Host: How should a singer deal with a cold?
Jennifer Rutherford: It's every singer’s worst nightmare to get a cold just before you have an audition. Well, there are some certain products around that have zinc in them that are quite good. I personally use Zicam but there are many other zinc-based products that you could use.
I try to avoid crowds in the days leading up to an audition because I don't want to come in contact with those germs, and I try and avoid touching my face, putting my hands to my face. You can even get a cold bug in your eye if you rub your eye. So you have to be careful not to make yourself sick. Just don't put yourself in those situations if possible. But if you happen to get a little cold, assuming it is not horribly bad, you can try those products with zinc in them.
Like I mentioned, you can also drink plenty of water. Maybe put a little wedge of lemon in a giant bottle of water, one of those 32 fluid ounce bottles of water. And I’ve sung a whole performance with laryngitis with just drinking plenty of water and steaming myself, if you have the opportunity to bring a steamer. It’s not always going to be something that you can plug in anywhere at an audition. But steaming and really keeping the vocal chords hydrated is really a key because colds are drying out your system. That's what they are doing. They’re pulling that water out of your system and that's how come you have all this excess fluid coming out of you. So you need to put it back in.