Visualization

In THE MUSIC MAN, Harold Hill famously encourages his students to use "The Think System." This "revolutionary method," as he calls it, claims that if students simply think through Bach's Minuet in G in their minds, they won't need to bother learning to read music or learning how to play their instruments.

In the show, this story line is used to demonstrate that "Professor" Hill is a con man. Even so, by the end of the show, the students actually are able to play a bit of the Minuet in G. Sure, they don't play it well, but considering that they received no instruction whatsoever, the Think System seems to have led to at least some positive results.

This is no surprise for those who have conducted research on visualization. Numerous studies have demonstrated that mental practice or visualization can be almost as effective as physical practice. They have also shown that doing both mental and physical practice gets even better results than doing either practice alone.

In a new book, College Prep for Musicians, authors Annie Bosler, Don Greene, and Kathleen Tesar offer the following format for engaging in mental practice.

First, find a difficult passage in one of your songs. Second, sing through the passage in your head at a slower tempo than is called for in performance. Third, repeat the passage until you can do it flawlessly in your mind and up to the original tempo. Fourth, put that passage back into the context of the entire song or a longer section of the song and practice that mentally as well.

I use mental practice as a way to work toward memorization by looking at a passage of music, singing it mentally while looking at the music, and then singing it mentally without looking at the page. I also have used mental practice as a way to continue to practice when I was sick or when my voice was tired.

As we approach juries, consider incorporating some mental practice into your routine and see if you notice a difference.

On an unrelated note, I came across an article by Amy Marie Stewart recently titled "Failing Our Singers: How a Demand for Execution Kills the Freedom to Create." Hopefully this excerpt will intrigue you enough to read the whole piece: 

"From the time an actor arrives at a university or conservatory program, they're presented with a list of 'don'ts,' instead of a creative environment where it's okay to take risks. It's time to admit that this cheats our audiences and creates performance anxiety in our actors. We can do better."

I'd be happy to discuss this if any of you have thoughts you'd like to share.

How has your practice been this week? What are your goals from now to the end of the semester?

Now go practice.

You really ought to give Iowa a try.

Show and tell

Those of you who have taken the MTP Vocal Pedagogy course are familiar with Clifton Ware's book Basics of Vocal Pedagogy: The Foundations and Process of Singing. Even though my brother used to study with Dr. Ware—and I took a lesson from him years ago—I had never read his book until last month. Despite its publication date of 1998, I was pleasantly surprised at how up-to-date it read and how it was aligned with many pedagogical practices I had only learned about in the last several years. Clearly, I would have been better served to have read the book sooner.

One of the sections that intrigued me was called The Teacher/Student Relationship, which is tucked away in Chapter 13: Teaching Singing. Dr. Ware breaks this relationship down into "Teachers' responsibilities" and "Students' responsibilities," and says, "In order for the relationship to be mutually supportive, both teacher and student have specific roles to play."

In the "Teachers' responsibilities" he writes:

"[...] effective teachers guide students in setting realistic goals and expectations, offer regular constructive feedback, stay attuned to students' personal problems, focus on students' needs during lessons, and provide environments for learning that are healthy, clean, and attractive." -Basics of Vocal Pedagogy, p.259

Although I wouldn't exactly call FAW "attractive," these are still good reminders to me. I know I mention goals a lot at the beginning of the semester and here on the blog but I don't often mention them in lessons. Now that we are post-spring break, it might be a good goal of mine to check in with all of you more regularly on your progress toward your goals. Also, while it may seem too personal for him to advise that teachers "...stay attuned to students' personal problems," we all know that personal problems can sometimes interfere with your ability to perform vocally. Of course, you are never required to share your personal problems with me, but you should also know that you are free to share this information and it will be received without judgement. I like to think of my studio as a free speech zone and I hope all of you feel that way as well.

Regarding the "Students' responsibilities," this quote stood out to me the most:

"[...] rather than simply responding to instruction, students are expected to take initiative in the learning process by stating personal goals, offering pertinent background information, demonstrating problems, raising questions, and requesting help when needed. Ideally, lessons become 'show and tell' opportunities for students to demonstrate what they learned the preceding week." -Basics of Vocal Pedagogy, p.259

I really love the idea of lessons becoming 'show and tell' sessions. When you are getting your 300 weekly required minutes of vocal practice (according to the MTP handbook), inevitably, you will run into issues. Questions will arise, triumphs will occur, and you will run into some brick walls. That's what I want to hear about at your lessons. In fact, there is no clearer signal to me that you have been logging your hours of mindful practice than when you come to your lessons with a list of questions that came up during your practicing.

As we head into the last stretch of the semester (it's just more than a month until juries!), let's see how attentive you can be to your practicing. There is still plenty of time for technical improvements and refinement of your expressive and performance skills.

So, whatever happens, let's begin!

Now go practice.

Goat get your goals!