As a singer, how can I protect my voice

�A.� The problem with the environment in which pop and rock�is delivered is that it includes just about everything that's bad for the human voice.

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Q.� That doesn't sound too good!

A.� It isn't! Cigarette smoke, other peoples' obviously, because as a vocalist you don't smoke (!) is bad for your lungs and throat, as is the dry air you find in clubs and concert halls. Some singers, such as Sting, perform with a humidifier next to them on stage, it may look affected, but when your voice makes you the fortune Sting has got in the bank, it's a matter of looking after the tool of your trade, not bothering whether people think you're some kind of effete poseur.

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Drinking alcohol, a bad diet, lack of sleep, all the elements of the travelling musician's life can all play havoc with your voice, so you need to put certain regimes in place to ensure the damage is kept to a minimum.

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Q.� Better run down those regimes then please.

A.� Right, your voice needs proper care and attention. If you were an athlete, you'd consider warming up exercises before training or performing in an event to be mandatory, the same applies to your voice. You might not imagine that Robert Plant or Celine Dion do any warm-up exercises for their voices, but they do, having learned that belting out a two hour show with an un-pampered set of vocal chords is a recipe for cancelled concerts and possibly even surgery on vocal cord nodes�- that's fibrous tissue which builds up on vocal cords subjected to prolonged ill-treatment.

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Avoid food or drinks that affect your voice�- milk is bad for you, it over-stimulates mucus glands in your throat and can affect your voice. Drink plenty of water, during the day, as well as on stage. You may not want to look too precious with a humidifier on stage (Sting is a super-star so he can get away with it!) but you should seriously consider investing in one for your home, especially in the winter when the central heating dries the air. Take plenty of exercise, a healthy voice likes a healthy body, so try to stay fit. Can you see Mick Jagger doing all that running and singing without a fitness regime Hardly. Ignore Keith Richards' own particular 'fitness'�regime, Keith is a one-off, and should not be used as an example of taking care of yourself the correct rock and roll way.

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Q.� It sounds like I need to be a perfect physical specimen!

A.� As near as you can get is ideal, as strange as that may sound. Even aspects you wouldn't think of immediately, such as posture, can affect the way you sound. Stand up straight, breathe deeply, and if you're a costume-wearer, avoid the high heels, they throw your body out of shape, and that affects your voice as well.

Q.� My school music teacher always used to shout 'From the diaphragm!' and I never knew what she meant, can you explain

A.� Any music teacher will tell you about the diaphragm, it's a vital part of vocal technique. As babies, or sleeping adults, we breathy naturally, using the diaphragm, but modern life-styles give us stress, which makes us breathe in short shallow gasps. Maybe you don't notice that in your everyday life, but as a singer, it will soon have an effect on you.

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Singers have to train themselves to breathe properly, and use the diaphragm to push the breath out when singing. Mick Hucknall from Simply Red learned his vocal technique from an actor's voice projection coaching book. He realised that although he was fairly skinny, he had a well-developed diaphragm, and once he learned to use it properly, the strain on his voice from singing night after night disappeared, and he could sing pure notes for as along as he needed. Try breathing with your hand on your stomach, pushing your stomach out�- that's using your diaphragm, and it's not easy to do at first. If you can afford it, invest in some professional singing lessons to get proper training in this technique until you can do it naturally.

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Vocal training is ideal if you can manage to get a course of lessons, go for it. A lot of pop and rock singers have had professional coaching to help them develop and maintain a good singing voice, with good vocal technique. Want to hit those high notes every time Train your voice, it's worth it.

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Q.� Anything else I need to know

A.� Make sure you can hear yourself on stage�- either get a good set of monitors, or use the 'in-ear' monitors that most musicians use these days. If you can't hear yourself against the background, it's an instinctive reaction to raise your voice until you hear yourself clearly. If you want a demonstration, listen to anyone using a mobile phone�- they shout because they subconsciously want to hear themselves over the background noise around them hence the ludicrous shouting that the rest of us find so annoying.

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As a singer, straining to hear yourself strains your voice.�Let the amplification do the work, you project properly, and get your vocal sound mixed well, and you'll be ok. Speaking of phones, try to rest your voice on days when you have a show, you can catch up with everyone afterwards, but on show days, keep speech to a minimum, again some major stars don't speak at all on show days. Sounds posey, but for the money they make, a little inconvenience to keep the show on the road seems worth a few raised eyebrows!

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