Dr. Heather R. Nelson

It's true. Especially in your voice lesson. I've told my clients often that you have to get over the fear of sounding terrible in order to make steps toward ...

What a week. The bad news just seemed to keep rolling in without stopping. With no time to breathe before the next hit. And not a lot of warning that it was ...

Y'all. I'm feeling it. And I bet you are, too. You know, that low-level but constant stress over the last two and a half weeks that is quiet and small, but t...

Through the month of February we talked about setting goals, focusing mostly on how we think and believe about our goals. I believe strongly that mindset is ...

If you've been waiting for "the right time" to start on your vocal goals, that time will never come. I promise you, there will always be things that get in t...

I am a hoarder of words. I love words. It doesn't matter what form they come in. Books, magazines, blogs, articles, podcasts, etc. If it's full of words, I w...

Do you remember when Dorothy first made it to Oz, she met Glinda the Good Witch and was told she needed to make it to the Emerald City so she could make it b...

Last week I challenged you to set vocal goals starting with how you want to feel about your voice. You can check out that post here. Going a little deeper, t...

Your Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal, that is. We tend to set goals or resolutions for ourselves at the beginning of the year, and I think that can be a wonderful...

As a creative person in a creative field, sometimes I can be exhilarated by spontaneity. But I cannot operate in that mode 24/7. In fact, staying in that zon...

I love this video. Watch and see an extraordinary opportunity take shape for one young musician. David Tolley, after his spontaneous national debut, went on ...

I see you. The one struggling to fit everything into your schedule this week, while still trying to find things to fill next week. And the week after that. A...

Have you been to the laryngologist this year for your annual voice check up yet? The last post in this series looks at twelve things to expect during a visit...

There are weird unicorn people who just LOVE to exercise. I'm admittedly not one of them. Well, I do really enjoy walking, especially outdoors with my doggo w...

We all want quick fixes and miracle cures. I spend a lot of time on forums in the social media world filled with singers who get sick, have a gig, and are lo...

SLEEP! We all need it, though science hasn't really explained why. We do know that sleep is required for long term learning, and that a great deal of healing...

We don't like to talk about getting older here in the United States. Entire industries, and quite a few charlatans peddling miracle cures, have sprung up to ...

Hydration of your whole body by drinking water is best for keeping your vocal tract hydrated enough. But if you need a little extra, especially in winter whe...

I've mentioned it briefly before, but it bears repeating that we use the same larynx for speaking as we do for singing. And even though singing is a more vig...

This is a simple post to write, but the challenge I'm laying out may be harder for you and me to dig into. Vocal health is a noble goal, but it can devolve i...