When I last posted about vocal health and home remedies to restore the voice, I received an interesting email from Crystal Tips about her experience drinking a rather unpalatable beverage to kick her voice into overdrive during a session where she was down for the count.
Are you suffering from a lost voice, a hoarse voice or perhaps even more seriously, laryngitis.
In this article
- An Unorthodox Way To Get Your Voice Back in a Flash
- Have You Done Something Similar To Get Your Voice Back?
Wondering, “how do I get my voice back?” Intrigued? Well, just do you get your voice back quickly? How does the voice heal and restored to full vocal power? I asked around. Hear more about this bizarre concoction and how it gave Crystal’s voice a boost here at VOX Daily.
An Unorthodox Way To Get Your Voice Back in a Flash
VOX: How was it suggested to you that you should have a hornet tea? Was this a normal thing for someone to do where you were or was this out of the ordinary?
CRYSTAL TIPS: Yes, my boss suggested that I drink the hornet tea. My voice was nearly gone. All that was left was a raspy, squeaky voice that kept cracking. It is not common to drink and was a last ditch effort to record my parts before I left for Christmas break since it had to go to air.
VOX: Remind me of your symptoms that prevented you from doing voice over. How were you feeling prior to taking the tea?
CT: I had lost my voice, it wasn’t completely gone, but it was rough and raspy, not clear, and kept cracking like a teenage boy. I was unable to do my different voices for the various characters I needed to play. I didn’t feel overly sick, my voice was just extremely tired from too much dubbing.
VOX: What did the concoction consist of and how was it made?
CT: The concoction came wrapped in a piece of brown scrap paper. There was the big hornet, some herbs, and something that smelled a little bit like licorice. I don’t know what was in it. My boss bought it for me from a Chinese Herbal Medicine Doctor down the street from the studio. We had to crush the hornet and herbs by smashing it in the paper.
VOX: What did it taste like? Did it have a particular smell? How hard was it to drink?
CT: It smelled musty and like dirt with a hint of licorice. And tasted the same! We put it in a tea cup with hot water and I drank it while holding my nose. I didn’t swallow the bits. It tasted gross but not rancid. I’ve had worse.
VOX: What properties did the tea possess that gave you your voice back temporarily? Was that made known to you or is it just assumed that the hornets were the source of the vocal balm?
CT: I don’t know what the secret to it was but I’m guessing the hornet had some histamine in it that jump-started my vocal cords. No one told me what it was in the mixture that would make it work. And no one told me the ingredients! It was a mystery.
VOX: Did your voice return at full strength? How long exactly were you able to maintain a consistent vocal delivery because of the tea?
CT: After about 15 minutes my voice came back full strength for about an hour and I was able to deliver and finish all of my lines perfectly. Then just like that, it was gone again.
VOX: Have you had the tea since?
CT: I did have the tea a second time, perhaps a year or two later. I get the feeling it’s not something one is supposed to take all the time. Really a last ditch effort. I don’t think it harmed me in any way though. It did seem to give me a little buzz. HA HA.
VOX: Would you recommend someone try this as a means to get their voice back for a short period of time?
CT: I would recommend it to anyone who needed it in an emergency situation. Otherwise I use Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa, an over- the-counter Chinese Herbal Cough syrup. It works well if you have a cold or have an itchy throat.
Give the bug juice a try if you are near a Chinese herbal medicine doctor and definitely try the Pei Pa Koa. We nicknamed it Paper Cow!
Have You Done Something Similar To Get Your Voice Back?
If you’ve tried hornet tea or some other irregular measure to quickly regain your voice, I’d love to hear about it! How have you gotten your voice back?
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Stephanie
Comments
ummmm…ew. I thought breathing in the vapors of tincture of iodide was bad enough…I’m not eating a hornet.That’s like my nightmares times about 5 billion.
What’s the word I’m looking for?…Oh, yeah, EUWWWWW!
Very interesting. I wonder if it will work as an iced tea? 😉
I’m guessing the “something that smelled a little bit like licorice” (probably some kind of licorice root, which of course is used in tea all the time) is what actually helped – not the hornet.
I’d just swallow a packet of honey and/or two teaspoons of apple cider vinegar, some honey to taste, and hot water w/a little cinnamon. The latter is also good illness remedy.
Years ago I got a sudden attack of laryngitis hours before I was due to go on in a play.I was wheezing, and rattling- totally voiceless. The director made me drink two bottles of Mackesons Stout (it’s a bit like Guinness.) It worked a treat – and the Mackesons tasted good too. I’ve been eternally grateful to him ever since.
This might amuse you. I was the radio play-by-play guy for Yavapai Community College in Prescott, AZ. I’d had a cold/sore throat for a couple of days and apparently strained my vocal cords by talking too much during the day to my Ad Agency clients. By about 3pm I was losing it… raspy, strained on the brink of laryngitis. I was due to broadcast a game that nite so I headed to my doctor. He and I had become buds over bowling so he felt comfortable treating me with some unorthodox stuff. He closed and locked the exam room door and reached down into a cabinet and came out with a container of orange, goopy-looking stuff. He dipped a giant Q-Tip into it, “painted” the back of my throat and said, “Try to not talk for a couple of hours; you might be ok for tonite.” I asked him what it was and said, “You don’t want to know…and I don’t want you to know. Just shut up.” It worked. I was able to do the game. Never did learn what it was.
Jay Lloyd
Benicia, CA
M m m, as [gross) as that sounds, will it still work if you are allergic to bee stings? I understand bees and hornets are two different things but the stinger works the SAME. And quick question: Do you have to kill the hornet [YOURSELF) before you crush it.?