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.
As we have continued discussing the goal-setting process I have come to realize that when setting voice goals I tend to rely on subconscious variations. Although that is a part of refining the skill, I need to work on implementing practices that are more intentional. I need to adapt my current practices to further advance the skill. Especially knowing that refinement should be done in subtle changes rather than large drastic ones because that will help me get closer to my goals. I am going to keep this in mind over break and as we come back for the second half of the semester.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of not totally just giving up on something and scrapping it, but rather switching it slightly and slowly returning to the original thing that wasn't working through the lens of something that is. I have a tendency to switch everything once something doesn't work, rather than trying to "refine" and ease back into it. I'm excited to see how my practicing goes this week as I implement this new strategy.
ReplyDeleteAs I've had discussions with some people recently, we as artists, and also just as people, find it frustrating when we cannot have or get a direct understanding about things. We want the straightforward, but with singing especially, a lot of it is experimenting and feeling what works in your body, because what will work good or bad for you may be the opposite for others. I do feel like we are constantly having to alter our practice based on the day, how our voice is feeling, and other external/internal factors. I love the specificity of refining. To me I see refinement helping with growth, rather than trying out a whole new alternative to what you are already doing. I am excited to make this switch on my practice and see how I can start to refine things that are and are not working!
ReplyDeleteI keep having to learn the same lesson over and over again. Failure can be a success if utilized correctly. I have such a hard time with non-linear progress. Something that has been crucial to combating my sense of perfectionism has been sort of journaling, where I'll keep track of a method ive tried per class and try to build upon it or throw it out before the next class. My classes this year are in fact significantly more difficult than last year, and I have absolutely noticed. I seem to be having more failure than success lately, but I am positive that while this portion of the year is not necessarily perfect, I am moving forward.
ReplyDeleteRefining goals is something that I have never been good at it. I usually stick to one goal and when it doesn't serve me, I quit it. This eliminates the potential for growth. Working through a strategy and reconsidering the initial goal is something I need to pursue without fear. The idea of failing at a goal is so demoralizing and sad, but that failure can teach you how to set better goals in the future. From my practicing these last weeks, I realized I have a very sour grapes mentality, when I can't hit a goal. This next week, I'm going to focus on refining my goals and pursuing that process.
ReplyDeleteThis idea of refinement really resonated with me because I’ve noticed that my biggest breakthroughs in singing haven’t come from just repeating an exercise over and over, but from changing how I view and approach it. For example, when I was struggling to keep my tone steady on higher notes, I used to just keep trying the same warm-up, hoping repetition would fix it. Eventually, I realized the problem was more about breath support and tension in my jaw. Once I "refined" my approach, focusing on releasing tension and grounding my breath, the same exercise started working. I like how this blog post compares practice to being a detective, because it really is about experimenting and following clues rather than just pushing through frustration. It’s a reminder that refining isn’t giving up, it’s adapting.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading this post, I kept thinking about the aspect of singing that I personally have refined the most, which is breath support. Throughout much of my life, I have had a lot of difficulty finding good strategies to gain the breath support needed to get through songs that I wanted to sing or songs that were required of me to sing in voice lessons or choir. There were many hindrances that kept me from being able to take full deep breaths such as asthma in my early years and lack of practice because of the asthma in my later years. It was only once I began taking this class that I realised breathing from the “diaphragm“ was not something that was required of me. I discovered that an easier way of breath support was refining the place that I breathe from. I learned that many bodies are built differently and not everyone is able to find their breath support in the same way breathing from the same place.
ReplyDeleteI really like Rosenberg and LeBorgne’s comment one how it is about the process and the skills you gain to “figure it out” rather than the specific exercise. Before our voice lessons, I was under the impression that there would just be a few end-all-be-all tricks that would automatically fix any problems I had. One for mix, one for belt, one for head voice, and bam! my voice teacher would magically fix me, I just needed to find a teacher. This seems especially common when it comes to the internet vocal teachers who just hand out magical exercises that are supposed to fix everything. So my world was kind of rocked when we started our lessons and I wasn’t just thrown exercises that would automatically fix any specific problem. The voice is also such a brain game—I have specific notes and placements that work 100% of the time in certain songs, but I’ll approach the same note in a different song and a different word and suddenly it feels completely out of my reach. I appreciate the approach of “if it doesn’t work, go to what does work and slowly modify that towards the original goal.”
ReplyDeleteI think refinement is very important to learning, especially when it comes to repetition over a long period of time. Although this may not apply to everyone, often times when I do the same thing over and over, I see improvement, but overall I find my learning stagnant, hitting a dead end almost. Being able to switch up what you're doing can really help, but it is also important to stay resilient and patient as well.
ReplyDeleteRefinement is absolutely essential to this process Brian. I often neglect to think about how our performances change day to day and just assume i can do my baseline at whatever time. For example, the past day I have felt under the weather and still needed to practice, and found myself shifting how I practice and use my voice so as to not wear it out. Finding those little adjustments throughout the day, as well as finding out what works best for me is crucial to my growth. We experimented with that the other day in my voice lesson, trying a myriad of things to boost my high notes of some rep, and sometimes it is as much about placement and posture that makes all the difference! I will be sure to keep working at it moving forward.
ReplyDeleteI’m learning that determination, while a big part of my everyday life, isn’t enough in my singing practice; the way I implement my plan determines whether I improve or stagnate a bit more than I thought it would. During practice sessions, I find myself reevaluating how I’m engaging my breath a lot more now from the individual workshop, reevaluating resonance, and articulation, especially when a bar feels strained or uneven. Sometimes, the issue isn’t effort but more so imbalance. Too much engagement in one system and not enough in another is where I'm getting held up on. When I step back and refine how I’m approaching an exercise like by changing the vowel shape or adjusting my airflow, I start to understand where I'm at in my singing ability much more thoroughly. This constant process of experimenting, adjusting, and reattempting transforms my practice from repetition into mindful exploration and I'm grateful for that so far.
ReplyDeleteWhen I learned that singing strategies are not one size fits all, my training and perception changed. Before coming to college, I did choir, and for whatever reason, the idea was seemingly built into me that we all should use the same vocal techniques. One of my favorite and most effective methods of refinement is changing vowels and bringing it back, as you mentioned here. It works well for me because even if the change is ever so slight, it makes a huge difference on tongue and throat tension.
ReplyDeleteHailey A. Petersen
I think refinement will be very impactful to my improvement for the rest of this semester. I often find myself getting very frustrated when practicing if something is going wrong. Or when something that normally goes well starts to become a struggle. I think if I take a break while practicing to think about what could help me achieve my current goal, like changing my vowel sound or when I breath, will not only help me improve but make me feel more motivated to continue to practice and try out new tactics.
ReplyDeletePeyton Hagen
This blog post is oh so timely! Not only is refinement essential when working on rep for the first time, or when you run into some obstacles, but also with rep that you have had for a while. In Senior Showcase, Trevor has started talking about the creative challenge of taking something you’ve done for a long time and completely switching it up to keep things fresh. With showcase specifically, the challenge is working on the same two or three songs for a span of an entire year and still allowing yourself to keep it fresh with discovery, objectives, and vocal choices as well. This blog further reminds me to keep excavating and exploring my rep for showcase and allow myself to experiment with choices I wouldn’t have initially thought of.
ReplyDeleteAlexa Shaheen