Now comes the hard part: following through.
One of my professors at the Summer Vocology Institute was Kittie Verdolini Abbott, PhD. She is a professor of communication sciences and disorders at the University of Delaware and co-author of Vocology: The Science and Practice of Voice Habilitation. She dedicated an entire class period to the issue of patient compliance where we looked at numerous studies that examine why patients sometimes do not follow their doctors' directions. Some patients in the studies were not taking prescribed medications (or they didn't take them as often as directed) and other patients did not follow through with their therapy exercises or with recommended dietary changes.
The studies uncovered a variety of factors that may contribute to this lack of compliance, one of the most significant being whether people have an internal or external locus of control. As described in Psychology Today by clinical social work psychotherapist Richard B. Joelson:
"If a person has an internal locus of control, that person attributes success to his or her own efforts and abilities. A person who expects to succeed will be more motivated and more likely to learn. A person with an external locus of control, who attributes his or her success to luck or fate, will be less likely to make the effort needed to learn."In one notable study (Gordillo et al., 1999), patients with an external locus of control (who believe their lives are directed by factors outside of their control) were much less likely to follow through with medical treatments.
Is there a parallel here to voice students following through with vocal practice? I don't believe that has been studied as thoroughly, but maybe we can make some assumptions.
Voice students with an external locus of control may believe they aren't as good at singing as they should be because they haven't been lucky enough to have good voice teachers. This may frustrate them to the point where they are not motivated to practice. Or, they may feel that they didn't inherit good singing genes from their parents so they shouldn't bother practicing. They may point to other external factors as reasons for not practicing, like having a full schedule or not having a good place to practice.
On the other hand, students whose internal locus of control causes them to believe that they are in charge of their own lives may recognize that they haven't had great teachers or been blessed with abundant natural abilities, but they will use that as motivation to work harder rather than to withdraw. They may look at their busy schedule and insist on finding time and a place to practice, believing that to be the best way to improve their skills.
If an external locus of control may be making it more difficult to follow through with our practice, are we capable of simply adopting an internal locus of control instead? That's difficult to say. Dr. Joelson explains that although our locus of control is often seen as an inborn personality component, there is also evidence that it is shaped by our experiences.
Regardless, sometimes acknowledging our natural tendencies can help us consciously overcome them if they are not serving us. If you find yourself sloughing off from your practice, try saying out loud some of the kinds of phrases that Dr. Joelson has heard from people who have an internal locus of control: “I know it’s up to me,” “I can learn how to become more successful,” or “I am responsible for what happens in my practice.”
We're more than two weeks in. How has your practice been going? How are you doing at complying with your own practice schedule?
Now go practice.
I think the idea of an external or internal locus is very interesting. The concept reminded me much of the comparison of a growth mindset vs a fixed mindset. I feel like I've tried to develop a more internal locus over the years because I know that you can never really rely on luck or fate to get you where you want to go. Maybe some of this idea stems from too many lost bingo games, but I know that luck is out of your control and that it is much more productive to focus on what you can control, like your own behavior.
ReplyDeleteThrough these last few weeks, I've really tried to figure out a set practice schedule. I work a lot better if I hold myself to a schedule, so finally being able to put down specific times to work has helped me stay on task. I'm sure my schedule might change as I find more of a rhythm to the week, but I feel like I now have a pretty good idea of the workload and time that I have. This week should be a good test to see how well I can stick to the schedule I have now set. I am excited to see the growth that comes from so much practice!
~Caleb Hunt
I needed this, I literally just finished practicing and was extremely frustrated with myself. I started thinking things like "I just cant sing it" or "Everyone else around me seems to have years of a head start or are just naturally better compared to me". However this doesn't matter, even if these were true (which they aren't, mostly) in the end none of it helps me grow. I tend to get way too easily frustrated at myself with practicing and start freaking out about it which makes the practicing even worse. I need to learn to just take a deep breath and focus on the here and now and what I can do to improve. Even if it's the tiniest improvement I have to recognize it better so when the big improvements come, I can realize the buildup to them.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of my practice schedule, I consistently (with the occasional slip) warm up with gentle exercises in the morning, so that 'session' is pretty set already. However I'm planning to do bigger practice chunks most days that last ~40 min to an hour. I believe I can stick to this schedule, that wont be the problem. What I am going to need to work on is managing my emotions better while practicing and not get caught up in the pursuit of perfection or the "I had it better the other day, why is it like this now?" mentality. It is called practice for a reason, I need to allow myself to fail while staying calm and actively listening to my body and it's feedback and trying again with that information. I believe practicing almost everyday and listening to my recordings/lessons will teach this skill to me.
