Goals

Welcome to the 2019-2020 school year!

The start of a new semester is a great time to check in, evaluate your vocal abilities, and devise a plan for improvement. One of the best ways we can do this is to set goals.

Personally, I never used to be big on goals. I always figured that if I was making sure to practice consistently, I'd just get better. While that is certainly true, research has shown that people who set goals actually achieve more than people who don't. Goal-setters are also more motivated on a day-to-day basis than people who don't have specific goals to aspire toward.

Much of this information about goal-setting is discussed in a chapter called "Brain" by Lynn Helding, which appears in the new edition of Your Voice: An Inside View by Scott McCoy. In the chapter, Professor Helding outlines four parameters to consider when setting goals.

1. Goals should be specific and not too general
2. Goals should be written down (not just kept in mind)
3. Goals should be challenging and not too easy
4. For every goal, you should be able to answer, "How am I going to reach that goal?"

Let's consider each of these.

First, your goals should be specific. Saying "I want to sing higher" is less specific than "I want to extend my range by two half steps beyond my current highest note." Similarly, saying "I need better breath management" is not as specific as saying "I want to be able to sustain an F4 five seconds longer than I can now."

Second, writing something down makes it more real. I think that's part of why journaling can be such a useful exercise. There is also research that indicates that students who take notes by hand (with a pen and paper instead of typing on a keyboard) are more likely to retain the information they write down. It's easy to say, "I'm sure I'll remember what my goals are." Maybe, but maybe not. Write them down!

Third, goals are meant to challenge us to reach beyond our capabilities. There isn't much point in setting a goal that doesn't require any real effort to achieve. That doesn't mean goals have to be way beyond our reach, though. That can be frustrating, counterproductive, and may ultimately make us less likely to keep working toward that goal. We seem to be better off if our goals are not too easy and not too difficult to achieve—in the Goldilocks zone!

Fourth, we have to have a plan for how we are going to achieve our goals. It doesn't do any good to say "I want to extend my range by two half steps" if you don't know what exercises are going to help you get there. And this leads me to my last point...

Talk with your teachers about your goals. We can help you identify goals that are challenging but achievable and specific to the skills you most want to build. And we can also help develop exercises that are tailored to you that we believe will have the greatest chance of success. Of course, we're always working on this in every class and voice lesson. But you may have specific goals of your own that we hadn't considered for you. Let's work together on this.

For this first blog response, I'd like everyone to identify three goals you have for the semester. Be specific, challenge yourself, and develop an action plan for how you will achieve those goals. We'll be checking in on these goals throughout the semester.

So glad to be back to work with all of you! Let's have a great year.

Now go practice.

[Obligatory comparison between reaching a goal and reaching a mountaintop.]