Refine

Continuing through "The Four Rs of Effective Practice," singers can first find their resolve (determination), then resolve on a plan of action, then implement and repeat that plan of action. 

If strict repetitions (and the natural variations that come with repeated attempts) aren't leading to success, the next step is to refine how you implementing the strategy—in other words, changing something about the way you are performing the exercise. Since singing involves many systems (for example, respiration, phonation, resonance, articulation, etc.) all of which are interacting in a non-linear manner, every strategy may have lots ways in which it can be performed. As Rosenberg and LeBorgne state in The Vocal Athlete: Application and Technique for the Hybrid Singer, “There are many ways to approach the same vocal problem or issue. A teacher must be prepared to modify and adapt in the moment as needed.” (xiii) Singers can similarly modify and adapt during practice sessions. 

Refining the execution of an exercise may involve checking in on these various systems for levels of balance. Maybe there is too much engagement in one system (hyperfunction) or not enough engagement in another (hypofunction). Maybe extraneous tension is interfering with the process. If so, refining the implementation of your strategies, and then repeating the refined implementation, may help move you closer to your target. 

If refining the implementation is not leading you in the desired direction, the strategy itself can be refined. For instance, if the exercise is performed on a certain vowel, maybe changing to another vowel would be useful. If the new vowel seems to help, you can gradually start shifting back toward the original vowel as your system calibrates—taking what works and moving it in the direction of what isn't working. If the strategy involves the use of a semi-occluded vocal tract exercise (SOVTE) like a lip trill or a voiced consonant, shifting to a different SOVTE, like straw phonation, may improve your performance. 

These sorts of refinements are not wholesale changes to your original strategy—they're simply adjustments. The core of the exercise remains intact as you start to introduce subtle tweaks. Of course, as you refine your strategies, each adjustment may require multiple repetitions to find success.

If multiple attempts, refinements, and additional attempts are not leading to desired results, an entirely new strategy may be needed. Rosenberg and LeBorgne again offer advice for teachers in these situations that singers can also use in the practice room:

If the exercise ultimately does not yield the intended outcome, it is incumbent upon the teacher to reassess and modify to suit the specific needs of the student, for it is the process that is important, not a specific exercise. We encourage you to explore and experiment . . . Take what is useful and modify and adapt to the needs of your students. (xiv)

In this case, you can go back to the first “R” of effective practice and resolve upon a new plan of action. Although it can feel like failure to have to start all over again, all of these investigations provide a body of evidence that can inform your future choices. Each ineffective strategy you identify could mean you are one step closer to finding the strategy that will work. 

I admit that the work of finding the right strategy can be tedious and frustrating business. A strategy that may have worked for you a month ago may not be working as well today. A strategy that seemed to work in your lesson or in class may not work as well when you are on your own. These are situations where you may, once again, need to tap into your resolve. 

When you find yourself in one of these dead ends, it may help to consider yourself like a detective solving a mystery. You develop an informed theory based on the evidence and clues you have access to. One by one, you start to follow useful clues until you finally find the missing piece that leads you to resolve (there's that word again) the case. This approach can empower you to use your practice time to explore, make informed choices, and enjoy the thrill of discovery. 

Now go practice. 

Repeat

In the first two blogs this semester, we've covered the first R in "The Four Rs of Effective Practice," which has two parts. The first definition of resolve is “firmness of purpose or intent; determination,” meaning we should acknowledge that practice can be difficult to commit to and then find our resolve/determination to go forward with it anyway. The second definition is “to come to a determination. . . to resolve on a plan of action.” As this relates to practice, we should decide what specific goal or technique we are going to work on and what exercises we will use to reach that goal. 

Once a goal has been identified and a strategy has been resolved upon, the next step is to implement the strategy. In other words, try it out and see how it goes. Naturally, this is likely to result in one of two outcomes: success or failure. 

When we are successful, this is when we implement the second R: repeat. Successfully executing a technique one time does not mean it has been added to your skill set. You need to repeat it to really build consistency. Eventually, you will need to add obstacles or "desirable difficulties," like trying it in a higher range or on a different vowel or singing it in front of people. This is what moves you into the automatic stage of learning and solidifies the skill. 

What do we do when failure occurs? If a strategy doesn't lead to immediate success, it may simply need more repetitions. Given human imperfection, no iteration of any task will be exactly the same as any previous (or subsequent) iteration. Even when attempting to perform a task in the same way, subtle differences are likely to occur. By giving a failed attempt additional repetitions, it allows the body to make subconscious adjustments that may make success more probable. When success is elusive, as the cliché states, we should try, try again. 

