Hi, Dan.  In a word, YES!  Although you can pray for divine intervention.  And of course it also depends on how strongly you've tried to convince them that "school spirit" does NOT have to be flat-out LOUD!!

 

The other thing you can do (long-term, not for this problem perhaps) is teach them to yell with good, healthy vocal production, so they can cheer without doing either temporary or permanent damage to their voices.  (The human voice is the only musical instrument made by God, but it doesn't come with a guarantee against using it stupidly!)

 

One of the best singers I ever had in my college ensemble was a high lyric soprano.  She was a cheerleader in high school, but she was also taking voice lessons with a VERY savy teacher, who showed her how to cheer with healthy vocal production.  It can be done!

 

Move your concert (as long as there isn't yet another game on THAT weekend), if you can.  Two days without rehearsal will probably do less damage than coming off a weekend of induced laryngitis.

 

John

 

 

If the schedules are inflexible, there are a few things that your students can do to minimize the strain of this combination of activities. But they must truly understand the risks & be committed to self-care. Suggestions/examples:

 

GET THE COACHES ON YOUR SIDE! Find some simple analogy—screaming does to the vocal cords what muscle strain Plus foot-blisters or a skinned-knee do to a runner; can they imagine one of their athletes getting new layers of injury every minute they're on the field, etc.; what if choir destroyed ability to play/cheer, how would they compromize .... then get the coaches to reinforce the following.

 

1) minimize talking outside of the tournament. The chattery-excitement in the locker-room before games, and at (?loud) parties after, can add up to a lot of usage that DOESN't help their team win. Can they do final practice/runthru of cheer-choreography while mouthing the words? Can one side of the locker-room be set aside for the singers, with signs reminding them to keep quiet/save some for the music/ etc? Can they just text all their gossip & commentary? Everyone will giggle & feel awkward at first but if the COACHES understand & support you, this partial-silent-treatment can become part of their "athletic" discipline.

 

2) Hydrate well over the entire weekend. Sipping 1 qt over every 4 hrs is not too much with this level of demand; mix in a little gatorade to help the fluid truly absorb into tissues. Caffeinated soda, starbucks, and any beverage with alcohol DO NOT COUNT.

 

3) Unless leading cheers, if students are just sitting in the stands, they can cheer with body instead of voice. stand up, wave arms, look excited, open mouth, and if there's noise all around no one will know they're not truly voicing. Could be hard if there aren't enough non-singers around to make real noise, but its a concept some kids will be able to apply.

 

4) long showers before bed & vaporizer at bedside can provide useful steam-treatment/ recovery.

 

5) Maximum vocal rest on Sunday, with 2 or 3 short sessions (3-5 min.) of safe warmups, to support tissue recovery (metabolic "taking out the trash"). lip trills, tongue trills, & light medium-high "oooo" glides through a straw are physiologically great for this. Again, deflect all followup chatter & gossip to text/email. Plan ahead for quiet activities -- church, movies, mani-pedi, etc.

 

... then see how it goes!  If concert is still sub-par it will stand as a schedule warning for the future. Lessons like, in a small school the departments & activities ARE inter-related. Community spirit includes music & the arts. Idealistic I know, but it takes attention away from any blame on You as choir director.

 

best wishes -

Joanna

Thanks for the input, Joanna and John.

 

I had the concert moved to the following week.  =0)  Fortunately the arts enjoy a place of prominence at our school, and it was no problem!!

 

Thanks

Dan