I should like to begin by answering a letter!

Dear Tona, I read your feature in IM&RW which I found very interesting. My problem is that every time I get a sore throat and a cold I find it difficult to practise with my band. Consequently I don't practise for a week and my vocal chords take a step backwards! It then takes me a few weeks to get back on the upward track again. Is there any way that I can exercise my voice, without straining it, when I have a cold? Yours, Martyn McFadden.

Well Martin, the first thing to do is to try to avoid catching cold! This may sound silly but it is possible to a certain extent. Dress warmly, eat an orange a day or take Vitamin C pills (Redoxon is good). If you feel a cold coming on, drink plenty of hot drinks, avoid milky ones, as milk tends to clog the tubes a bit. Hot blackcurrant, hot lemon and honey or lemon tea. Go to bed early and give your body a chance to fight the bug off!

Don't practise when you have a bad cold, you'll only strain the chords. If you were a runner with a sprained ankle you wouldn't run until it was better. When you are getting better, start with deep breathing exercises and gradually begin to use the voice. Don't launch into songs with high passages, warm up gradually with vocal exercises before getting to work with the band. Rehearse in a smoke-free atmosphere too. Make it a rule that no-one smokes except during coffee breaks if they must!

Once you have a secure vocal technique you will find that an occasional rest, whether enforced, or by choice, will do you no harm whatsoever!

I should also have told Martyn that when his technique is really reliable he will be able to rehearse through most ordinary colds; only a throat infection need stop him!

Martyn's letter is particularly relevant at this time of the year when many people are suffering from colds and 'flu, and when one's resistance to infection is low. I'm sure that singers living in warmer climates must have healthy throats!

The main problem with trying to work through a cold is that one doesn't honestly feel like singing. It is hard work drawing the breath in and finding the energy to give the sound the necessary muscular support and it is then, when the diaphragm doesn't want to expand, and the lower abdominal muscles go on strike, that the throat takes the strain! So, honestly, you'll progress more quickly if you relax and concentrate on getting better rather than struggling on regardless!

I remember advising a very well-known and talented singer to rest completely for several weeks. Her throat was almost closed up inside, and she could hardly speak, let alone sing. But she felt she had to struggle on and really suffered badly over a very long period. I am absolutely certain that she could have avoided all her traumas if she had cancelled all her engagements and gone on holiday for a fortnight. There is always tomorrow, and if your public really loves you, they won't forget you!

I think the time has come for some revision. Let us go back to square one and consider deep breathing. My favourite bending and stretching exercise makes one feel good. Stand with your legs apart and bend over so that your finger-tips touch the floor. Breathe in through your nose lifting your body a little way, breathe out through the mouth and relax down. Do this again, breathing in a little more deeply and flop down again. Now stand up slowly and lift your arms high above your head, breathing in all the time. Stretch high before letting the breath out and bending over again. Do this several times.

Any exercise that increases the capacity and elasticity of the lungs is valuable. Remember to do the panting exercise too, it will strengthen the diaphragm.

Now let me remind you of one or two vocal exercises. The 'quickie', starting at the top of the scale using 'va-va's and 'vi-vi's, with the upward scale sung staccato (ie each note punched from the diaphragm) on an 'aa' vowel. Keep your throat wide open, remember to breathe in on an open 'Ah', or think of a yawn shape. Keep the tongue flat too.

Next the long slow downward scale on the vowels 'oo-i-ah'. Be sure that you begin each note exactly in tune, no slidings or scoopings! Crescendo slowly and gradually through 'oo' and 'ih', so that you are making a good lull sound by the time you get to 'ah'. Remember that continual pressure from the lower abdominal muscles is the secret of a controlled, unwavering tone. Relax the pressure as you finish the 'ah', breathe deeply and silently and sing the next degree of the scale.

If I were warming up for 10 minutes or so, I would then sing an arpeggio exercise on 'vas' and 'vis'. I would vary the amount of arpeggios to be sung in one breath. Three times up and down to begin with. Then five times and maybe even seven times round if I were feeling energetic! And of course each group of arpeggios should be sung a semitone higher than the last. Having sung these three exercises you will be vocally 'loosened up'.

Now sing a few word phrases starting with 'Bella Signora' and really make the windows rattle with the power and length of that top note. I chose Italian words because the vowels are all pure and open, no diphthongs, and it is somehow easier to over-act on such an operatic phrase! One of my students told me that people stopped in the street to listen when he was singing this exercise in his front room! Enjoy singing, and other people enjoy it too!

Here are two more word-phrases. Sing them anywhere in your range. Remember to open your mouth and throat when you are singing high phrases. Each sentence is sung in one breath, unless I have indicated a breathing place thus: 'V'. More exercises on words next month when I also hope to answer more of your letters.