I sang in a barbershop quartet, and in the high school chorus.  The music teacher took a special interest in the four of us that were in the quartet and gave us some extra singing instruction after school.  That was the end of anything that could have been called my "formal training".  That was 45 years ago.

A number of years ago I was asked to join the church choir.  I was thrilled.  Many people say I have a pretty good voice, so I guess I do.  We have a Psalm as part of our service each Sunday.  Our church music director decided some time ago to chant the Psalm, as opposed to just reading it.  We used to trade the chanting of the Psalm from person to person in the choir, until, at one point, I was asked to sing the Psalm every Sunday.  I was honored to do this.  So, now I am the "Lone Cantor".  I consider this to be a great honor.  The chant for the Psalm is a simple eight note progression that repeats every two versus.

Our choir does not meet on a regular basis for rehearsals during the summer months.  Instead, our music director has some of us do solos, or small group hymns, as anthems during this time.

Here is the question: last Sunday I was scheduled to chant the Psalm, as usual, and also sing "the Lord's Prayer" by Malotte as a solo.  This is not a difficult piece, and can be done with power and grace.  The music director and I practiced it before the service started.  It went very well.  Towards the beginning of the service I chanted the Psalm.  Towards the end of this, I noticed that my voice was doing that squeaking and croaking thing.  I forced myself to get to the end.  The solo started well, but as we passed the middle, and approached the end I could again hear my voice croaking.  I had to strive mightily to make it to the finish.  This was extremely embarrassing for me, because this doesn't usually happen.  I have sung solos in church before, and while they haven't been world-class, they have at least been pretty decent.  It was a relatively hot, and extremely humid Sunday.  Our church doesn't have A/C.  What should I have done to prevent this voice problem?

My son-in-law used to play guitar in a rock 'n roll band.  I mentioned my problem to him and he said that the lead singer used to gargle with some mixture of honey or something before each performance so that he could scream his way to the end without losing his voice.  Is there something that I could treat my throat with that would help prevent this croaking?  I am willing to take a few voice lessons if I could find someone who I considered to be reasonably competent to help me.  I'm not looking to be a professional singer, just do a better job on Sundays.  Is this worth doing?  Any other suggestions?

Thank you in advance for your help.