WHAT AND HOW TO PRACTICE
Be open to mixing up your warm-up and practice routine depending on how your voice feels on any given day: some days you might need extra breath work, others you might need more resonance or vowel placement work, some days you may need to spend more time with warm-ups than others. Listen to your voice and body, and do what's best for you and the demands of your repertoire. I recommend using the Targeted Practice approach, outlined below, and having a routine that touches on each of Warm-Ups, Exercises, Isolated/Targeted Focus, and Repertoire Work.
PRACTICE EVERY DAY (shoot for that, a least :)
Depending on your skill level and discussions with your teacher, shoot for 20-60 minutes of practice every day. However, any practice, even 5 minutes, is better than nothing! (Example: 5 minutes of warm-ups, 5-15 minutes of technical exercises, and 15-30 minutes of repertoire work).
Depending on your skill level and discussions with your teacher, shoot for 20-60 minutes of practice every day. However, any practice, even 5 minutes, is better than nothing! (Example: 5 minutes of warm-ups, 5-15 minutes of technical exercises, and 15-30 minutes of repertoire work).
TArgeted PractiCe
1) SET THE TARGET
Pick something you can focus on, ideally as specific a focus as possible. For example, “sounding good” involves myriad variables, but “tongue position” limits those variables to one organ. Now choose a task, i.e. saying [i], [ɛ], [a], to notice how the tongue moves from vowel to vowel and to understand how tongue position impacts vocalizing.
2) DO THE EXPERIMENT
Do the experiment - at first just observing your go-to habits – i.e. speak [i], [ɛ], [a] ("ee, eh, ah").
3) ASSES THE RESULTS
As you do the experiment, pay attention to what you notice. Most people, when speaking [i], [ɛ], [a], feel the tongue start high and forward in the mouth on [i], then drop slightly on [ɛ], and then feel more open and slightly more back on [a]. You may feel other things as well. Take mental or written note of your observations.
4) REPEAT
Do the experiment again. Make and notice one or two small adjustments (i.e. Can you release tension from your tongue? Does this change the ease of tone production? Does this change how the air feels moving over the tongue?) Perhaps on one of the repetitions, pay attention to the unique timbral qualities of each vowel, and on another repetition focus on how much your tongue needs to move from vowel shape to vowel shape . . . Repetition is key: it helps the body habituate a process so that you don’t have to employ your conscious mind in the future - freeing it to focus on other tasks like expression, nuance, acting, staging, etc...
5) KEEP THE REASONS BEHIND THE TECHNIQUE IN MIND
Knowing why you want to make adjustments (i.e. having an even vibrato, or brighter AH vowel), will help guide you as you set up new targets and will help clarify the reasons behind the vocal technique. The ultimate goal is that the vocalist has an understanding of how physical adjustments and sound interrelate, and that they habituate these targeted adjustments and in-the-moment technical fine-tuning.
KEY ELEMENTS
Target Practice works through repetition.
Target practice requires that we execute the same target multiple times. Repetition leads to habituation and consistency.
NOTICING WITHOUT JUDGMENT
Replace terms like good and bad with on-target and off-target. Learn to self-diagnose the voice without judgement in order to embrace constant observation and adjustment.
ISOLATION
Target Practice works best when we can narrow our focus to one focal point at a time, and then put it back together into the whole.
CONTRAST
Once you have repeated a new sensation to the point of feeling it beginning to lock in, do it again in the “old habit” way or alongside a different sound or sensation in order to notice the difference. Contrast provides one of the clearest tools for understanding. Contrast also alerts us to the reality that we don’t have to “unlearn” old habits, we simply need to start new ones, and allow the body to notice the difference.
Pick something you can focus on, ideally as specific a focus as possible. For example, “sounding good” involves myriad variables, but “tongue position” limits those variables to one organ. Now choose a task, i.e. saying [i], [ɛ], [a], to notice how the tongue moves from vowel to vowel and to understand how tongue position impacts vocalizing.
2) DO THE EXPERIMENT
Do the experiment - at first just observing your go-to habits – i.e. speak [i], [ɛ], [a] ("ee, eh, ah").
3) ASSES THE RESULTS
As you do the experiment, pay attention to what you notice. Most people, when speaking [i], [ɛ], [a], feel the tongue start high and forward in the mouth on [i], then drop slightly on [ɛ], and then feel more open and slightly more back on [a]. You may feel other things as well. Take mental or written note of your observations.
4) REPEAT
Do the experiment again. Make and notice one or two small adjustments (i.e. Can you release tension from your tongue? Does this change the ease of tone production? Does this change how the air feels moving over the tongue?) Perhaps on one of the repetitions, pay attention to the unique timbral qualities of each vowel, and on another repetition focus on how much your tongue needs to move from vowel shape to vowel shape . . . Repetition is key: it helps the body habituate a process so that you don’t have to employ your conscious mind in the future - freeing it to focus on other tasks like expression, nuance, acting, staging, etc...