There is plenty of research highlighting the benefits of repetition in various situations, like when learning a language, learning how to read, and expanding vocabulary. Author Tony Kenler calls repetition "the heartbeat of progress." He highlights how our brains mold and adapt as a result of repetitive experiences due to neuroplasticity, which allows our brains to create new neural pathways and strengthen existing pathways. 

Repetition, therefore, helps us ingrain both new and existing techniques. But it can also help us commit to regular practice sessions. As described in Psychology Today, habits are built through repetition, such as when someone is pursuing a goal. This is done when we start to associate certain cues with certain behaviors. For instance, you may decide that, every time you get out of your Monday/Wednesday class at 4:20pm, you'll go practice. After doing this for a while, you may start to feel a pull to go practice every Monday/Wednesday at 4:20pm, even when the semester is over and you no longer have that class. This is just one of the benefits of having regularly scheduled practice times—the repetition leads to a habit. 

Of course, repetition takes patience. My former teacher, Dr. Robert Harrison, relates a story in Voices of Influence about the exercises he used to help young tenors develop their high range by descending through the passaggio on a falsetto [u] vowel. "Young teachers, including myself, were always disappointed if that exercise didn’t fix the issue the first time,” he says. “How loony! But by training the muscles over a period of time, the change occurred.” Try, try again. 

The directions you can find on most shampoo bottles read, "Lather, rinse, repeat." You probably don't have to do this more than once in the same shower session, but if you want luscious hair (and who doesn't?), you'll likely have to do it more than once a week. The research on repetition seems to imply that the shampoo bottle is offering wise advice. Learning requires repetition. Building regular practice habits also requires repetition. 

Now go practice. Then repeat.

Resolve, Part 2

In the last blog, I presented the first definition of “resolve.” When used as a noun, its definition includes, “firmness of purpose or intent; determination” (Dictionary.com). Knowing that practice routines can be hard to consistently stick to, it can help to consciously commit to our resolve and simply decide to do it. 

The second meaning of resolve is also an important step in effective practice. When used as a verb, resolve means “to come to a determination; make up one’s mind . . . to resolve on a plan of action” (Dictionary.com). This gets to the specifics of what you decide you want to work on, what goals you hope to achieve, and what tactics and strategies you will use to reach those goals. So, once you have found your resolve (determination), you should resolve on a plan of action. 

The first step is to decide what you want to accomplish. Think back to the goals you articulated in the last blog. Once you’ve identified a specific skill you want to work toward, you need exercises that are designed to target that skill. We all know that this is how physical strength is built. If you want to develop core strength, you have to do exercises that target that area. If you want to build your biceps, squats aren’t going to do that directly. But, when it comes to vocal practice, we often just default to whatever exercises come to mind or whatever ones we’re most familiar with. 

If you’re not sure what exercises to use to work toward your goals, your teachers can help. In the book The Vocal Athlete: Application and Technique for the Hybrid Singer, authors and voice pedagogues Marci Rosenberg and Wendy D. LeBorgne state, “A vocal exercise is only effective if the teacher has firmly established the intent and purpose of that exercise for a given student’s vocal needs/development/growth.” And the more specific your goal is, the more likely we are to come up with targeted exercises for that goal. 

That being said, don’t discount your own intuition. Often, it’s not the particular pattern of notes that make an exercise well-suited for a certain purpose. Rather, it’s the intention you bring to performing the exercise. When you are clear as to what you are working on, a variety of exercises can help you improve in that area. So don’t be afraid to experiment on your own and see what may come of it. Even if it doesn’t lead to the success you’re hoping for, it will continue to inform you about your own voice and how it works. 

The opposite of resolve (choosing specific exercises to build specific skills) is mindless vocalizing. Maybe that means singing through a list of “warm-ups” without a clear idea of what each exercise might be intended to accomplish. Or maybe it’s running through your songs from start to finish without any particular game plan in mind. Voice professor Lynn Helding calls this “roadkill practice” (“I ran over my music.”). As I’ve mentioned, this can help reinforce certain habits, but it is not a way to build skill or explore new creative options. 

Consider starting each practice session this week with a particular goal. Work on that for 5 to 10 minutes. Switch to a different goal and work on that. If you need ideas for what exercises might facilitate this work, I’m here to help. 

Find your resolve. Then resolve on a plan. 

Now go practice.