-Brendan Lowry
Wow. This, to me, is reminiscent of a concept in the book "Grit" which examines why some people perform better than others. It focuses on those who achieve success in many different categories, including the musical arts. Angela Lee Duckworth (the author) attributes success to an elusive personality trait called grit. I find that when I do have an external locus of control, failure becomes more difficult for me. When I adopt the mindset that I am in control, I have to also accept the responsibility of my own failure. "Grit" would say that I should detach myself emotionally from my own failure, and view it as another step on the garden path to success. An essential part of detaching myself is ceasing to compare myself to others. When I compare myself to others in the world of musical theater, I fail to be productive. I obsess over the thought that they'll get parts and I won't, or that I just am not good enough. But, if I can stop comparing, I can take responsibility for my failure without getting emotional about it.
ReplyDeleteThis is all to say that I love singing. Sometimes the thoughts that accompany it may be problematic to my self-image, but that's not singing's fault. I'm in charge of whether or not I compare myself to others. I need to redefine my system of evaluation as less outwardly competitive and more inwardly competitive. That would help a lot.
By JT Kaufman
DeleteSuper interesting read. In my experiences, if I have the time, I have never had to stress about not practicing. Probably because I like it. BUT I definitely relate to not practicing all the times that you are supposed to practice. It is something that you should do, plain and simple. And sometimes, I feel too lazy or I do not have time to practice. But then again, I hate when you can not practice efficiently and effectively, which is why I have been stressing these past weeks. My voice has not been co-operating lately. My throat feels like it sick, which it probably is. I feel like I'm not reaching my full range. I'm barely starting my private lessons with a new teacher so it feels like I'm not showing him my full potential. And overall, I just miss being able to sing like how I usually sing. I have been drinking a lot of tea, and my personal favorite: honey. I try to not use my voice as much or in times when I don't need to use my voice. I just hope that it gets better.
ReplyDeleteI have just created my practice schedule so I haven't had a chance to implement it yet. I imagine that it will work well, especially if I think of it as a class that I need to attend daily. Prioritize that time to be in the practice room.
ReplyDeleteThe past two weeks I have found myself practicing close to an hour on weekdays. I also realized that if I don't have enough time to walk to the practice rooms I can still work on my music without singing and I can still count that towards my practice time. For example, writing in counts, working on character development, memorizing text, practicing diction/foreign language.
I feel my practice has been a little jumbled due to adjusting to my schedule, and not having a lot of phsyical time that i have been mentally aware of using for practice. I think that is my goal this year is to be aware of my free time and if i am using it to better my craft. I think that this year i have been vocalizing more often thus far, and going over technique, placement, and material a lot more often. If i could tell myself in the past to do it i would because i have been seeing improvements.
ReplyDeleteThat was an intriguing read about the different types of locus. I didn't even know about them beforehand. I would actually say that I have a bit of both of them, depending on my mood, if that makes sense, haha. I have a tendency to withdraw when I'm in my head or when I'm a super sloppy state mentally or in life, and I'm more focused internally if I'm in the moment and make constant effort to make myself in the moment, which then tends to improve most other factors of my life. I don't know which locus I inherently have more than the other, but in any way, it's an interesting thought to consider and keep in mind, especially during the times when I check myself on how withdrawn or focused I am in my craft and work.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of focus, this week has been one of those really rough weeks for me mentally. I haven't attended many of my classes at all this week, but I have tried to keep up with practice. I always find that practice lifts my spirits, if even a little, and I find that I very much enjoy it. The moments I did practice this week were generally good ones, when I was truly in the moment and not letting distractions take me away from my practice.
The problem I have with my practice is that it is rarely focused and committed for longer than 10 minutes. I'm finding it hard to keep myself in the zone and actually work on all aspects of singing that I need to work on. I mainly sing actual lyrics and not pure vocal warm ups, which is what I really need to start doing more of and actually implement into my practice. Other than that, individual practice goes pretty well, and it's one of the best moments in any given day of mine, usually. I have been complying it with my schedule that I sent it as well, and I always have time for half an hour or 45 minutes of practice every day.
