something with it for only a short while now after getting over losing it before.
Around April, I found a way to lock my vocal cords to give me a pitch I didn't have. It was probably really unhealthy, but it made me sound great, and I quickly discovered how to control my resonance to compliment my new frequency. After a few days, I became unable to perform this properly because my vocal cords became too swollen (or damaged) and I realized that it was something I couldn't keep up or rely on. Although my "loss" was overall probably a good thing, it really depressed me after getting to hear something I felt was very convincing, so I stopped working on my voice altogether and made no progress.
Again around mid to late August, I stopped being shy about voice communication and started using Skype with some of my most trusted and understanding friends while we talked or played video games. They put up with my constant voice shifts and vocal cord strains, offered input when asked, and their presence on the other end gave me something to talk about for hours on end. They were/are all very encouraging and extremely helpful for my voice.
I am also becoming very close to girlfriend status with this guy I've recently been reconnecting with (we're essentially at the stage where we act like there's a relationship and talk about it, but are both nervous to make it official in such a short time), and I have been speaking to him for hours and hours near-daily. My almost-boyfriend says he loves listening to me and it relaxes him a lot (and frequently says very sweet things to me that make my heart skip a beat or two) so it makes it easy and exciting for me to practice and develop.
I'm really proud of how far I've gotten in that time -- with methods that do not feel like they're damaging my voice -- but I know it's not perfect, and I don't have the seamless control over speaking that usually comes with months and years of using your voice. My pitch also needs more work, I think primarily because it has to physically develop over time. I realize my voice most likely passes at this point, but I was feeling sheepish about creating another "critique my voice" thread and taking up more forum space, so I posted it here to share and see the thoughts of others.
Congratulations to anyone who made it through that!
