Singers are not apt to take much exercise. For this reason they should be careful in their diet. They should avoid beef, lamb and mutton. The white meat of fowl is the best meat diet for the vocalist.
Milk, eggs, toasted bread, string beans, spinach, lettuce, rice and barley are excellent. Potatoes should be mashed, with milk and butter. Fruit is better taken stewed and with little sugar. Ice cream clears the voice for about twenty minutes, but the reaction is bad.
Regarding tea and coffee, inasmuch as a singer is not a cat on a back fence, but a human being, there is no reason why he should not be permitted to follow the social law in respect to these, provided he is not a sufferer from indigestion. In fact, there are times when a cup of coffee taken at the right moment will carry a singer, tired from travel or other cause, over a crisis. There can be no harm in a cup of coffee (Java and Mocha mixed), a cup of Phillip's Digestible cocoa, or a cup of tea (Oolong or Tetley's Ceylon) for the singer who is in good condition.
I always have held that a singer could drink a small quantity of alcohol—claret, for example—if he takes with it enough lithia or other alkaline water to counteract the acid in the wine. Smoking, however, is very injurious. A famous tenor of to-day whispered during a performance in the Metropolitan Opera House to the prima donna in the cast, "I smoked too many cigarettes yesterday; I feel
it in my voice." Myron W. Whitney always left off smoking for two weeks before the Worcester Festival.
For travel the singer should be prepared for atmospheric changes as no one else in the world. He should be especially cautious at night. A singer who filled an engagement in Savannah started from there for the North at night. He had been in perfect voice. As the night was warm he left one of the windows of his berth open. At Washington he woke up with cold. It was snowing, and snow had come in through the open window on to his berth. His nose was "stuffed." He had no voice when he reached New York. This was due to the sudden intensification of all the things that belong to a cold. If he had worn a dressing-gown with a hood—not necessarily a heavy one—that would have saved him. A garment of that kind should be worn by singers at night when traveling. They can regulate the bed-covering accordingly, so as not to be too warm.
Clothing should give correct aeration for the season. Silk underclothing I regard as dangerous, because silk is a non-conductor. Good Lisle thread or flannel giving proper aeration is excellent. No one should be more careful about their clothing than New
Yorkers, because of the sudden changes in temperature there. Stiff, high collars are injurious, because they are irritants to blood-vessels and nerves and are non-conductors. Collars should be worn from a quarter to half an inch away from the skin, for the less the Adam's apple—the highest forward point of the larynx—is irritated, the better.
There are certain periods of the year and even one special day when singers should especially look out for their voices. From January 15th-20th is the period of January thaw and of colds from melting snow. From March 19th-25th the earth is beginning to ferment and this is a period for spring fever and intestinal troubles, which indirectly affect the voice. May 9th usually is cold and rainy. The latter part of May and nearly all June, rose cold or June cold is prevalent. About August 1st come the dog days and hay fever. In fact, from August 1st until the autumnal equinox is an anxious time for the singer. From November 11th-25th there is apt to be alternate cold and warm weather conducive to asthma.
With the singer, more even than with any one else, the ounce of prevention is the pound of cure. The first sneeze should send the singer to his physician;