EAR, nose and throat surgeon Thomas Wilson is the man who saved Daniel O'Donnell for the nation - but he used his ears, not a scalpel, for Mr Wilson is also a voice teacher.
In a voice studio at the back of his south Dublin home, he listens for trouble for singers - and, indeed, speakers. Some have sore throats; some find their voice no longer lasts the night; some are worried their voice is failing with age; some just want to sing or speak better.
Surrounded by the keyboards he collects (a missionary's portable harmonica, a harpsicord, square pianos), models of parts of the throat, a painted cardboard cutout of a singer and other, less, easily identifiable necessities, Mr Wilson sits at his grand piano and listens to a catholic collection of country musicians, classical singers, rock stars, pub singers, choir members and actors.
Many prefer to keep their visits under wraps. Daniel, on the other hand, doesn't mind us knowing.
"His technique let him down - he knew he was singing badly - so he decided to go off the road for six months," Mr Wilson explains. Daniel came for a series of sessions, perfecting his technique. Now "he sings what he likes to sing, and he sings it extremely well, Mr Wilson says.
"He still comes occasionally, if he's been working particularly hard, but it hasn't happened for some time as he has his technique very well sorted out."
A singer who was to perform at the Point came to do a preshow warm up under Mr Wilson's supervision and he asked her to show him her warm up exercises - "she could have warmed up a bus!" he remembers. He helped her find a gentler way to warm up.
Recently he helped a tenor with a cold get through a run at the Dublin Grand Opera Society. And another time he worked with the cast of the play The Honey Spike at the Abbey.
"The only reason I am a voice teacher is that I have a good enough ear - I can tell when the voice is too tense or in the wrong place," Mr Wilson says. He has an impressive voice of his own and has sung in the chorus of the Wexford Opera. His natural talents he supplements with "Dr Speech Science", a computer programme which can track week to week changes in a voice and give him data for research and comparison.
And Mr Wilson's medical background gives him "the advantage of being able to look down somebody's throat and say you have to rest it or you can push it".
Classical singers, being trained, are more likely to have what Mr Wilson calls "a well supported instrument" - the voice, on top of which goes style, is particularly important in rock, or country where singers are striving for an individual And style can cause problems without a solid voice foundation.
"The country scene and the scene here is fascinating. There are hordes and hordes of people who want reassurance that what they are doing is not doing them damage - mainly 35 to 45 year olds. Singing sometimes becomes more difficult as you get older if your technique is not correct, and the strain can begin to show. By changing people's technique you can get back to being a better country singer."
IT'S NOT just singers who have voice problems. Speakers do too, and often they are people whose need outstrips their engine of performance" - people who don't relish making presentations or speeches, but who have to anyway. To help such sufferers Mr Wilson and Mr Paul Dillon, with the Irish Medical Organisation Training Centre, are setting up a service to be launched at the IMO Conference in Killarney this month which, as well as voice training, will teach acting skills, even presentation skills stretching to producing better slides - and for this, Mr Wilson will be using yet another artistic talent, for he paints in watercolours. Some of his work can be seen in a current exhibition at the Cill Rialaig Gallery in Dublin.