Transcending the imperfect

In an earlier blog this semester, I quoted Claudia Friedlander's recent book Complete Vocal Fitness. Even though much of that book deals with anatomy, physiology, and biomechanics, there are also some important words related to performance that I think pertain particularly well to our upcoming end-of-semester juries and class finals:

"[...] the voice never lies—everything you are thinking and feeling will come through in your singing. If you fully immerse yourself in the experiences and emotions of the character you are embodying, you will communicate them incisively to your listeners; likewise, if you become consumed with a need to micromanage your technique or wrestle with stage fright, those activities will color your performance, because the voice is physiologically wired to respond to and communicate all your thoughts and feelings in real time." (p.78)

It may be a little daunting to see it spelled out this way but it makes sense that if our mental and emotional energies are focused on something other than the character of our songs, that focus will be reflected in our performances. Of course, technique is a crucial part of the creative process. But, ideally, that is not what we want to be thinking about when we are performing. It's ironic, then, that singing without thinking about technique is something we have to practice.

Friedlander goes on to explain why our focus should not be on technique when we perform:

"The more vulnerable, passionate, and sincere your intentions, the more impactful your singing will be. A singer with a flawed technique can deliver a compelling performance because dramatic and musical commitment sometimes transcends imperfect coordination. Yet a singer who has little to say can deliver an impeccable performance but leave listeners cold, because virtuosity for its own sake cannot compare with raw passion." (p.78)

Once again (for the people in the back), dramatic and musical commitment transcends imperfect coordination. This is not an excuse to neglect your technical development—we still have to do all we can in that area. But we have to remember that audiences are moved more by the communication of ideas than by flawless technique.

I sometimes ask students not to perform in a way that forces me to focus on their voices. By simply telling a story through the unique medium of your voice, you are offering audiences something that no one else can.

Thanks for a great semester. Keep working and let's finish strong!

Now go practice.

A resume of failures

There was a recent thread on one of the voice teacher Facebook groups I follow that caught my attention. One of the moderators posted about how most successful performers often only achieve success after a series of failures and rejections. But we usually aren't aware of this because we only know them because of their successes. He then asked if any of us would be willing to share some of the failures we've encountered over the years.

He offered his own experiences first by describing disastrous auditions, being rejected by agents, not getting re-hired by companies he had previously performed for, and on and on. He is currently a voice teacher at a leading U.S. conservatory after having an international singing career, but he still has a long litany of failures that occurred before, during, and after his successes.

Another person in the group posted about how difficult it was to stay afloat financially when she was trying to start her career, considering how much money she was spending on voice lessons, coachings, audition wear, headshots, etc. She said she went on so many auditions "[...] in which the only positive was that my backpack was lighter due to emptying my wallet." She later went on to an 18-year career singing at the Metropolitan Opera and is now a voice professor at a major university in the Midwest.

Lots of others were jumping in with their own lists of failures, so I posted as well.

Ever since I was a freshman in high school, I knew that I wanted to have a career that involved singing and teaching music. When I was in college, I realized that my dream was to teach voice at the university level. After lots of years of twists and turns, I finally felt ready to start applying for college teaching positions.

I had to go back and count but, as it turns out, I applied for more than 100 university positions over the years. I was named a finalist for ten of those jobs. This means I made it past the resume rounds, made it past the phone interviews, and was invited to campus for interviews, recitals, and teaching demonstrations. These 10 interviews resulted in exactly ZERO job offers. In a few cases they hired an internal candidate who was already teaching at the school. In at least one case, they canceled the search due to the funding being pulled. In two other cases, they didn’t hire any of the finalists and reopened the searches.

The set of circumstances that eventually led to the job I have now was circuitous, to say the least, but that's a story for another blog. :) Suffice it to say, it took a long time, but I come to work everyday knowing that I'm doing something I've wanted to do since I was 14 years old.

It’s funny that whenever any of us achieve any degree of success there is an unspoken rule that we are supposed to hide all of our previous failures. I’ve never understood that. I think it's really important that we talk about our failures without shame or fear since they are an inevitable part of this business. 

