Rest Is Part of the Work

By Rita Gigliotti

Edited by Danielle Bissonnette

When one of my students called me from the streets of Pittsburgh before her mock college audition at the Pittsburgh Unified Auditions, her voice was trembling. “Can you ground me before I go in?” she asked.

She didn’t need a pep talk. She needed calm. Her body, and her voice, were both in survival mode. Performance, whether for a mock audition or an opening show, often evokes fight-or-flight senses. That moment has stayed with me. It reminds me how deeply our instincts, emotional state, and vocal health are intertwined.

For so many young performing artists, the expectation is to push through. To sing when tired. To rehearse when strained. To perform when anxious. Somewhere along the way, we started to equate overuse with dedication.

But it’s not. It’s a recipe for burnout.

The Hidden Burnout of Young Singers

Too often in the performing arts, burnout begins early. Students rush from school choir to musical rehearsal to private lessons. This culture of constant output doesn’t just tire students out, it conditions them to ignore their bodies’ signals. They learn that vocal strain is not good, but often inevitable, that hoarseness is a reflection that “you worked hard,” and that rest is something you earn after performing, rather than a vital part of the process.

But the voice is a living instrument. The voice is made of tissue and muscle. And just like athletes need recovery days for their muscles, singers need recovery time, too. Overuse of the voice can lead to vocal fatigue and inflammation. In more serious cases, it can lead to vocal nodes - small callouses on the vocal folds that require therapy or even surgery to resolve. This condition is far more common than people realize. But they don’t mean a singer is “broken.” They mean the body is asking for care.

Why Vocal Care Is an Act of Professionalism

One of the biggest misconceptions about health is that rest means weakness. But more and more of us, including the medical field as a whole, continues to challenge this, and reimagine the power of rest. It's no different in the performing arts.

For example, professional singers build rest into their schedules. They hydrate intentionally, warm up and cool down consistently, and monitor their physical and emotional stress. The most skilled performers - think Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber - know how to pace themselves, honor their bodies, and communicate their needs clearly to directors and peers.

This is why I created my Finding Calm in the Chaos workshop series for the Pre-Professional students at Melodia Studio, my private voice studio serving Northern Virginia and the Greater Washington DC area. I wanted my students to experience this firsthand. The workshops’ lessons were not just through lectures, but through active breathing, movement, and awareness. The focus was to shift the goal from perfection to regulation. 

Because if we’re constantly pushing through chaos, we teach our bodies that tension is normal. True artistry begins when calm becomes the baseline.

Reframing the Conversation

If we want to change this culture of overuse, we have to normalize talking about vocal health openly. It’s not a taboo subject or a sign of failure, but as a shared responsibility between young performing artists, parents, teachers, directors, and coaches.

Parents can ask their children how their voices feel, not just how their performances went. Teachers can model self-care by taking vocal breaks and encouraging hydration. Students can learn that hoarseness isn’t something to hide, but something to address early.

Rest, recovery, and respect for the body are the habits that create longevity in both art and life.

From Achievement to Well-Being

My work at Melodia Studio is grounded in one belief: The voice is both an instrument of sound and connection. When we neglect it, we lose more than notes; we lose access to our most authentic artistry.

The voice isn’t something you push; it’s something you nurture. It’s not a badge of endurance but a reflection of balance. Normalizing vocal care means teaching the next generation that rest is not the opposite of work. It’s part of it.