Five years ago, I wrote a blog about praise—why we want it, how it makes us feel, and the role it can play in vocal training. According to multiple formal definitions, praise can be admiration, commendation, laudation, adulation, or approval offered toward another person.
There are lots of ways we can offer someone praise. "Good job!" "Atta way!" *pats on the head* "Here's $1,000,000!"
As I wrote five years ago, praise of our singing can feel like an important part of our training. It helps us know we are improving and that what we are doing is effective. It also helps us know whether we are meeting a standard of success by earning the approval of our teachers, our peers, and our audiences. It can also help us know if we are meeting our own performance benchmarks, which can be a useful indication as to whether or not we are on track in reaching our goals.
However, praise can have a downside, too, as reflected in a new book titled Student-Centered Voice Pedagogy: Working with Students toward Developing Artistry, Authenticity, and Autonomy edited by Jeanne Goffi-Fynn and Matthew Hoch. In a chapter called "Establishing Rapport," author Makiko Ueda highlights how praise can actually serve as a "roadblock" to progress by inhibiting our self-exploration. Citing the work of therapist Dr. Jane Nelsen, she makes a distinction between praise and encouragement. "Praise is to express a favorable judgment and expression of approval, and the locus of control is external: a student feels good only when the teacher approves" (31). "In contrast, encouragement is to inspire students; it helps them reflect upon their work and promotes self-evaluation. When students feel encouraged, they have a sense of ownership in their progress." (32)
Ueda lists examples of praise: "You are a good musician." "You are such a good student." "I'm proud of you for passing the audition."
She then notes how encouragement can differ from praise: "I appreciate your performance at the recital. It reflected your hard work this semester." "I noticed your trill has improved since last time. How did you go about practicing it?" "How do you feel about passing your audition?"
This isn't to say there is no place for praise in the voice studio. But there are qualifiers. As Ueda notes, "Praising students is helpful in building the student's confidence and rapport if it comes from a place of sincerity and authenticity. However, when praise is not based on actual merit, it can be problematic. Vague feedback such as 'good job' may contain a message of judgment—although it is positive—and does not provide a clear reason for the praise" (31).
So it seems that, in order to be most useful, praise should be sincere (We can usually tell when it isn't, can't we?), specific ("Good job!" is not as helpful as "I appreciated how you were able to incorporate such effective use of dynamics."), and should inspire further commitment to the process.
Don't get me wrong. Sometimes I'm happy just to hear a simple "Atta way!" But the good feelings from such a comment tend to fade pretty quickly and it offers no useful feedback that can lead to a next step.
Think about the way you comment on others' performances. Do you tend to offer praise or encouragement?
Now think about the way you comment on your own performances. Do you tend to offer praise or encouragement (or discouragement)?
How has your practice been going, now that we're a full month into the semester? Have you been able to maintain your practice schedule or does it need some tweaks?
Now go practice.
" "If you’re exasperated by preparation and only interested in performance, you might be using acting as therapy."
ReplyDeleteNow read that quote again and replace the word "acting" with "singing." "
Right!.. Right! I loved this blog post so much that I decided to read the post you wrote about praise in 2021, and I was compelled even further. 2 points I wanted to hit:
Similarly relating to Brian Manternach's blog post titled "Separating the Singer from the Singing" published on January 4th, 2026, we as artists put so much of our self-worth on how "good" we are at our art, but I am starting to see clearer that just because I can't hit a B4 consistently or even though I can't hit a double pirouette cleanly always doesn't mean that I'm a bad or less-than person. Going into the program, comparison was a huuuuge issue for me, and it really took a toll on my self-esteem because I felt almost less than my peers, and then that translated into intimidation and then into fear. While I am still in the process of outgrowing these thoughts, I have learned so much already in my time here, and one important thing is that we are all on our own trajectories, but these trajectories shouldn't be used a display of our character.
The second point of order is what this whole blog post is about: praise, and the difference between praise and encouragement. I think as performers I can confidently state that we seek praise constantly for our own personal validation. Praise, directed to anyone, will usually result in positive emotions. It is fulfilling but can be dangerous (as corny as it sounds haha). Brian, one of the things that I admire about you as a teacher is that with these blog posts, but also with communicating with your students, it kind of invites us into your way of thinking. The way that you teach really forces us to think and evaluate ourselves, rather than relying on others to affirm us on how we did. I remember being so frustrated with the "How did that feel?" question because I always thought that you were supposed to tell me how it sounded first rather than me discussing how it felt internally. How this relates to this blog post is directly related to encouragement. I kind of almost want to group encouragement in the "technicality" aspect of like some sort of feedback rather than broad pieces of praise, that's how it works in my head. Like how it was quoted in this blog post,
" encouragement is to inspire students; it helps them reflect upon their work and promotes self-evaluation. When students feel encouraged, they have a sense of ownership in their progress." (32) "
And this reminds me so much of the types of feedback, which to remind myself consists of Inherent and Augmented, and branching from Augmented are Concurrent, Immediate, and Delayed. Whenever we are in lessons working, "How did that feel?" is usually followed by what was heard from you. Delayed feedback is the type that I usually receive, but I think the goal is to be able to evaluate yourself, utilizing Inherent feedback. A lot of how your studio seems structured to be (correct me if I'm wrong) is for us to be able to graduate/leave your studio with all of the tools needed to be able to ultimately evaluate ourselves, and this foundation stems from the usual Delayed feedback, which then can transform into Inherent feedback, with hints of encouragement sprinkled in every now and then, which is usually specific in relation to technicality. All of these things require us to think for ourselves, rather than relying on a voice to give us the validation that we are needing.