5) KEEP THE REASONS BEHIND THE TECHNIQUE IN MIND
Knowing why you want to make adjustments (i.e. having an even vibrato, or brighter AH vowel), will help guide you as you set up new targets and will help clarify the reasons behind the vocal technique. The ultimate goal is that the vocalist has an understanding of how physical adjustments and sound interrelate, and that they habituate these targeted adjustments and in-the-moment technical fine-tuning.
KEY ELEMENTS
Target Practice works through repetition.
Target practice requires that we execute the same target multiple times. Repetition leads to habituation and consistency.
NOTICING WITHOUT JUDGMENT
Replace terms like good and bad with on-target and off-target. Learn to self-diagnose the voice without judgement in order to embrace constant observation and adjustment.
ISOLATION
Target Practice works best when we can narrow our focus to one focal point at a time, and then put it back together into the whole.
CONTRAST
Once you have repeated a new sensation to the point of feeling it beginning to lock in, do it again in the “old habit” way or alongside a different sound or sensation in order to notice the difference. Contrast provides one of the clearest tools for understanding. Contrast also alerts us to the reality that we don’t have to “unlearn” old habits, we simply need to start new ones, and allow the body to notice the difference.
PractiCe Routine
- WARM UP: Begin with gentle stretching, humming, sliding, and breathing exercises (+/- 5 minutes)
- WORK OUT: Sing exercises up and down your range. Start in your middle/comfortable range then move up and down. (+/- 15 minutes)
- ISOLATE: Focus on each of the following individually while you sing your regular exercises or create your own to TARGET specific problems:
- Tension Reduction: Identify and reduce unwanted strain, unnecessary effort, and inefficiencies.
- Respiration: Breath control and support.
- Phonation: Onset, coordinating breath and sound, back pressure.
- Resonance: Mouth and throat cavity shape, sympathetic vibrations, placement, back pressure.
- Registers: Strengthening each register individually and creating a cohesive sound between high, middle, and low registers.
- Range: Anticipating pressure adjustments between high and low range. Accessing high and low notes without strain.
- Agility: Accessing any pitch within your range with ease and precision; balancing and blending registers shifts with intention; tension free vocal production at fast and slow tempos.
- Coordination: Putting all of the above together. Articulation (accents, tenuto, staccato, etc...), moving nimbly between the extremes of your range, dynamics (loud / soft), extended phrases, coloratura, musicality, and expression!
- REPERTOIRE: Apply your technique to your songs!
- ISOLATE: Focus on each of the following individually while you sing your regular exercises or create your own to TARGET specific problems:
practice every day
- Practicing every day will keep your voice and body in shape and allow you to build and maintain muscle memory.
- Stop practicing before your voice gets tired!
- Take breaks. Keep hydrated.
- Remember that learning to sing is a slow, ongoing process. Our voices and bodies change with age, and day to day - weather, hormones, stress, sleep, allergies, all affect our instrument.
- Process not Product! The process of exploring, improving, and expressing yourself should be the goal, not a final product of an ideal voice.
REPERTOIRE WORK
- WARM UP: Always begin with warming up.
- ISOLATE: Isolate each part of the music. When first learning a song, practice the elements of the piece separately until each is comfortable before combining them together: clap the rhythm, speak the text, speak the text in rhythm, sing each phrase of the melody on a single syllable or just the vowel line. Once the song is learned, this step can be skipped.
- RESEARCH: What is the song about? Translate the text if necessary. Do a word-for-word translation for songs in a foreign language. What is the narrative? The mood? What are you trying to convey as the storyteller?
- LISTEN: Listen or/or watch multiple recordings to be inspired and see the range of interpretation.
- VOWEL LINE: Know what vowels to sing on. Write them above the words (Use IPA or your own symbols). Practice singing the melody on vowels only. Add the consonants without disrupting the continuity of the vowel line.
- MUSICALITY: Add in dynamics, accents, articulations (legato, staccato, etc...), emotion, nuances, etc . . .
- INTERPRETATION: Make the song your own. Be committed to your interpretation of the text. We are storytellers! This is the fun part!
memorizing lyrics
If the song is in another language, do a word for word translation. Figure out which words need emphasis. Listen to a native speaker sing the piece while looking at the words. Note their phrasing and pronunciation.
- Know what you’re saying. Translate the text. Even if the song is in your native language, know what you're singing about - from the general mood to the meaning of each word.
- Speak the text in rhythm with your phrasing/breathing/text comprehension until all rhythm and words feel comfortable.
- Memorize phrase by phrase. Write the words out by hand while singing in your head.
- Take the sheet music away - how much can you remember?
- Repeat.