Of course, each of my own rejections was difficult to take at the time (ranging from upsetting to devastating). But I know that each of those experiences led me to the work I am doing now in the place where I am doing it.

And I'm pretty happy with that!

How has your singing been? How has failure impacted your journey?

Now go practice.

How much anatomy/physiology do I really need to know?

Last spring I was invited to participate in the Voice Pedagogy Summit hosted by the University of Southern California. The gathering of 40 voice teachers from across the country had the primary purpose of answering the question, “What should a responsible voice teacher be teaching in a scientific age?"

Participants in the USC Voice Pedagogy Summit

As you might imagine from a meeting of this many nerds, we had lots of inspiring, in-depth discussions that took up the better part of two days. We're working now to formulate our ideas into a voice pedagogy position paper that will attempt to outline the ultimate voice curriculum by identifying "best practices."

As academics, of course, we want to know as much as possible about how the voice works. But as voice teachers, the question that comes up again and again is, "How much of this information do singers really need to have?" For example, if we can't even see or feel our cricothyroid muscles, do singers really need to know what they do? One of the summit participants talked about his colleague whose students often achieve great success as performers even though, as their teacher, he claims not to know the difference between an arytenoid and a hemorrhoid. 

In my view, the voice teacher's job is to know what efficient vocal production looks and sounds like in order to offer students directions and exercises that will lead to more effective singing. In that regard, every exercise we choose should have a specific purpose. Sometimes I call students' attention to the purpose of an exercise to help them better understand the process. But other times I don't, because I don't want students to start focusing on muscle groups that they can't feel or directly control. Instead, I just want them to focus on doing the exercise with freedom and efficiency, knowing that it will achieve its purpose whether the student is aware of it or not.

In the same way, when you go to the gym, you don't need to think about how muscle fibers work when you're doing bicep curls. If you just focus on doing the curls with good form, you will build strength.

However, in the long run, I believe that greater knowledge about how the voice works will better allow you to guide your own singing. Author and voice teacher Claudia Friedlander says as much in her book Complete Vocal Fitness: A Singer's Guide to Physical Training, Anatomy, and Biomechanics:

"One of the reasons that I feel it is so important for singers to understand how your instrument functions is so that when a problem arises, you can discern whether it is an issue of skill or physiology and pursue an effective solution based on that information. If you understand how your voice ought to respond when it is healthy, it becomes easier to recognize when a medical issue is interfering with your singing. Conversely, if it is always a mystery whether your voice will work on a given day, you are likely to develop the chronic hypochondriacal angst so common to our profession." p.149

Ultimately, you are all your own voice teachers. Someone like me can offer guidance and direction, but I see you for a limited time each week while you live with your voices for 24 hours a day. You are the ones who will have to safely negotiate those voices through a lifetime of singing. In so doing, I believe that the more information you have about the voice, the better equipped you will be—both now and in the future.

How has your singing been this week?

Now go practice.

A great teacher on great singing

One of the most famous books about singing from the 1980s and 90s is called Great Singers on Great Singing. For the book, operatic bass Jerome Hines interviewed many of his colleagues at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City to learn how each of them approached their singing technique. What was eye opening for readers was to see just how differently the singers described their technique. Even though every singer profiled had established a successful career at the world's most famous opera house, they were often choosing quite different strategies in order to make their sound.

I'm currently reading a similar book called Great Teachers on Great Singing by Robin Rice. Using a similar format to Great Singers on Great Singing, Dr. Rice instead chose to interview "some of the finest singing teachers in America." As you might expect, there are similarities, differences, and even flat out contradictions when it comes to the technique each teacher promotes. But that was only one of the reasons I wanted to read the book. The other reason is that one of my former teachers, Dr. Robert Harrison, is one of the "master teachers" featured in the book.

Dr. Harrison was my voice teacher as well as the chair of my doctoral committee when I was studying at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. At the time, he had come to Indiana after serving as a professor of voice at Colorado University. I had the honor of being his first doctoral student at IU.