-Grayson Antreassian
This reading relates with something I have been philosophizing for years now. It’s really nice to have it put into more direct and specific words such as “internal locus control” vs. “external locus control.” In past experiences, I have found that my best successes and opportunities came from me reaching for them and making myself responsible for achieving the goals I set for myself. After all, none of us would be in the MTP/ATP program if we didn’t make an effort ourselves. They aren’t just handed out on a silver platter; we had to work for it.
ReplyDeleteI actually experienced this same concept this past year. Something in my life happened that caused me to be very sad and down for a bit. It was a rough patch in my life but part of the problem why it was so bad was because I had an external locus control. I wasn’t happy and I was expecting happiness to get to me at some point either through someone or something. It took months for me to realize that this was a false expectation and really an impossible goal. I realized that I was in charge of my happiness and so I decided to find/make my own happiness. And while this wasn’t an instant change nor was it achieved right away, I was able to be happy once again and move forward from that rough patch because I took ownership of it.
With singing, I need to take responsibility for the schedule and goals I created for myself and do my absolute best to stick to it. Only then, I can achieve greatness.
I will admit that this last week, I haven’t stuck to my singing schedule as well as I should have. I’ve been practicing, just not everyday like I’m supposed to. There’s really no excuse. Yes I’m a busy person but so is every one else and somehow they are able to find free time to practice; so I should be able to as well. Hence why I created my schedule in the first place. I created it in a way that it doesn’t conflict with the other activities I’m apart of.
Despite that, my practices have been going well. I’m starting to incorporate a lot of the things we discuss in class as well as other things that I’ve picked up on my own. I’m excited to learn more songs and even more ways to warm up my voice so that my practice is always fresh, challenging, and exciting. I will make sure to take charge in my practice and focus on practicing every day that way I will get better and achieve the goals I set for myself.
-Dylan Burningham
This reading was a nice refresher on the terms and ideas of internal and external “Locus control”. I have heard those ideas and terms a lot floating around, and I used those ideas a lot with my personal life, but also my academic life. Honestly, I haven’t ever thought about incorporating it with my singing or practice but it seems like a smart thing to do. Because of “MacBeth” rehearsals I have been struggling to gain motivation to practice and also to practice with full mental focus. After a 14 hour day, the last thing I want to do is work on singing, but I feel like a change of mindset would probably help with the lack of motivation.
ReplyDeleteBut overall my practices have been good, I have just been working on building my audition book and working on pushing my head voice. My practices have gotten better since I set up my piano, because now I can do all my voice exercises that I love and have memorized.
-Jillian DiNucci
So far I’ve been pretty good about keeping up with my practicing. But I know myself and my motivation starts to waiver when I get busier in the semester. So this time I’m going to just keep telling myself it’s 10 minutes and that it’s a priority! I think with a different mindset that it will be easier to accomplish.
ReplyDeleteI also think that this semester I have set reasonable goals that my brain thinks can be reachable. So like the study above showed if you think you can actually accomplish something the more you will strive to do it.
This idea did seem pretty familiar in a lot of aspects of my life. For example I am currently enrolled in my last math class to graduate and it has been a circus pf adding it, dropping it, taking it at a later time and thinking " its up to me" has been something floating around my brain when thinking about that class. It seems to be helping me push through so I am curious about adding this " locus focus" to different parts of singing and I think more specifically to group singing since I get distracted easily.
ReplyDeleteI know that some singers have a natural ability to sing and have perfect technique... and to me that is where luck comes into play. Other than that, I think that every other singer has to definitely understand that it's up to them to succeed through practice.
ReplyDeleteI'm not able to practice currently. If I'm not at Dracula rehearsal I've been asked to maintain vocal rest so as to guard my voice for the show. I am however ensuring that after rehearsals I'm cooling my voice down with straw phonation so that my voice rests quicker than with vocal rest alone.
I haven’t been practicing as much as I should in order to see consistent improvement, but I’m attributing some of this to the fact that we started tech on Dracula this week so I’ve been extra tired. I’m actually okay with this though, because I tend to not allow myself enough rest in general and, as a result, my body suffers. When the show is over, I’m either going to have to come up with another excuse for my incompetence, or I’ll actually have to accept that in order to improve at the rate I want to be improving, I need to create the time myself because no one else is going to make me do it. Maybe it would make my life easier if I got someone to hold me accountable because that’s really the condition under which I do the best.
