Motivation: Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive

A few years ago, a new student was joining my studio and, in our first lesson together, we were deciding which elements of her training should be our first areas of focus. To help identify this, I asked, "What are the aspects of your singing that you love the most?" She seemed confused and asked for clarification. I said, "Well, what do you think you do really well vocally? What parts of your voice do you feel really good about?" She paused for a minute and said, "I guess I don't really know. No one has ever asked me that before." 

To be honest, her answer shocked me. And then it made me sad. This student had been studying singing most of her life and had even completed a musical theatre degree, but no one had ever asked her what she likes about her voice. The more I thought about it, however, the less and less surprised I was. 

I think there is a culture in musical theatre training that perpetuates the belief that you aren't getting your money's worth unless you are being constantly barraged with critiques and criticisms. Instructors may pass out a compliment here and there, but we've been made to think that the real work gets done when we are zeroing in on your flaws rather than building on your successes. 

There are a couple of problems with this. First, it can be discouraging and demoralizing to students if all they ever hear are criticisms. Like the student above, it can give the impression that someone's singing is mostly "wrong," when it may actually be quite proficient. Second, it's just bad pedagogy. 

My friend and colleague at the National Center for Voice and Speech, Dr. Lynn Maxfield, wrote an article for the Journal of Singing in 2019 titled "Incorporating Motivation Into Your Model of Motor Learning." In the article, he commented on the instruction (feedback) that teachers give to their students during voice lessons. He writes, 

"Feedback should focus on summarizing the successes of the learner, rather than drawing attention to failures. While this seems elementary on the surface, I would wager that most of us are listening to our singers with an ear to identifying and correcting what is going wrong. All too often, we then verbalize that list of what is going wrong back to our students as our primary mode of feedback." 

He points out that one of the more popular vocal pedagogy books when he and I were in school is called The Diagnosis and Correction of Vocal Faults. It's no wonder so many teachers feel it is their primary job just to call attention to "faults." But this approach is particularly useless if teachers do not also offer "corrections" by outlining a process toward improvement, complete with measurable goals that will indicate whether or not students are on the right path of skill development. 

Critique without correction is not education. 

Imagine if you took your car into the shop and the mechanic gave you a long list of things that aren't working with the vehicle, but when you asked about repairs you were told, "I'm just here to point out what's broken. You'll have to figure out how to fix it yourself." 

But focusing on what's broken may not be all that beneficial, anyway. As Maxfield describes, several studies indicate that learning improves when teachers focus their instruction on positive outcomes while reducing their feedback following poor outcomes. In other words, students learn better when teachers reinforce their positive attempts rather than pointing out their failed attempts. In one of those studies, positive feedback not only improved learning, but also served to increase the students' confidence and decrease their anxiety. 

It's logical to assume that this approach can work in your practice sessions, as well. Do you tend to pursue what is working or do you dwell on what is not working? If you try something five times and only get the intended result once, do you pick apart the negative attempts or do you focus on recreating the one that went well? 

As it says in Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen's famous song, studio teachers may facilitate learning when we "accentuate the positive." Students may never entirely "eliminate the negative," but they may make more progress if they can shift their focus in a way that allows them to "latch on to the affirmative." 

Now go practice.