Why does your voice go "urrhh ..when you want it to go "laahh"? Lorraine Bowen suggests you could stop mistreating it.

One of the main reasons singers find themselves with a sore throat after a gig or rehearsal is that they've used their neck like a piece of wet washing — squeezed it and rung it out until there's nothing left. The "do a gig and can't speak for a week" syndrome is so common among singers, but remember, once the voice is misused in this way, you become much more vulnerable to sore throats which could lead to more serious long-term problems.

If your throat does get in a really bad way, go to a singing teacher. It shouldn't cost a fortune for a short series of lessons just to get you on the right path, and a good, up-to-date teacher won't convert you into an opera singer (a popular myth), but should develop your original style and potential. Look out for vocal workshops at Community and Adult Education Centres. They can be extremely useful (and cheap!) for individuals and groups, encompassing singing technique with rhythm, pitch and harmony. Two London numbers to note are: Community Music (North London) (Contact Details) and Musicworks (South London) (Contact Details).

Meanwhile, like an athlete, ALWAYS warm up before you begin. Try stretching, rolling your neck and shrugging and relaxing your shoulders. Loosen the throat by yawning and then try drawing imaginary circles and figures of eight with your bottom jaw! Massage your face, rubbing round the lips, nose and forehead and then your 'instrument' will be ready for action.

Stand in front of the mirror and take a deep breath. If your shoulders and the upper part of your chest rise, then you're going to feel a lot of tension in the neck when you start singing. You can avoid this by "lowering" your breathing. This is a technique easily demonstrated in the following exercise.

Bending over from the waist (as if touching the toes) take a deep breath. Hold it there for a few seconds and then steadily let the breath out while returning to a standing position. A strange thing to do, but in this bent-over position, the lower lungs around your sides and back are forced to start working. Practise this, and you should start to feel this area expanding when you're breathing/singing upright.

Watch how you attack certain words, especially those beginning with vowels. Choose a comfortable note and sing the following: — "In, Or, Are, And". If these are taut and harsh sounding, then you're tugging at your neck to produce your voice. Try this exercise again, this time gently squeezing in the stomach at the beginning of each word. This is the start of "singing using the diaphragm". Use of this technique will soften the sound and help to relax your neck.

Developing the resonance of your voice is another healthy step to relieving tension in the throat. Try pouting your lips slightly and humming for about four beats. Feel the vibrations and pressure in the lips and nose, NOT in the neck. Humming like this is a great warming up exercise and helps you place your voice easily. A few minutes every day will certainly help you acquire a natural "ring" and you'll find your projection improves too.

So, watch out and take care! Bad sore throats and strained necks are a singer's nightmare. Vocal chords are extremely precious and irreplaceable, hardly like repairing a broken guitar, or buying a new one when the old one's worn out.