Compliance, Part 1

By now, you have all (hopefully) turned in your practice schedules for the semester and you have identified goals to work toward. Both of those are important steps designed to better enable you to make the most vocal progress this year.

Now comes the hard part: following through.

One of my professors at the Summer Vocology Institute was Kittie Verdolini Abbott, PhD. She is a professor of communication sciences and disorders at the University of Delaware and co-author of Vocology: The Science and Practice of Voice Habilitation. She dedicated an entire class period to the issue of patient compliance where we looked at numerous studies that examine why patients sometimes do not follow their doctors' directions. Some patients in the studies were not taking prescribed medications (or they didn't take them as often as directed) and other patients did not follow through with their therapy exercises or with recommended dietary changes.

The studies uncovered a variety of factors that may contribute to this lack of compliance, one of the most significant being whether people have an internal or external locus of control. As described in Psychology Today by clinical social work psychotherapist Richard B. Joelson:

"If a person has an internal locus of control, that person attributes success to his or her own efforts and abilities. A person who expects to succeed will be more motivated and more likely to learn. A person with an external locus of control, who attributes his or her success to luck or fate, will be less likely to make the effort needed to learn."

In one notable study (Gordillo et al., 1999), patients with an external locus of control (who believe their lives are directed by factors outside of their control) were much less likely to follow through with medical treatments.

Is there a parallel here to voice students following through with vocal practice? I don't believe that has been studied as thoroughly, but maybe we can make some assumptions.

Voice students with an external locus of control may believe they aren't as good at singing as they should be because they haven't been lucky enough to have good voice teachers. This may frustrate them to the point where they are not motivated to practice. Or, they may feel that they didn't inherit good singing genes from their parents so they shouldn't bother practicing. They may point to other external factors as reasons for not practicing, like having a full schedule or not having a good place to practice.

On the other hand, students whose internal locus of control causes them to believe that they are in charge of their own lives may recognize that they haven't had great teachers or been blessed with abundant natural abilities, but they will use that as motivation to work harder rather than to withdraw. They may look at their busy schedule and insist on finding time and a place to practice, believing that to be the best way to improve their skills.

If an external locus of control may be making it more difficult to follow through with our practice, are we capable of simply adopting an internal locus of control instead? That's difficult to say. Dr. Joelson explains that although our locus of control is often seen as an inborn personality component, there is also evidence that it is shaped by our experiences.

Regardless, sometimes acknowledging our natural tendencies can help us consciously overcome them if they are not serving us. If you find yourself sloughing off from your practice, try saying out loud some of the kinds of phrases that Dr. Joelson has heard from people who have an internal locus of control:  “I know it’s up to me,” “I can learn how to become more successful,” or “I am responsible for what happens in my practice.”

We're more than two weeks in. How has your practice been going? How are you doing at complying with your own practice schedule?

Now go practice.

Goals

Welcome to the 2019-2020 school year!

The start of a new semester is a great time to check in, evaluate your vocal abilities, and devise a plan for improvement. One of the best ways we can do this is to set goals.

Personally, I never used to be big on goals. I always figured that if I was making sure to practice consistently, I'd just get better. While that is certainly true, research has shown that people who set goals actually achieve more than people who don't. Goal-setters are also more motivated on a day-to-day basis than people who don't have specific goals to aspire toward.

Much of this information about goal-setting is discussed in a chapter called "Brain" by Lynn Helding, which appears in the new edition of Your Voice: An Inside View by Scott McCoy. In the chapter, Professor Helding outlines four parameters to consider when setting goals.

1. Goals should be specific and not too general
2. Goals should be written down (not just kept in mind)
3. Goals should be challenging and not too easy
4. For every goal, you should be able to answer, "How am I going to reach that goal?"

Let's consider each of these.

First, your goals should be specific. Saying "I want to sing higher" is less specific than "I want to extend my range by two half steps beyond my current highest note." Similarly, saying "I need better breath management" is not as specific as saying "I want to be able to sustain an F4 five seconds longer than I can now."

Second, writing something down makes it more real. I think that's part of why journaling can be such a useful exercise. There is also research that indicates that students who take notes by hand (with a pen and paper instead of typing on a keyboard) are more likely to retain the information they write down. It's easy to say, "I'm sure I'll remember what my goals are." Maybe, but maybe not. Write them down!

