Anybody who has lived in Colorado for more than one summer knows that we have beautiful, bright, blue skies most days of the year. They also know that we’ve had increasingly severe fire seasons. This year the smoke descended upon the front range and has stuck around for two weeks.

Singers will likely to notice the impacts of poor air quality sooner and more significantly than those who don’t sing regularly. That’s because we rely upon our respiratory systems to do a lot of heavy lifting. If our total lung capacity is diminished we’ll notice that we can’t hold that one phrase out quite as long. If our throat feels scratchy or irritated our range will shrink and we may even find it difficult to sustain a clear tone. Other symptoms that our instrument is being impacted by low air quality include a clunky passaggio, loss of head voice or falsetto resonance, and fatiguing early on in a practice session.

Here are some tools and resources to help you get through a period of poor air quality in your region, whether from forest fire, pollution, or some other factor.

Colorado wildfires as of August 27, 2020.

#1: Collect data about the air quality in your area.

For those of us living in the Western US, the US Air Quality website is invaluable. Bookmark this site and get to know it’s features. The Fire and Smoke Map (shown above) is easy to use and has continually updated information about both fire locations and air quality. Click on any of the fire icons and information about the extent of the fire and it’s containment are given. The squares, triangles and circles are all air quality monitors which provide regular readings that are uploaded directly to the map. Click on them and see what the AQI in your area is currently. Note that an AQI below 50 is considered good, 50 to 100 is moderate, above 100 is concerning for sensitive groups. I would put all singers in the sensitive group due to our specific needs for high functioning breathing.

AQI report for my neighborhood August 27.

Recommendations from the CDC include staying indoors when the air quality is poor, avoiding candles and incense in the home and limiting vacuuming (which actually kicks up a lot of dust). When air quality is particularly low and/or has been ongoing a portable air filter may be of benefit. The EPA has this guide to commercial air filters.

An abnormal Colorado sky in my neighborhood on August 15.

#2: Keep singing and get a paper cup!

Singers should continue to sing! Taking time off of singing can be more harmful than singing gently in small doses. When your vocal tract is irritated it’s a good time for those SOVTs (semi occluded vocal tract exercises) - lip trills, straw phonation, humming, cup phonation. In other words, sing with a small mouth space because it’s basically like a little massage for vocal cords which are probably inflamed.

Here is a great video explaining the how and why SOVTs work AND a nice demonstration of using a cup with a hole in the bottom. The cup part starts at 1:43.

Try singing for smaller durations - 15-20 minutes at a time - and several times through the day. This will keep your muscles from atrophying while also allowing them to vocalize in safe and productive way.

#3: Control what you can in your singing and make peace with new adjustments

For singers it’s important to keep in mind that environmental factors are outside of your control. If you need to take more frequent breaths during a song don’t beat yourself up over it, just breathe more often. If your head voice has a thin or reedy tone because the vocal folds are inflamed, transpose your song down or sing repertoire that sits lower in your voice. Stressing out over what your voice can’t do during respiratory limitations will only make your symptoms worse, or just lead to you feeling bummed out about singing.

Making some adjustments to your vocal demands can help you to sing in spite of external challenges. And being able to keep doing the thing you love might just make the regular news stories about air pollution more emotionally bearable.

#4: Prioritize general health and well being

If you are feeling as though poor air quality is impacting you, trust your gut and begin to address the symptoms immediately. If you have chronic issues don’t hesitate to reach out to your physician before the situation becomes acute.

I am a singer who also has chronic asthma so I know that I’m prone to being affected. I’ve been staying mostly indoors and if I have needed to drive I’ve been using the “max AC” setting because it circulates the air inside through the air filter. I’ve been drinking LOTS of water to keep my system hydrated and to flush the particulates I’ve inhaled out. Sleep, diet and exercise are also important factors in overall health. Do your best to prioritize love and care for your body during this time.

#5: Everything in our bodies is connected, so look out for symptoms that seem unrelated

When the visibility around my house started to get really hazy and I woke up to ash covering my car windshield I also started to get itchy all over my body. Red patches appeared on my face and back and the urge to scratch was uncontrollable. About a week after the smoke levels were noticeably high my occipital lymph nodes became so swollen it hurt to turn my head.

I can’t say for sure that these symptoms were a result of the prolonged air pollution but there is significant scientific evidence that air pollution combined with high UV levels (which was the case in Denver last week) can lead to eczema and other skin irritation.

Here is a super detailed scientific study from the NCBI and here is another super geeky report connecting air pollution with skin inflammation. The TL;DR is that when there is a high amount of particulates in the air skin harmful UV rays are converted more rapidly into harmful O3. This is especially true on hot, sunny days which we have had in August. The surface of your skin is irritated by this and the barrier is damaged microscopically. This means that dirt, debris and those particulates can get in. That’s a big problem and leads to inflammation. Additionally your respiratory system, which is taking in those particulates is trying to get them back out and your skin is one of the ways it can eject these. This means you’ll have inflammation both internally and externally. Furthering the compounding stress on one’s body, both studies report that folks who are suffering from air pollution and skin inflammation had significantly lower levels of vitamin E and vitamin C. That would obviously cause even bigger problems if the issue is left unaddressed.

Again, I don’t know if the air pollution is the cause of my skin problem, but it’s entirely possible. Regardless, we know that respiratory problems are connected to problems in other bodily systems. And, when we don’t feel good, in general, it’s really hard to sing.

I’m feeling much better now, but the lesson here is that our bodies are designed to run as a well-oiled machine. It’s a beautiful thing, this body that we have and even more spectacular that it breathes and sings for us. However, any health event can make it difficult to function in the way we’re used to and environmental factors, like worsening fire seasons and climate change, doubly impact our ability to thrive. As singers our body IS our instrument. Caring for, managing, and monitoring our body is the same thing as taking care of our voice.

Are these tips and resources helpful? Let me know in the comments below.

Happy singing!