For the benefit of any UK vocalisters who may not have seen it
advertised, Tuesday 1.30pm on BBC radio 4 there is a half-hour programme
entitled "Lost Voices"
Radio Times says:
"For the professional singer, losing the ability to sing is the ultimate
nightmare. Yet people with some of the finest voices in the world have
woken to find that their gifts have deserted them. David Rayvern Allen,
in conversation with victims such as Isobel Buchanan, Norma Burrowes,
Rosa Mannion and John Wakefield, uncovers the physical and psychological
scars that are left behind when a once wonderful voice disappears.
"I could tell you that this is a programme about what happens when a
person loses the ability to sing, but that would be selling the
programme short. This is a riveting half hour and it includes some
genuinely exclusive material: for the first time, several singers of
international repute speak about what happened when their voices ceased
to function. One, John Wakefield, ended up driving a taxi, and was once
sent to collect a soprano with whom he had shared many an opera stage.
The soprano told him: "I can't stop now, I've got a taxi coming."
Therapists and doctors also contribute to a programme that lifts the
veil from an affliction that is usually dealt with secretly."
I shall definitely be listening, and taping it. And thanking my lucky
stars that I had chosen to diversify in a whole load of different
directions by the time I realised that my singing voice, which would
once do _anything_ I wanted it to, was on the slow slide down the toilet
- though this rather suggests that they are to be discussing something
that is anything but slow.
Will report back when I've heard it!
cheers
Linda
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