Prerequisites for advanced singing

As college students, you're all familiar with prerequisites. Obviously, you can't take Algebra II unless you have passed Algebra I, and you wouldn't want to take Advanced Composition if you have haven't completed Beginning Composition. 

Pre-reqs are a little different in voice studies, however. Since I believe wholeheartedly in the process of "discovering your voice," I want everyone to have the experience of taking voice lessons—even those without professional singing aspirations. To that end, some students have come to my studio as complete beginners and others have come with a significant amount of previous singing training. 

That being said, I believe there are some prerequisites that are necessary for embarking upon advanced vocal studies. 

First, advanced singers should have at least a basic knowledge of vocal anatomy (parts of the body) and physiology (how those parts work) in order to accurately understand what their bodies are doing when they're singing. They don't necessarily need to know every minute detail or have the same in-depth knowledge that you would expect a voice teacher to have, but they should know enough about vocal function in order to self-diagnose certain inefficiencies and prescribe vocal exercises that work with physical reality rather than against it. 

Second, advanced singers should have a good grasp on the main tenets of vocal health. They need to know which vocal uses can cause fatigue and which can lead to undue stress on the vocal mechanism. They should know how to pace their vocal use and how to efficiently train their instruments, and they should understand how lifestyle factors (diet, sleep, hydration, etc.) can impact their vocal health. 

Third, advanced singers should know what professional-level singing sounds like. That doesn't mean they have to imitate other singers, but they should know what the industry standard is (especially if they expect to meet that standard). Ideally, this will be done by thoughtfully observing professional singers in live performance. In lieu of that, thankfully, YouTube is a thing. Recordings of live performances with minimal "aural airbrushing" or studio sound mixing will be the most representative of what's actually going on vocally. Of course, it's perfectly fine to listen to music just for the fun of it. But advanced singers should also take the time to listen with "singer's ears" to try to determine how professional singers create their sound. 

Fourth, advanced singers need to know what their own successful singing feels like and sounds like. This may seem obvious, but in order to consistently create advanced-level sounds, singers need to have enough experience making those sounds to know what it is they are recreating. In other words, their singing should be beyond the trial-and-error guessing game that takes place in the early stages of learning. Naturally, it may vary a bit from person to person as to what designates "successful singing." But in order to reach an advanced skill level, singers must have a foundation to build upon. In fact, it stands to reason that the more singers experience successful singing, the more they will be considered advanced. 

I suspect that if you ask other voice teachers what they would consider prerequisites for advanced singing, you may get a variety of additions to this non-exhaustive list. And, as the Dunning-Kruger Effect indicates, the more we know about a subject, the more likely we are to realize how much more we still have to learn. To that end, the more singers become advanced, the more conscious they may be of all they are not yet able to do and, ironically, the less advanced they may feel. 

Even so, the more singers can confidently check the boxes indicating that they have met each of these prerequisites, the more likely they are to have graduated beyond the beginning levels of vocal study. 

How has your practice been this week? How are you progressing toward the goals you outlined in the last blog? 

Now go practice. 

"Curiosity is a fuel that powers the engine of human advancement." 

―Keigo Higashino