Singing Lessons In

This article is all about smoking and singing. The vocal folds are folds are sheathed when not in use, so as long as you don’t speak or sing while exhaling smoke, you won’t do much direct damage to them. The biggest effect of smoking on the singing voice is a drastic loss of lung capacity. The primary issue of tar in the lungs is that the nicotine deadens the cillia in the bronchioles and bronchial passages. These tiny, finger-shaped bits of tissue serve two purposes: they increase the surface area of the bronchioles, allowing more oxygen to pass through to the capillaries behind them. Under normal circumstances, they also sway gently back and forth to move the mucous and phlegm around, preventing things from getting clogged up in there. Nicotine deadens the cilia, allowing tar and phlegm to coat them.

This congestion reduces lung capacity. It also reduces the body’s ability to guage and react to irritation from smoke. In the morning, after not having had a dose of nicotine for eight hours, the cilia begin to awaken and sway again, moving all the stuff around. This is what causes “smoker’s cough,” the only effective cure for which, is of all things, a cigarette to deaden the cillia again. The cough, of course, irritates the vocal mechanism, and that’s a problem, too. So, I don’t recommend smoking, and if you are a singer who smokes, I do recommend quitting. Barring that, though, understanding the effects is the next best thing.

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