It's fair to say that I learned more about singing, about the voice, and about teaching from him than from any other teacher or mentor I have had. Reading his chapter of Great Teachers on Great Singing was like having another voice lesson with him and reminded me of so much of what he had taught me in our time together. He is retired now and living in Denver and we are still in touch.

For this blog, I thought I might choose one of the important points from his chapter to expand upon but I couldn't narrow it down to just one great point. Instead, I'll share several of his quotes below to provide a picture of his perspectives and maybe give you some ideas to ponder in your practice this week.

"Well, to me there are three general standards that all singers need to meet. They must sing accurately, both with respect to pitch and rhythm, use correct diction, and by all and every means, be able to communicate effectively...You might have noticed that I didn't say anything about a beautiful voice." (p.81)

"A beautiful voice that says something enlightens me. I'm also okay with a voice that is not so beautiful but that says something to me." (p.81)

"...a good singer is always someone who is ultimately providing an autobiography of him or herself. When we hear somebody sing, they're not talking about that character. They're actually talking about themselves." (p.81)

"I want thorough resonance with the least amount of cord use." (p.82)

"The mission is, through singing, to say something to change the life of a listener who has often paid to be at a performance. We have a responsibility to say something to them that will change the way they feel and the way they think." (p.84)

"...in this world of sound and sensory bombardment, the use of silence can be a very powerful and expressive tool." (p.84)

"By the way, you are paid to breathe. Don't be afraid to earn money for not singing. I don't know of anyone yet who can sing without air." (p.85)

"My students know well my oft repeated axiom with regard to breathing and its relationship to singing: no air, no sound, no dollars." (p.85)

Consider some of Dr. Harrison's ideas this week. What are your goals for the second half of the semester?

Now go practice.

Dr. H. signing his approval of my dissertation defense.

Vocal rest

Due to high vocal demands these last couple of weeks, as well as some illness that has been passed around, the issue of vocal rest has come up quite a bit. So let's explore just what vocal rest is, when it's needed, and how it can benefit you as a singer.

At face value, vocal rest is pretty self-explanatory: it just means resting your voice. But does that mean you have to be absolutely silent? In most cases, no. These days, about the only time singers are told to go on complete vocal rest (no singing, no talking, no whispering, etc.) is when they are recovering from vocal surgery. In most other cases (like illness or vocal fatigue), some light vocalization—like humming and straw phonation—can be good for the voice, as long as it is limited.

Since the vocal folds are made up of muscle and tissue, ANY vocal use can cause fatigue if it goes on long enough—even alongside an impeccable technique. When fatigue does occur, it's generally a good idea to reduce overall voice use so the muscles have adequate recovery time.

However, in many cases, it's not the singing that gets us into trouble. It's often all of the "extracurricular" voicing that causes problems.

A 2013 study published in the Journal of Singing led to some interesting discoveries. The researchers (Christopher S. Gaskill, Jennifer G. Cowgill, and Shenendoah Many) tracked six first- and second-year undergraduate students at the University of Alabama who were majoring in either vocal performance, music education, or music theater. The researchers asked each student to wear a vocal dosimeter for five days, which measured their total voice use during that time (singing and non-singing). Here is some of what the data reveal:

• "Most students accumulated much more nonsinging time than singing time."
•  One of the students reported a session of “singing in the car” that lasted for 23 minutes, which revealed a very large vocal dose within a short period of time. 

In addition, in one instance during the week, a tenor music theater student commented to one of the researchers that he had just come out of a rehearsal that had been vocally taxing because it involved “a lot of talking.” However, when they compared the dosimetry data from the rehearsal (which lasted 1 hour) to the time spent socializing immediately after the rehearsal (which lasted approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes), the student used his voice TWICE AS MUCH while socializing than during the rehearsal. Besides using his voice more during that time, he also spoke at a higher pitch and with greater intensity.

This data caused the researchers to conclude that "...the most vocally demanding times for students may often be outside of required singing activities, and that [students] may be very poor judges of their own perceived vocal doses."

So when students tell me they have put themselves on vocal rest, I always want to know if it is only their singing that they are restricting. As this study points out, all of the other vocal activities (talking, laughing, etc.) can actually be more vocally risky than singing.