Third, goals are meant to challenge us to reach beyond our capabilities. There isn't much point in setting a goal that doesn't require any real effort to achieve. That doesn't mean goals have to be way beyond our reach, though. That can be frustrating, counterproductive, and may ultimately make us less likely to keep working toward that goal. We seem to be better off if our goals are not too easy and not too difficult to achieve—in the Goldilocks zone!

Fourth, we have to have a plan for how we are going to achieve our goals. It doesn't do any good to say "I want to extend my range by two half steps" if you don't know what exercises are going to help you get there. And this leads me to my last point...

Talk with your teachers about your goals. We can help you identify goals that are challenging but achievable and specific to the skills you most want to build. And we can also help develop exercises that are tailored to you that we believe will have the greatest chance of success. Of course, we're always working on this in every class and voice lesson. But you may have specific goals of your own that we hadn't considered for you. Let's work together on this.

For this first blog response, I'd like everyone to identify three goals you have for the semester. Be specific, challenge yourself, and develop an action plan for how you will achieve those goals. We'll be checking in on these goals throughout the semester.

So glad to be back to work with all of you! Let's have a great year.

Now go practice.

[Obligatory comparison between reaching a goal and reaching a mountaintop.]

Heard as we are

Progress in voice pedagogy can be like a slow moving vehicle. Considering that many techniques for classical singing have literally been practiced and passed down for centuries, the relatively new techniques for singing in contemporary styles have taken a while to earn credibility among some voice pedagogues. Little by little, however, progress is being made and we are catching up with the times.

Another area where vocal pedagogy has been lacking is in providing reliable information related to teaching transgender singers. My studio bookshelf has volumes dedicated to teaching sopranos, blues singers, adolescent singers, aging singers, gospel singers, vocally injured singers, choral singers, and even barbershop singers. But, until quite recently, there were almost no resources available on the specific needs of transgender singers. Thankfully, that has begun to be addressed through a flourish of articles, dissertations, and books. One of those new books is called The Singing Teacher's Guide to Transgender Voices by Liz Jackson Hearns and Brian Kremer. It's an outstanding resource that has had a strong influence on my teaching.

One quote in particular made an impression on me. In the book's foreword, Das Janssen, PhD, wrote:

"Human beings are social animals. We need one another and we need to be heard. And we need to be heard as who and what we are." 

This need seems especially applicable to those in the transgender community, for whom society has been decidedly unwelcoming throughout much of our history. Although, I think we all can relate to the basic human need to be acknowledged for who we are.

I believe music provides us a language to express ourselves when words seem insufficient. Considering that our voices are uniquely our own, when we sing, we reveal ourselves to the world in a way that is intensely personal. As Dr. Janssen implies, as social animals, what we are really hoping for when we sing is to be heard and to be accepted.

To that end, the primary reason we train our voices is so that our souls can more accurately be expressed through the sounds we make. It is not to get jobs. It is not to appear on Broadway. It is not for attention and praise. It is to be heard. Authentically.

When we, in turn, listen to others with the same openness and acceptance with which we ourselves wish to be heard, we build a society that honors individuals while recognizing that our greatest strength is found in community. That is the society we desperately need and absolutely deserve.

Thanks for a great year. I'm so grateful that you all have the courage to do this work.

And please, PLEASE keep sharing your voices as authentically and enthusiastically as you are able, as if the world depends on it. I'm quite certain that it does.

Visualization

In THE MUSIC MAN, Harold Hill famously encourages his students to use "The Think System." This "revolutionary method," as he calls it, claims that if students simply think through Bach's Minuet in G in their minds, they won't need to bother learning to read music or learning how to play their instruments.

In the show, this story line is used to demonstrate that "Professor" Hill is a con man. Even so, by the end of the show, the students actually are able to play a bit of the Minuet in G. Sure, they don't play it well, but considering that they received no instruction whatsoever, the Think System seems to have led to at least some positive results.

This is no surprise for those who have conducted research on visualization. Numerous studies have demonstrated that mental practice or visualization can be almost as effective as physical practice. They have also shown that doing both mental and physical practice gets even better results than doing either practice alone.

In a new book, College Prep for Musicians, authors Annie Bosler, Don Greene, and Kathleen Tesar offer the following format for engaging in mental practice.

First, find a difficult passage in one of your songs. Second, sing through the passage in your head at a slower tempo than is called for in performance. Third, repeat the passage until you can do it flawlessly in your mind and up to the original tempo. Fourth, put that passage back into the context of the entire song or a longer section of the song and practice that mentally as well.