These are all things that I have grown to appreciate so much. I thank you, Dr. Brian Manternach, for another beautifully written blog post.
Something I appreciate a lot about you as a teacher, Brian, is your use of delayed feedback while we work. I find it very helpful when it comes to developing my own abilities to look inside myself and what I am feeling and noticing while I'm performing, warming up, trying new things vocally, etc. and it is also something that I'm not used to from previous vocal teachers. Previously my teachers would just tell me what they're hearing immediately, suggesting fixes that coincide with those observations. While that immediate feedback can be productive in some ways, it greatly reduces my reaction window and my opportunity to think critically of the way I'm approaching my singing. While we have been working on Someone to Fall Back On I have noticed that we are mostly troubleshooting the things I am immediately catching and noticing, especially navigating those high notes at the end of the song.
ReplyDeleteI also began to think about how I give praise/encouragement to others, especially in spaces like studio, or after dem lab, where there is lots of feedback coming at us from all directions. That can feel a bit overwhelming for some so i think it's important to think about how it's landing with others, especially as a peer. I think for me, the way I give feedback is always positive when it comes to peers, unless it is a very specific situation in which they ask for constructive feedback specifically from me. When I am freely giving feedback, this post made me realize I naturally resort to praise. However I would argue there is a place for that if it is from peer to peer, but I don't think it should be all you're hearing. My praise does tend to be specific, like "I really love your voice's ability to use dynamics to communicate the story. youve always been fantastic at that and it directly ties into the grounded acting choices you make" but I think something i could practice is weaving in encouragement of the work they have done to get to that place, and that is also something that I have directly benefited from as a receiver of encouragement throughout my time in your studio.
Alec
This blog post reminded me a lot of a conversation we had in a past masterclass about the awkwardness of the phrase “I’m proud of you”. Before that conversation, it wasn’t really something I thought of before but now it’s a phrase I am a lot more careful and intentional with now. I had to start thinking about why I would feel proud of someone else’s achievements, and if that’s some weird narcissistic self-fulfilling prophecy within myself (shoutout Raheim for teaching us to talk like grown folk). I try not to take it personally when someone else says it to me, but when using it myself, I now try to say things more specific like “I hope you are proud of yourself and the growth you’ve made in this aspect of your life”. Raw talent shouldn’t be everything, and growth is more than enough to be proud of yourself for. The way I give feedback to people is something I find to be a strength within myself. I’m often able to find ways to encourage people with just sharing what I observe, not just saying my likes and dislikes. While I take pride in my ability to provide constructive feedback for others, I can definitely do a better job in giving myself productive critique.
ReplyDeleteThis week I’ve met my practice goals well considering my first week of rehearsals for Corners Grove. It’s possible I’ll need to make some tweaks when it gets busier but for now, it is working.
I've always appreciated the feedback you have given me in our lessons. Starting off as a scared freshman with not the best of voice training, you made me feel comfortable to branch out and try not only new types of styles, but also really training parts of my voice that were new to me. Encouragement has always been a quality that I admire most. I would be lying if I said that other people's comments about my performance, whether good or bad, did not influence me. I agree with Ueda that praise can sometimes be a "roadblock", like some minds need constant approval to keep up their work, and when that is not received, it feels as though we are failing (academic validation, am I right?).
ReplyDeleteI have really shifted my mindset into how I receive feedback now, especially in our lessons. The encouragement that you give, especially in asking me questions to help explore options of how best to navigate the songs we cover is so beneficial. It makes me feel as though we are overcoming and working towards the same goal. When it is reached, the pay off and the work feels worth it, because we both had a say in the process. Ultimately, that is setting myself up for my practice because then I remember how we navigate it going forward, putting it all in my hands as I can apply those techniques to other rep. It truly makes me feel like I am actively training and learning of my own accord with your guidance.
And that has applied to how I too give out praise and feedback. I usually always give positive feedback, mainly in the form of praise. But I have also noticed that I have been encouraging people more often to pursue rep that they want to try, usually telling them all the things that their skill set can add to the pieces. I see so much for a lot of people, and to encourage someone to have the confidence in themselves feels more natural to me than just giving simple praise of what they did that does not have much of constructive feedback.
Jack Anderson
I tend to offer feedback often because of class feedback and music directing. My preferred version of giving feedback is starting with something good—I do find that I tend to offer praise first, and then offer adjustments, as it gives a kind of cushion to the “blow.” I always find it awkward to offer vocal adjustments because the voice is so personal, but its my job as a music director to say “hey you’re doing that wrong, maybe lets try it like this.” When I’m in rehearsals, I find myself more likely to give encouragement, but when I’m in class, I find the feedback I give to just be praise because it feels like our teachers offer enough constructive criticism. When it comes to myself, I do start with what was wrong. I start with what felt wrong, and then I listen to the recording I often take of myself, and then I work with what sounded wrong, and then I evaluate what I actually liked. It’s definitely a judgement-first protocol when it comes to evaluating everybody, but I adjust how I give said evaluations to other people to not come off as harsh and discouraging. It’s hard to adjust that when it comes to yourself, because the thought process is embedded in your brain.
ReplyDelete