Of course, we have to take care of our voices. We need periods of rest that allow us to recover from the high vocal demands associated with being a singer and actor. But we also need to be mindful of how we are using our voices throughout the day so we are not unknowingly adding to an unsustainable vocal load.

How has your singing been this week? How do you manage heavy vocal demands?

Now go practice.

Belting, Legit, and Mix...Oh My!

Vocal pedagogy sometimes suffers from the lack of uniform terminology. Although we all agree on what to call anatomical terms like larynx and diaphragm, when it comes to the words we use to describe technique, it gets more subjective. For instance, asking singers and voice teachers to define words like "support" or "head voice" would likely result in some pretty varied responses.

In music theater singing, a few examples of yet-to-be-absolutely-defined terms include "legit," "mix," and "belt." Maybe it isn't that important that we all agree on the definitions and sounds these words invoke. On the other hand, if teachers and singers can't even agree on how belt singing sounds different from mix singing, how will we ever agree on the vocal technique that allows us to create those sounds in healthy and effective ways?

To help address this conundrum, Dr. Lynn Maxfield and I set up a research project to see if singers and casting directors agree on what constitutes legit, mix, and belt singing. You can read our full paper here (it's free until October 23rd!), but here's a brief summary of what we did and one of the big things we discovered:

We asked four professional female music theater singers and seven student female music theater singers (college freshmen and sophomores) to perform a series of pitches in what they considered to be a belt sound. Then we had them sing the same pitches again but in a mix sound. Then we asked them to sing the same pitches once more in a legit sound. We recorded each of those sounds and played them (in random order) for five casting directors of regional Equity theaters to see if they could tell which style the singers were choosing.

In the end, the casting directors were able to successfully identify the style the singers were intending in a statistically-significant majority of the time. They had even higher percentages when identifying the professional singers' intended style than with the students.

These results should be encouraging for music theater singers since, even though legit, mix, and belt don't have set definitions, singers and casting directors may mostly agree on what those styles of singing sound like. Therefore, when a casting director asks a singer to "be more belty" or to "use more of a mix," the singers may be reasonably confident in what sound the casting director expects.

Now if we could just agree on how to make those sounds!

How has your singing been this week? How are you progressing toward the goals you outlined in the last blog?

Now go practice.

I dreamed a dream

Welcome to all new and returning students!

Like many of you (I would imagine), I always look forward to summer. I love sunshine and hot weather. I love to be outside. I love baseball—and my team (the Chicago Cubs!) has actually been worth watching the last couple of years. Plus, my birthday is in July. So in summer I get to do a lot of my favorite things.

I also look forward to summer because it allows me the time to do the things that get put off during the school year when I'm too busy. Over the last 3+ months I did a lot of reading, I took a voice science class, I did plenty of writing, and I attended three out-of-state voice conferences. These have all given me more tools to bring into another full year of teaching.

One of the things I learned came from a workshop led by Matthew Edwards, who is a voice pedagogy professor, author, and blogger. He advised us to help our students set goals but, in doing so, to make a distinction between goals and dreams.

For instance, for most of you "I want to be on Broadway" would be considered a dream and not a goal, at least for now. If you have never performed in a national tour, if you have no off-Broadway experience, or if you have no major credits at regional houses, then performing on Broadway is not the "next step," like a goal should be. That doesn't mean you shouldn't aspire to perform on Broadway. It just means that there are lots of steps between here and there that will likely occur first. Those steps can serve as a series of goals that can help lead you to your dream.

Let me be clear, this does not mean to aim low. You should definitely have both goals AND dreams. But goals are for short-term progress and can be constantly adjusted. If you set a small goal and then achieve it in two weeks, that's great! Then set a new goal and keep moving forward. That will often lead to more specific, tangible progress than if you are working toward a far-off dream with no achievable benchmarks along the way.

In addition, there is also a mental and emotional payoff for setting small goals. If you are constantly achieving your goals (however small) and then challenging yourself with new goals, you will feel more successful, which feeds your ambition and keeps you working hard. If all you have is dreams, then everyday is just another day that you did not achieve your dream. This can be frustrating and make you feel like you are making no progress at all.

