Eating disorders are now epidemic. Singers and others in the entertainment business with its requisite media exposure are, I believe, especially vulnerable to these debilitating secret illnesses.
No one can approach their full vocal potential while chained to an eating disorder. Why? Because the voice will have problems in these areas:
Breathing (Power)
Tone (Path through an open throat)
Communication (Performance)
That’s right — with an eating disorder — everything I teach in Power, Path & Performance vocal training … everything necessary to the workings of your voice … is compromised and plagued with problems; some very pesky to diagnose and correct.
From denial to her long-term recovery from anorexia/bulimia, I’ve been Jenni Schaefer’s voice teacher and friend. Jenni recovered using a unique therapeutic approach that involved treating her eating disorder as a relationship, rather than an illness or condition. Jenni actually named her anorexia/bulimia, Ed, an acronym for “eating disorder.” She and I co-wrote the song “Life Without Ed” which is also the title of...