ReplyDeletePersonally, practicing to me should be like getting out of bed. It may seem that you don't want to so It or that there's actually an option to not do it, but you have to. Practicing for me has been fairly easy because I try not to think of it too much. For any schedule or hobby that I have, I just kind of think about how much I am capable of getting it done. This week has been a little tight for me but I definitely haven't forgotten my longing for singing. thats what keeps me focused. Not keeping focused on one thing, but longing for more and more. The one thing I got from this text, is that the ability to choose whether we practice or not can be completed by thought. Personally thats what I think of when I have something thats going to occupy my time, is that it doesn't matter what it is, I can actually decide if it will be done by thought rather than the actual exercise. If I can't sing according to my schedule, then I imagine how many things take up twenty minutes of my time that I don't even realize, then I go and sing :)
ReplyDelete-Max Villa
This was such an interesting post to read. I didn't know that there were things called external and internal loci of control and that they do a lot control our actions based on the way that we think. If I am being completely honest, for the last two semesters, I started out great with maintaining my practice schedule. However, after a few weeks, with more class work building up, I start to not practice as much. I think that I have an internal locus of control. I truly believe that if you want to achieve something, you need to work hard for it and put in the time. I certainly put in the time for other classes, but I guess my mind still sees practicing as something I should do in my "free-time," when that shouldn't be the case at all. It should be a hard "yes" in my schedule and I should take it as seriously as I do with my other classes.
ReplyDeleteSo far for this semester, my practicing has been good. It's been a little hard to exactly follow my practice schedule because of rehearsals for Dracula, but I do get my hours in at some other point in the day. Hopefully after Dracula, I will be able to get into a routine of practicing and practicing consistently. I am excited to see what the rest of the semester brings and to see how much further I can progress with my voice.
my practice schedule has been pretty easy to meet cause i drive around a lot so i will just turn on the voice memo in the car and practice that way. its still hard getting the motivation to practice of course because my schedule and my life is very packed and complicated right now but 20 minutes really isnt that long
ReplyDelete-sarah nass
DeleteI really enjoy singing and one day I want to be really good at it. Because of this I don't have to push myself too hard to follow my schedule. The hardest part is finding a place to sing. I never drive anywhere and I live in a dorm with thinish walls. I used to sing in the stairwell but I was informed that that makes it echo throughout the entire building, so I don't do that anymore. Usually just go outside and I don't sing super loud. But I am trying to keep to it, I missed one or two days but I am going to make sure that doesn't happen again.
ReplyDelete-Grayson Kamel
The idea of how one applies internal or external locus is really interesting to me. Personally, I have always felt that I try too hard to control things that are wildly out of my control, keeping all the plates spinning, which just leads to me becoming overwhelmed or anxious, which then leads to all the plates dropping and breaking.
ReplyDeleteA huge lesson that I'm still delving into, and have been for the past few years, is that there's a beautiful balance of my internal locus of control and the external. I'm letting go of what is absolutely out of my control, and am therefore able to hone in on what is pertinent, and what I am responsible for.
I have really found myself loving practice, and as I find myself getting bored, it's become a fun way for me to feel productive in my down time. I'm going to continue to try and stay on top of it, and continue to acknowledge what I need to assert my attention and effort toward, and I appreciate the insight this blog post provides on those fronts!
I needed this blog today very honestly. I have been letting Macbeth be an excuse for slacking off on my practice outside of class and I am going to try to hold myself to a higher level in order to improve and achieve my goals rather than letting outside things or beliefs of not being able to improve stop me from doing what I need too.
ReplyDeleteSophie white. Sorry I think I've fixed it now
DeleteI have been successfully keeping up with my schedule for the most part. Since I have finished all of my gen eds the only thing getting in the way are rehearsals for Dracula. Since I am a junior now though I have really tuned into focusing on my craft specifically and nothing else. I am super motivated in all of my classes and in rehearsals. I have already learned so much this semester alone and were only a couple weeks in.
