Al Fasol offers tips on protecting your voice in an article at the Lifeway website. He notes, “A few minutes of exercise per day will preserve, protect and give the preacher the maximum potential of his individual voice quality. The various kinds of breathing and vocal exercises are too numerous to list. Those who play brass or reed instruments are already familiar with the diaphragm and how it works. For those of us not so musically gifted, a simple counting exercise will suffice.
“Stand straight, and on one breath, count from one to 10. Start with a little less volume than you would use in ordinary conversation. Increase the volume but not the pitch as you move from one number to the next. Pace yourself so that you are as loud as you can be by the number 10. At no time during the exercise should you put any pressure on the vocal cords.
“If you feel vocal strain, stop. It may take a few practice sessions before you can attain the count of 10. Do not be discouraged; any physical exercise requires developmental time.” (Click here to read the full article.)