The Verbal/Cognitive Stage of Motor Learning

In November, we discussed the stages of motor learning that are involved when we are building new skills. In the next few blogs, we will take a more in-depth look at each stage, the first of which is the verbal/cognitive stage.

As outlined in The Vocal Athlete by Wendy D. Leborgne and Marci Rosenberg, the verbal/cognitive stage is where we're just starting to explore a new skill and getting a feel for what we're doing. This stage requires a lot of repetition, guidance, and feedback, and involves many failed attempts.

When students come to my studio singing with a significant amount of jaw tension, for instance (a common inefficiency among singers), my job is to help them create a new habit of singing with freedom at the jaw. To let you in a bit on the process, here is how I often structure voice lessons to help them work through the verbal/cognitive stage as they acquire this new skill.

First, I explain the important role of the articulators in singing (jaw, lips, tongue, etc.) and how they allow us to have clear diction as well as open, resonant vowels. In order to provide accurate anatomical understanding, I show them pictures of the temporalis and masseter muscles and explain their function as jaw-closing muscles. Then I direct students through self-massage of these muscles, encouraging release of any tightness or tension.

Temporalis muscle, by Henry Vandyke Carter - Henry Gray (1918) Anatomy of the Human Body (See "Book" section below)Bartleby.com: Gray's Anatomy, Plate 382, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=528874

Continuing, I ask students to place their hands across their jaws while encouraging a sense of looseness, using their own sense of touch to create sensations they can feel and remember. Then I have them vocalize on simple, easy patterns while maintaining the sensation of looseness at the jaw. When they can do this, I ask them to look in the mirror as they vocalize so they can see what it looks like to sing with freedom at the jaw.

Masseter muscle, by Kevjonesin - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26222892

Then I will start to take some of those cues away. I will ask them to drop their hand from the jaw but to continue looking in the mirror. Then I will have them look away from the mirror and only use their internal awareness (proprioception) to see if the jaw is still free as they sing. Then I will change the vocal pattern they are singing and after every third or fourth repetition I will ask them to either touch their jaws again or to look back in the mirror. By doing this, the students start to build a repertoire of visual cues and physical sensations of what it is like to sing without excessive jaw tension.

I may then move on to a completely different exercise and change their focus to another element of their singing. After a few minutes, I will ask, "Was your jaw free on that last exercise?" If the students say, "I don't know," I'll say, "Let's do it again and see what you notice."

I try to avoid simply telling students, "Your jaw is tight," even if that is something I see. Instead, I prefer to redirect their attention back to the jaw so they can make their own assessments. This causes the singers to check back in, observe, and make an adjustment, if needed.

Progressing through the verbal/cognitive stage of specific singing skills means practicing the unfamiliar until it becomes familiar. In this process, there will be some successful tries and some failures, each of which will begin to inform our successive attempts IF our attempts are done with focus and awareness.

As I have mentioned before, there are some elements of our singing that are more developed and some that are less developed. It may be human nature to avoid practicing the skills that are less developed since they tend to frustrate us. But without doing the work of focused repetition, we won't progress beyond the first stage of motor learning.

What elements of your singing are in the verbal/cognitive stage? How have you been doing in working toward your semester goals so far?

Now go practice.