Future-Focused Feedback

Last March, I wrote a blog called "How Does Feedback Make You Feel?," which considers the feedback we receive about our singing both from our teachers and from ourselves. Specifically, I asked you all to consider how you provide feedback to yourselves. Do you correct yourself gently, offering adjustments with kindness? Do you encourage yourself to keep trying with confidence that you can improve? Or are you "your own worst critic," giving yourself feedback laced with judgment and cruelty?

To continue the discussion on feedback, I'd like to return again to the article I cited in the last blog: "Building a Foundation of Trust in Vocal Pedagogy" by Matthew Benkert (Journal of Singing, January 2026). Relating to the feedback that students receive from their teachers, Benkert highlights that any perceived shaming of a student from a teacher (even if unintentional) can trigger a subconscious emotional response that can create an obstacle to learning. Interestingly (and, I suppose, unsurprisingly), students without a fully developed prefrontal cortex (like teenagers and young adults—i.e., college students!) are particularly prone to coping "less soundly" with negative feedback (Benkert, p.285). 

This is not just true of singers. Benkert notes a study where students outside of the arts had initial emotional reactions when receiving feedback in a face-to-face setting that was critical of their work (Hill, Healey, West, and Dery, 2021). As he states, "How much more so is this true of musicians who are offering their own voice for critique?" (p.285). I think we have all felt this at one point or another. As discussed in the last blog, since our voices are so personal to us, a critique of our vocal technique can feel like a critique of our selves. Even if we intellectually understand that is not what is happening, our bodies may still have an instant reaction to the critique that can make it more difficult to incorporate the feedback we receive in a positive way. 

So, how can we deal with this? How can we receive critical feedback in such a way that it doesn't send us into a negative emotional spiral? How can we instead get right to the work of incorporation and improvement? 

Well, some of that responsibility is on me (and all of your teachers). We have to be mindful of when and how we are providing feedback and what it is intended to bring about. If I am offering negative feedback—like simply pointing out something you didn't do so well—all that does is create an awareness of something you did poorly. This may help you know what you did wrong, but it also risks eliciting a negative response. 

Instead, I can right away offer potential tactics for increased performance on your next attempt. This gives you something to do the next time and does not just make you aware of something you maybe shouldn't have done the previous time. For example, if you crack on a high note, I could say something like, "You cracked on that high note." That probably doesn't help anything because you were likely already aware of that. It also doesn't offer you a solution. Instead, I could say something like, "You cracked on that high note because you were using too much subglottic breath pressure and failed to shift the dominant muscle from the thyroarytenoid to the cricothyroid as you increased your pitch." This comment certainly provides more information, but again offers no solution. 

A better response might be, "OK, what would happen if you take a smaller inhalation before singing that again? Also, as you go higher, could you imagine that you are still releasing air rather than feeling like you're holding it back?" These comments don't even acknowledge that anything went wrong, which may just be stating the obvious and could initiate an emotional spiral. Instead, they encourage exploration of new tactics, which may lead to improved performance. 

An even better response, especially for students in the second stage of learning, might be to ask, "What did you notice that time around?" This encourages students to engage with the process rather than wait for teachers to provide all the answers. After students have provided their own self-diagnosis, a follow-up question could be, "What do you think we could try that would make that phrase smoother?" Again, this encourages student engagement and involves them in finding solutions rather then dwelling on less-successful attempts. 

As Benkert writes, "The goal should be feedback with a future-focused message, where the student is empowered as an active participant in their learning. This creates an avenue for them to regulate emotional signals as they work toward future professional goals, such as reinterpreting their emotional reaction to an unsuccessful audition rather than dwelling in negativity." (p.285). 

The best news about all of this is that it's a process you can use in the practice room, too. Try something. If it doesn't go as well as you'd have liked, try to identify what could be improved. Then strategize solutions. Then try something different. Consider what "future-focused" feedback you can provide yourself, instead of getting stuck in the moment of failure. 

In what other area of your life might a "future-focused" approach benefit you?

Now go practice.