ReplyDeleteI have been somewhat successful with my practicing schedule. It has been quite hard adjusting to college life and adding in an hour each day to practice is a little tough, but with repetition, I know I will adjust to it. I sing daily, whats hard is making sure I am singing while warmed up, which is a weakness of mine lol. I have been concurrently sick these past like 3 weeks, which has made singing quite difficult. Yet all is well that ends well, hopefully this week will be better.
ReplyDeleteI have been very compliant with my practice schedule. However, Saturday morning I woke up with a cold. I shortened my practice by about 10 minutes just to rest my voice. Outside of the daily required practice, I try to sing properly on my own as much as I can. Properly meaning practicing correct breathing and posture skills This includes singing in the car, to my guitar, or in my room.
ReplyDeleteFor my daily practice, I listen and follow along to the voice warm up I recorded in class on the 29th. It gets me well warmed up. After warming up I sing through our assigned song, True Love, at least two or more times.
I am feeling confident this semester about reaching my goals and I hope to meet them.
Practice has been going well so far. My biggest issue while practicing is worrying that other people can hear me ( mostly my neighbors). So I end up straying away from the biggest improvements and challenges I have: high notes. I just get so worried that my neighbors will be able to hear me and either I'll get a noise complaint, or they'll give me weird looks or something. I get really in my head about stuff like that, probably the reason I have moved my practices into my closet haha.
ReplyDeleteBut practice schedule-wise? It's been nice and consistent. Having work and long days makes it a bit of a challenge, but I work through it and usually enjoy the practices while I'm doing them, which then carries over into when I'm done.
-Connor Mamaux-Partridge
Practice is going great! I already practiced singing quite often before this class due to me being in your class last year but everything seems to be going smoothly. My group usually sings from 5:45-7:45am three days a week and with adding the singing schedule ontop of that its been improving my voice slowly. Somehthing I've noticed is whenever I sing with others or I sing by myself I tend to find questions that I simply can't answer. And I assume its because in art there is always a questions to be raised and that is my motivation to get better. I know I do not possess the highest of voices but with my curiousity I look to improve where I can. I guess that's why I'm always so curiuos in class.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this blog post because I feel like I’m in the middle of the two different sides of locus of control. I often times attribute some of my success to luck, but I can acknowledge when hard work is needed and when it’s the reason I have succeeded.
ReplyDeleteNow to answer the question, practice is going well! I find myself not only practicing during my previously arranged times, but also casually practicing/rehearsing outside of those times.
Something that is coming up that will most definitely make things more interesting is when I start to have after class rehearsals that might interfere with my predetermined times. Perhaps I will just adjust my times or use my singing practice time to also help me warm up for rehearsals. Either way, change is inevitable.
-Amona Faatau
I'm glad I got to read this post because it helped me learn a lot about myself as a student. I think when there are things I'm passionate about or naturally good at, I tend to work harder to improve my skills and become more successful. However, when it comes to things I lack interest in or things that frustrate me because I'm not at a level I perceive I should be, I tend to blame it on external factors and try and step back from it. Singing falls somewhere in the middle. I think I'm decent enough at it, but it still frustrates me that I'm not as good as some people around me, and since I'm terribly competitive that hinders me a lot of the time with growth. I have been decent with my practice schedule, but I could be better. I have been doing a bad job of sticking with my practice time slots, and so that leaves me to practice at the end of the day when I'm tired and definitely not giving it my all. However, I have been listening to the recordings from our practices in class, and that helps me not skip out on my 20 minutes a day. I'm planning on being more accountable of my growth and setting daily reminds at my allocated times in order to keep to my practice schedule.
ReplyDeleteActually setting aside the time to practice has been really hard for me, and I've been trying to think of more creative ways to hold myself accountable. I am going to begin making practicing a part of my daily "to do" list and set reminders on my phone each day. I definitely had time this weekend and didn't practice at all, but I kept up fairly well during the week. I think squeezing a practice into a busy day is a lot easier for me than practicing when I don't have any plans for that day. I also think voice lessons will help encourage me to stick to my schedule better, because I will feel more externally responsible. I needed this blog post today, thank you! -Serena Collins
ReplyDeleteI've been doing a relatively good job staying on my practice schedule, I have 2 times scheduled out each day and I've been getting at least 45 minutes a day in. This semester I've been feeling very on top of things, and it's been nice getting practice in this consistently. I definitely have a habit of using the "I'm too busy" excuse for things (which isn't always untrue), so having more time on my hands this semester has been wonderful because I really get to take my time with things like voice practice. I'm excited to see how I improve this semester with super consistent practice and the vocal pedagogy class to learn more about the technicalities of my singing.
