Are Air Conditioners Detrimental to Aspiring Singers?

You are at a concert. It's one of your favorite bands or singers and they are really rocking the house. The whole crowd is swaying to the music. But you just cannot get into it. It is too hot in there to concentrate.

You try to figure out the reason why. Maybe all the body heat in the room is overpowering the air conditioning. Maybe you are just really excited and your body is reacting by overheating. Maybe the air conditioning is broken. Would you ever believe that the swampy misery you are suffering through is at the request of the band or singer you love so much?

It's shocking but true. There is an alarming trend among singers. They are afraid of air conditioning. Madonna requests minimal to no air conditioning in the venues she performs at. If the air conditioning is too cool for her taste, she will call out for management to turn it off. It has been known to get up to 87 degrees inside the venue by the end of the concert.

Other singers have followed suit. Aretha Franklin is also scared of cooling. She gets quite upset and leaves if air conditioning is on. She thinks coolant will destroy her voice. Celine Dion had a highly controlled temperature/humidity performance bubble built for her at Caesar's Palace. At the front of the stage there is enhanced ventilation and humidity, which are great conditions for singers. Alanis Morisette will not even walk into a room that has air conditioning. She believes that they are the cause of illness.

Mariah Carey has a twist onto her fears of air conditions affecting her voice. To protect her precious vocals, she sleeps in a steam room. She has twenty humidifiers surrounding her bed. Her bed is covered with terry cloth and the ceiling is angled so that water won't fall on her. Her television is behind glass to prevent water damage.

Are these singers just being fussy, or is there validity to their fears? Air conditioning can cause vocal problems. It can aggravate dust allergies and alter the humidity level of a room. Cold dry air can dry out your throat, causing you to be hoarse. Also, you can become more sensitive to temperature difference when entering or departing the cold air, making chills and colds easier to be caught and also potentially upsetting your system including your skin.

Some ways to preserve your voice in the face of air conditioning are:

-Drink extra filtered or spring water during the hours of exposure.

-Moisten vocal cords with steam or an atomizer.

-Don't use cough drops, tea with lemon and honey is better.

-Keep your throat warm with a high-necked sweater, shirt, coat or scarf.

-Keep your immune system strong with vitamin supplements.

So the next time your concert is sweltering, you shouldn't complain. It may be the thing that keeps your favorite act sounding great. Maybe you should avoid air conditioning is you are striving to be a singer too. If you do, you could be the next one selling out arenas. Or at least the next contestant on American Idol.