Lyman, glad you're here. I avoid drugs (did enough in college); if I have a cold, I rely pretty much exclusively on Vitamin C and peppermint tea. (Sometimes a little honey in the tea to help coat the throat.) Juice instead of water. And I'll avoid mucus-producing foods, like dairy products.

I ran into a thread on another site from a singer who had had to do a 6-hour gig with a bad cold, and discovered I do a lot of the stuff she did. (Except for doing a 6-hour gig.) She said she concentrated on songs that could be performed with a more limited voice range; I do that, too--for me, that means playing older stuff, because my voice did have less range a few years ago than now. I also do slower ones, so I can take more frequent breaths. I even have a few songs that I *wrote* when I had a cold; under normal conditions, I'd have to *work* to make my voice sound that bad, but with a cold, it's easy.

I also know that performing with a cold is going to strain my voice, and I'll be pretty much useless for a few days afterward, and I just plan on it. I haven't figured out a way around that.

Joe

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