ReplyDeleteWho is this?
DeleteI'm struggling to stick to my own practice schedule. I've always been really bad about setting goals for myself without external motivation. And when I do manage to convince myself to practice, I often fall into cycle of doing what I was told to do, rather than what would actually benefit me (i.e. just running through a song rather than practicing where to breath)
ReplyDeleteI'm going to add more reminders to my daily life to try and get better at this.
Class has been exciting for the first couple weeks. I've wanted to do more singing in general so, beginning to practice is very sufficient. I've struggled to motivate a bit, but recently I've kept practice apart of my schedule. External locus of control is not a term I'm familiar with, but as it was explained, I began to relate to it. My goals are to stay on track this semester, and enjoy it, so far I've done pretty well. I hope to grow in my vocal range and comfortably when singing. Music and voice is something I'm very interested in for not just my career but spare time. I will continue to pursue music in the future.
ReplyDeleteThe concept in this blog post is not something new to me. Back in high school due to my extreme ADHD I got a life coach who basically helped me plan out how to spend my time each week. We would go over my school calendar and write down literally everything I would need to do school wise for the week. This helped me a lot. Once I didn't feel overwhelmed or blind going into my weeks, I was able to actually accomplish my work. I think this is very similar to how I've been treating my practice schedule. by setting realistic times for myself, I don't get discouraged from participating because I am able to say to myself that if I don't practice, it is completely due to me. Sure, some days I miss but those days are rare and normally are for when I have classes from 9-10 on Thursdays. Anyway, I always remind myself that i need to strengthen my instrument if I want to see improvement, and that has really been motivating me to continue to practice. And now that we have warm ups from class its so much easier to follow along to one.
ReplyDeleteI have definitely struggled with having an external focus of control since I started singing. It didn't help that I never had the best vocal coaches, nor have I always had teachers that were well suited to train my voice. However, over the past 5 years I started training with some amazing teachers that were very well suited to train my voice. And while I don't always keep to my practice schedule very well. The times I do, and the times I find time to sing outside my schedule, I have noticed many subtle improvements in my voice.
ReplyDeleteI found this very interesting. In relations to the internal or external locus of control ,i feel I might be somewhere in the middle. When I first ready through the blog I was convinced I had more of an internal locus of control, for I feel that I push my self with my vocal improvement, but understand that I need to take my own growth into my own hands. As I though of it more and more I found more external locus of control patterns in my practice as well. Unfortunately I do allow myself to fall to the putting it off and giving excuses to my frustrations. This is something that I have just figured out, and has know become a goal of mine to avoid. I am really excited for all of my goals this semester and I feel that adding this goal will greatly benefit me.
ReplyDelete-Caden Tudor
DeleteThrough high school, I realized that when it came to certain academic pursuits, I oftentimes did not have to study or work in order to achieve great results. This became habitual, and my work ethic has struggled since then. Because I was always ahead of the game without having to do much, I attributed it to some innate ability to retain information more easily through some sort of luck. Breaking down this external locus of control has been one of the greatest challenges in the ATP. I was suddenly faced with concepts and instructions that I could not easily complete. I was being challenged in ways that often made me shut down and avoid the issue altogether. I think I'm in a better place now, having found a balance between knowing that I need to work more diligently to achieve results, and knowing that I am lucky to have skills and and abilities that come naturally from some external force.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, however, I have found it difficult to make time for my singing practices this semester. It would be easy for me to blame that on a busy schedule doing the internship and whatnot, but I think it more comes from my self-stunted ability to work diligently on the things that I need to do. I will be interested to see if this is an area in which I grow during this semester.
-Harrison Lind
I really liked this. I found that I am more internal with focus, but I would like to try to be able to reach a healthy medium, and be able to do both in able to focus on different parts of my body.
ReplyDeleteMy practice has been going relatively well, but I find that I need to practice exactly on time, even a few minutes will throw me off (as weird as it sounds). I have found my range increasing, and singing has become easier for me, and I have found myself humming and singing more.