Etai Benson

And for a while, I thought that any vocal issues I had had were because I was doing something wrong, right? Right.

Yes.

And the stigma that you feel from the outside, you can start to internalize that and feel it against yourself being like, God, if I only sang better, if my training, you know, was better, if I whatever, blah, blah, blah, blah.

But sometimes it's just the way your chords are built.

It's the way your chords are built.

And it's also, as Dr. Talika said on his episode, but it's the truth, high vocal load.

So like how much you are using your voice and the intensity or the loudness or the effort level in which you are using your voice.

And oftentimes that combination is really hard to avoid when you are a high level performer, especially on Broadway, eight times a week.

Yeah, and it goes back to what I mentioned about college when, you know, I was trying to enjoy college.

I would go to parties or whatever, but the next

thing, I

couldn't sing.

Not well.

Right, right.

And other people would just belt their faces off.

I had a similar experience.

It's really wild.

And it also makes you think even from that young of an age, like, well, clearly I'm doing something wrong.

Right.

Or maybe I'm not built for this, but everyone else, because everyone else seems to have a really short bounce back time, right?

Right.

And Itai, your story with company is similar.

It's not the same, but it's similar to what I experienced.

So I had scar tissue and singing with that scar tissue on a higher vocal load, I managed it for 10 years.

But what was happening that we didn't know until the very end, before I had a surgical intervention, which not everyone can have with that kind of diagnosis, is that that tough tissue on the vocal folds was creating pain.

And for a while, I thought that any vocal issues I had had were because I was doing something wrong, right? Right.

Yes.

And the stigma that you feel from the outside, you can start to internalize that and feel it against yourself being like, God, if I only sang better, if my training, you know, was better, if I whatever, blah, blah, blah, blah.

But sometimes it's just the way your chords are built.

It's the way your chords are built.

And it's also, as Dr. Talika said on his episode, but it's the truth, high vocal load.

So like how much you are using your voice and the intensity or the loudness or the effort level in which you are using your voice.

And oftentimes that combination is really hard to avoid when you are a high level performer, especially on Broadway, eight times a week.

Yeah, and it goes back to what I mentioned about college when, you know, I was trying to enjoy college.

I would go to parties or whatever, but the next

thing, I

couldn't sing.

Not well.

Right, right.

And other people would just belt their faces off.

I had a similar experience.

It's really wild.

And it also makes you think even from that young of an age, like, well, clearly I'm doing something wrong.

Right.

Or maybe I'm not built for this, but everyone else, because everyone else seems to have a really short bounce back time, right?

Right.

And Itai, your story with company is similar.

It's not the same, but it's similar to what I experienced.

So I had scar tissue and singing with that scar tissue on a higher vocal load, I managed it for 10 years.

But what was happening that we didn't know until the very end, before I had a surgical intervention, which not everyone can have with that kind of diagnosis, is that that tough tissue on the vocal folds was creating pain.