[Harp-L] Voice problem

[Steve Shriver <steveshriver@xxxxxxx>]

Has anyone ever experienced (or heard of) vocal problems due to harp
playing? I have been playing harp for a long time (I¹m 50), but over the
last couple years I stepped it up considerably, singing and playing with a
band on a regular basis, and taking lessons from Carlos del Junco. Since
about last December, I have had increasing difficulty with my speaking
voice, which feels not so much hoarse as strained, like I need to use a lot
of muscle power to get the sound out. My (so called) friends tell me I sound
kind of like a Muppet, though to me I sound more like Patrick the Starfish
from Sponge Bob Squarepants. I make light of it, but it¹s actually pretty
uncomfortable. 
I spoke to a vocal coach, who said I should see an ear, nose, throat doctor
to rule out nodes, etc. which I did. He stuck the tube down my throat and
looked at my cords, said they looked inflamed but otherwise healthy, and
prescribed an anti-acid reflux med, which I took for a month. Didn¹t seem to
have any effect other than setting me back a few hundred dollars. I haven¹t
totally ruled out the acid reflux thing, but I¹m not sure what else to do
about it at this point.
I try to practice good vocal technique- breathing, singing from the
diaphragm, etc, though I do sing loud and our material includes a lot of
pretty raspy blues rock stuff.  I had a period of about two months where the
band wasn¹t playing, and I wasn¹t singing much then, and that didn¹t seem to
improve the condition.
So I¹m wondering if there¹s a possibility that my harp playing, specifically
choking and throat vibrato, might be affecting my vocal cords in a negative
way. Has anyone ever heard of this??

-- Steve