For this first blog, let's discuss what your dreams are and what goals can help you reach those dreams. Consider dividing your goals into short-term (two weeks), mid-term (by fall break), and longer-term (by the end of the semester).

I'm really excited to be back in the studio and classroom working with you all again. As much as I love my free time in the summer, I love working with all of you even more. Let's have a great year!

Now go practice.

EDIT: One day after I posted this blog, Matt Edwards discussed many of these same ideas in his own blog. I encourage you to check them out here.

Goals are the benchmarks that set you on the path to achieving your dreams.

Seeking success

With graduation season right around the corner, social media will soon be swimming with videos of people in robes and funny hats pontificating about the secrets to success, doling out advice, and quoting Dr. Seuss's "Oh, the places you'll go!"

I actually really enjoy most commencement addresses. I love to hear people talk about what they feel is most important in life. Amidst the daily barrage of brainless blather, it's refreshing to hear sincere stories that are borne out of personal experiences.

I also appreciate good graduation speeches because I imagine they are immensely difficult to write. How do you put together words of inspiration without being trite or cliché? How do you give advice without sounding preachy or like you’re telling people how to live their lives? And how do you compose a speech that is entirely original and deliver it in a way that strikes just the right balance between engaging, funny, and profound?

The irony is that while we look to these speakers as templates of success, hoping they may give us something to emulate, they tend to emphasize the need to forge our own paths and to seek the answers within. In this regard, success is different for each of us and depends on how we define it.

One definition of success was made clear at a commencement ceremony I attended where the head of the faculty spoke at length about the need to "accomplish" and to "do great things in your field." Near the end of his speech, he told the graduates, "Stay in touch and let us know about all your successes...so we can brag about them!" He never once mentioned the importance of character, the need to build community, or how crucial it is to live a life of honesty and integrity.

A different definition was presented by the student speaker at my own college commencement ceremony. He reminded us that, while many people were hoping for our success, he was hoping for something else. "When you are faced with the opportunity to commit injustice that may result in your own financial or career success," he said, "I hope you fail. Gloriously!"

Here's one more definition:

"Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it." ~Maya Angelou

Wishing you all success (especially you graduates). Thanks for a great year.

Now go practice.

Mythbusters

For the last four years I've been involved in the Performance Voice Conference sponsored by the University of Utah Voice Disorders Center. Twice I sat on a panel called "Vocal Health Mythbusters" with Ingo Titze, PhD, Marshall Smith, MD, and Kristine Tanner, PhD. The purpose of the panel was to discuss the many ideas surrounding vocal health and singing that may not exactly be based on fact.

Many of these ideas seem to make sense when you hear them. Since most of the physical mechanisms involved in singing are hidden inside our bodies, we can find ourselves assuming something is true just because it feels a certain way. While sensation is an important tool for singers, it's also important to understand what's really going on.

Here are some of the more common myths or misconceptions I have heard over the years (along with my responses). Most of them are things I believed at one point or another until I learned otherwise. And as Oprah says (via Maya Angelou), "Once you know better, do better!"

You must breathe into your diaphragm. 
When you inhale, your diaphragm engages and lowers, drawing air into your lungs, not your diaphragm. Your diaphragm is a muscle. You cannot breathe into it.

You must breathe into your stomach. 
When the diaphragm lowers, it presses on the contents of the abdominal cavity which can give a sensation of outward expansion along your waist. But, again, since the air is going into your lungs you are not breathing "into" your stomach.

You must stand up straight to sing.
Efficient alignment will generally benefit your singing. But the spine has natural curvature. If you straighten that out...ouch!

You should always sing with enough space to fit three fingers vertically into the front of your mouth.
Again, ouch! This may be true for certain notes in your range (I'm thinking specifically of your extreme top notes) but if you don't have a particularly large mouth, three fingers of space may make your jaw feel hyper extended.

Raise your eyebrows to keep from singing flat. 
Pitch goes up when the cricothyroid muscle engages and the vocal folds are lengthened. Your eyebrows are not connected to your CT muscle. [Disclaimer: There are elements of breath flow and resonance that contribute to pitch as well, but your eyebrows don't impact these either.]

Drinking water will help wash phlegm off of your vocal folds.
Only if your epiglottis fails you. Your epiglottis closes over the larynx when you swallow so that food and liquids are directed into your esophagus, where they head to your stomach, and not into the trachea where they would pass your vocal folds on their way to the lungs. If water is passing by your vocal folds, you are probably drowning.

Lift your upper jaw when you sing. 

Myth: Eventually you're going to have to grow up.

You only have one jaw, which connects to the skull at the temporomandibular joint and can move up and down when speaking, singing, and chewing. If you are moving your upper teeth, you are moving your skull, not an upper jaw.

Let the sound resonate throughout your head.
Please don't. That's where your brain should be.

Always sing with a lowered larynx and a high soft palate.
That depends on what sound you are trying to make. Some singing may call for a higher laryngeal position and/or a lowered soft palate.

What other vocal myths have you heard? What vocal myths did you once believe? (be honest!)

What are your practice goals for the last month of the semester?

Now go practice.

The more you know

Earlier this year, I was reading an opinion article in the New York Times by Lisa Pryor about the prevalence of pseudoscience in popular culture. Pryor, a medical doctor, described a phenomenon of cognitive bias called the Dunning-Kruger Effect. As she explains,

"In short, the less you know, the less able you are to recognize how little you know, so the less likely you are to recognize your errors and shortcomings."

Essentially, once we know a little bit about a topic, we tend to assume we know more about that topic than we actually do. I refer to this as knowing just enough to be dangerous.

This seems especially prevalent in our field. Since everyone enjoys music of some kind, many believe themselves to be experts on identifying "good" singing and "bad" singing, even if they can't articulate the qualities that cause them to make those assessments.

Intriguingly, the Dunning-Kruger Effect also accounts for the converse of assuming we know more than we do. As Pryor describes,

"For the highly skilled, like trained scientists, the opposite is true: The more you know, the more likely you are to see how little you know."

This makes sense, when you think about it. The more you learn about a topic, the more you begin to see its depth and the intricacies that require deeper understanding. In music theater, most people can enjoy COMPANY as an entertaining show. But you may have a more intense appreciation for its impact if you know Sondheim's work up to that point and can track his development as a lyricist and composer.

Pryor sums up what may be the take-away message of the article by saying,

"Most doctors, especially the good ones, are acutely aware of the limits of their knowledge. I have learned from those much more experienced and qualified than me that humility is something to be cultivated over time, not lost."

When I went to college, coming from a small high school in a small town, I was stunned to realize how much I had to learn about music and singing, which were the two things I supposedly knew more about than any other subject.

Back then, and still today, I find I learn the most when I accept and embrace that fact I can never know everything. This keeps me hungry and curious without being frustrated that I don't already know more than I do.

How has your singing been this week?

Now go practice.

Something's afoot

Maybe high heels and kinky boots look fabulous, but can they impact your singing?

To help find out, Dr. Amelia Rollings of Western Kentucky University conducted a study that has been published in the Journal of Voice called "The Effects of Heel Height on Head Position, Long-Term Average Spectra, and Perceptions of Female Singers." (Available free at this link until March 31st.)

For her study, she asked 30 university voice students to sing an excerpt of “Climb Ev'ry Mountain” from THE SOUND OF MUSIC while barefoot and again while wearing 3.8 to 4 inch high heels (Mossimo Vivian Pointy Stiletto heels from Target, if you must know). Dr. Rollings then measured their head angle, analyzed the acoustic output of their sound, and had the students fill out a questionnaire about what they felt while singing.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the results show that every single participant significantly changed the angle of her head when singing in high heels compared to singing barefoot. The acoustic data indicated "significant spectral energy differences" between barefoot and high-heeled singing (meaning there was a notable change in tone quality). And the questionnaire revealed that 70% of the singers were most comfortable—and felt they sang their best—while barefoot.

So, does this mean that singers should never wear heels while singing? Not necessarily.

Dr. Kurt-Alexander Zeller, co-author of What Every Singer Needs to Know About the Body, believes singers can perform in high heels, but to do so requires some extra attention and practice. He writes:

Luckily, snowshoes are pretty flat.

"Adding height to the heel of a shoe will change the arc of the arch through which the weight of the body is delivered to the floor; the heel of the shoe becomes an extension of the heel of the foot. The ankle joint must rebalance so that it still remains the fulcrum at the apex of the arch, which will of course be taller and narrower. (The higher the heel of the shoe, the taller and narrower the arch.) The ankle joint must adjust so that weight is still being delivered equally back through the heel of the foot and subsequently the heel of the shoe to the ground, and also forward through the ball of the foot to the ground. (If too much weight is thrown onto the balls of the feet, the toes often grip in compensation, which is counterproductive.)" (What Every Singer Needs to Know About the Body, p.256)

There are many performance factors that may interfere with our best singing, like staging, choreography, and even costuming. The point of a "dress" rehearsal is to allow actors to get used to moving and singing in costume (shoes included) to work out any peculiarities before being put in front of an audience. It takes practice and experimentation to find out how to keep vocal efforts balanced and expressive within these potential limitations.

Being aware of how high heels may unconsciously impact your singing can help you make appropriate adjustments to your approach. Then you're better able to get your performance off on the right foot.

How has your singing been this week?

Now go practice.

Vocal load

This week I had an appointment at the University of Utah's Voice Disorders Center. For the last year I had been noticing that my top notes were not as clear as they used to be and that it would often take a lot more effort to create those sounds than it had previously. After dragging my feet for a year, I finally made an appointment to get seen by an otolaryngologist (also known as an ENT—an ear, nose, and throat doctor).

It turns out, I have two things going on with my voice.

1) I have been experiencing laryngopharyngeal reflux disease (LPRD). If you don't know what this is, check out my blog from last February. It is quite common among singers and can cause many of the vocal symptoms I have been experiencing. To help combat this problem, the doctor prescribed some medication and we outlined ways I can adjust my diet and lifestyle to reduce the occurrence of reflux.

2) The other issue I have been experiencing is significant vocal load or vocal dose. Essentially, it means I have been using my voice more than is good for me.

As a professional voice user (which, as actors and singers, all of you are, as well), we have to constantly be conscious of how much we are asking of our vocal muscles. Even athletes who are using their muscles efficiently will run into occasional issues or injuries from overuse. It is the same for singers.

The speech-language pathologist at the clinic helped me outline some areas in my daily routine where I can reduce my vocal load.

Sometimes you just gotta go see the doc.

• Demonstrate less while teaching (if the students know what I'm asking, I don't have to sing it for them first).
• Don't practice to the point of being vocally fatigued. Stop singing or transition to cool-down exercises before getting to the point of fatigue. 
• Be aware of loudness in conversation. Louder sounds require more vocal fold collision. Use only as much volume as is needed for the situation (this includes loud laughing).
• Be aware of loudness levels while singing. Vocal practice should not always be at ff. Balance in dynamics is key. 
• Encourage a CT-dominant (head-voice) sound in singing whenever possible. Limit TA-dominant (chest voice) singing. 
• Use more airflow while speaking and singing, especially if the voice is tired.
• Take time throughout the day for vocal rest and for straw phonation to reduce vocal fold swelling. 

We may discover that my previous vocal load levels would have been fine if I had not also been experiencing reflux. Regardless, it has made me aware of some of the ways I have been needlessly asking more of my voice than is necessary.

Examine your own daily vocal load. Do you have any habits that could be adjusted to make sure you aren't overtaxing your instrument?

And how has your practice been going?

Now go practice.

Distributed Practice vs. Massed Practice

In the last blog, I referenced an article by Prof. John Nix about incorporating the principles of exercise physiology into vocal practice.

There was another concept discussed in that same article that I also want to highlight. As you all know from your syllabus and from our discussions about setting up a practice schedule, I am an advocate of dividing your practice time into different sessions. In fact, I just wrote about this topic for a book that is about to be published (*hair toss*).

In Nix's article, he also discusses divided practice sessions, making a distinction between "distributed practice" and "massed practice."

An example of distributed practice would be six 10-minute sessions done at different times throughout a single day. Each session could be spent on just one aspect of your vocal technique. At 10 minutes, the sessions are generally short enough that your voice won't get tired and you won't get too bored from focusing on just one technique.

To contrast, an example of massed practice would be one 60-minute practice session per day. This kind of practice can help build endurance for longer performances, like a demanding stage role or an hour-long recital. Massed practice could be several distributed practice sessions strung together or it could be more varied in order to include work on repertoire.

In both cases, you are getting 60 minutes of practice time per day but you will obviously build different skills.

In fact, for students working up stamina for a senior recital (some of you this semester!), Nix suggests a combination of distributed and massed practice over a period of months:

• 3 months prior to the performance: distributed practice.
• 1 month prior to performance: 4 days per week distributed practice, 2 days per week massed practice (similar to performance conditions), 1 day per week rest (post massed practice).
• 2 weeks prior to performance: alternate 1 day distributed, 1 day massed (with all aspects as similar to actual performance as possible, including time of day, location, room acoustics, wearing performance-related articles of clothing, etc.), saving 1 day per week for rest following a massed practice day.
• Performance day: massed, blocked, constant warm-up of skills needed in recital; sing the recital; brief warm down afterward. 

It's not mentioned in the article but logic would dictate that you could also gradually lengthen each of your distributed sessions, from six 10-minute sessions to four 15-minute sessions to three 20-minute sessions to two 30-minute sessions. This could be another way to gradually build endurance for longer singing sessions. 

As you get settled into your practice schedules for the semester, you may consider some adjustments along the way that allow for a combination of distributed and massed practice. See how your voice responds. It's good to have consistency in your routine but it's also good to throw some variation in from time to time as well. 

How has your practice been so far this semester?

Now go practice. 

We're more than halfway to summer!

Exercise physiology

Welcome back! Let's get right to it.

Since singing is a physical activity, voice researchers are constantly looking for connections between vocal training and exercise physiology. The big question is: Do the same training principles used by athletes to become bigger, faster, and stronger work in building voices as well? The short answer seems to be: maybe.

While more research needs to be done, many voice pedagogues are encouraging structuring practices around the four basic principles of physical training. These principles were outlined by Professor John Nix in a recent article in the Journal of Singing called "Best Practices: Using Exercise Physiology and Motor Learning Principles in the Teaching Studio and Practice Room."

Exercise physiology at work.

Principle #1: Overloading is what happens when you ask a muscle to do more than it normally does, like in weight training when you use heavier weights with fewer reps. In singing, Nix says overloading would be like taking a difficult passage of music and singing it slower than you would in a performance. This would tax your breath management and how you handle the range in a way that, if you could master it, would make the normal tempo seem much easier.

Principle #2: Specificity means that your training regimen should match the skills you are trying to develop. For instance, if you're learning Amy's part in "Not getting married today" from COMPANY, you would want to practice vocal exercises that encourage freedom at the articulators (lips, tongue, jaw, etc.). If you're learning Paul's part in that same song, you'd want exercises that help build legato phrases.

Principle #3: Individuality calls for setting a training regimen that fits your unique capabilities and journey, which, as Nix says, can include your age, physical development, experience, health, and skill level. If you want to sing shimmering high Cs but right now you struggle with the G below it, it would be better if you worked to gradually increase your range rather than pushing for that C when it is beyond your current capabilities.

Principle #4: Reversibility is what some of you may be experiencing right now coming off break. It is essentially the "use it or lose it" principle that says the benefits you have gained through training are lost over time if you don't continue to train. In other words, be mindful when you are on a break that you aren't taking so much time off that you lose skills you have built.

As you are setting up your practice schedule for the semester, think about all the ways we train our bodies physically (dance, cardio, yoga, weight training, Pilates, etc.). Since the voice is a part of the body, there may be principles from this training that can be applicable to your vocal practice. Play around and see what you discover.

Let's have a great semester!

Now go practice.

All exercise must include periods of rest.