I use mental practice as a way to work toward memorization by looking at a passage of music, singing it mentally while looking at the music, and then singing it mentally without looking at the page. I also have used mental practice as a way to continue to practice when I was sick or when my voice was tired.

As we approach juries, consider incorporating some mental practice into your routine and see if you notice a difference.

On an unrelated note, I came across an article by Amy Marie Stewart recently titled "Failing Our Singers: How a Demand for Execution Kills the Freedom to Create." Hopefully this excerpt will intrigue you enough to read the whole piece: 

"From the time an actor arrives at a university or conservatory program, they're presented with a list of 'don'ts,' instead of a creative environment where it's okay to take risks. It's time to admit that this cheats our audiences and creates performance anxiety in our actors. We can do better."

I'd be happy to discuss this if any of you have thoughts you'd like to share.

How has your practice been this week? What are your goals from now to the end of the semester?

Now go practice.

You really ought to give Iowa a try.

Show and tell

Those of you who have taken the MTP Vocal Pedagogy course are familiar with Clifton Ware's book Basics of Vocal Pedagogy: The Foundations and Process of Singing. Even though my brother used to study with Dr. Ware—and I took a lesson from him years ago—I had never read his book until last month. Despite its publication date of 1998, I was pleasantly surprised at how up-to-date it read and how it was aligned with many pedagogical practices I had only learned about in the last several years. Clearly, I would have been better served to have read the book sooner.

One of the sections that intrigued me was called The Teacher/Student Relationship, which is tucked away in Chapter 13: Teaching Singing. Dr. Ware breaks this relationship down into "Teachers' responsibilities" and "Students' responsibilities," and says, "In order for the relationship to be mutually supportive, both teacher and student have specific roles to play."

In the "Teachers' responsibilities" he writes:

"[...] effective teachers guide students in setting realistic goals and expectations, offer regular constructive feedback, stay attuned to students' personal problems, focus on students' needs during lessons, and provide environments for learning that are healthy, clean, and attractive." -Basics of Vocal Pedagogy, p.259

Although I wouldn't exactly call FAW "attractive," these are still good reminders to me. I know I mention goals a lot at the beginning of the semester and here on the blog but I don't often mention them in lessons. Now that we are post-spring break, it might be a good goal of mine to check in with all of you more regularly on your progress toward your goals. Also, while it may seem too personal for him to advise that teachers "...stay attuned to students' personal problems," we all know that personal problems can sometimes interfere with your ability to perform vocally. Of course, you are never required to share your personal problems with me, but you should also know that you are free to share this information and it will be received without judgement. I like to think of my studio as a free speech zone and I hope all of you feel that way as well.

Regarding the "Students' responsibilities," this quote stood out to me the most:

"[...] rather than simply responding to instruction, students are expected to take initiative in the learning process by stating personal goals, offering pertinent background information, demonstrating problems, raising questions, and requesting help when needed. Ideally, lessons become 'show and tell' opportunities for students to demonstrate what they learned the preceding week." -Basics of Vocal Pedagogy, p.259

I really love the idea of lessons becoming 'show and tell' sessions. When you are getting your 300 weekly required minutes of vocal practice (according to the MTP handbook), inevitably, you will run into issues. Questions will arise, triumphs will occur, and you will run into some brick walls. That's what I want to hear about at your lessons. In fact, there is no clearer signal to me that you have been logging your hours of mindful practice than when you come to your lessons with a list of questions that came up during your practicing.

As we head into the last stretch of the semester (it's just more than a month until juries!), let's see how attentive you can be to your practicing. There is still plenty of time for technical improvements and refinement of your expressive and performance skills.

So, whatever happens, let's begin!

Now go practice.

Goat get your goals!

High efficiency

We're going to be replacing our furnace pretty soon. Generally, furnaces last about 15-20 years and ours will turn 20 this year. (Yes, my furnace is older than some of you. *sigh*)

In the interest of being responsible consumers, and as people who try to be environmentally minded, we may buy a "high-efficiency" furnace this time. Although they cost more money, they can heat a house while using less energy than a standard furnace, which may save us money in the long run. In essence, high-efficiency furnaces get more output (heat) with less input (energy burned).

When we break it down, a primary purpose of voice training is to turn our voices into high-efficiency machines.

One of the greatest inhibitors of efficient singing is unnecessary tension. Of course, singing is not a lazy or completely relaxed activity—there must be a dynamic balance of tensions in order to make sound. But too much tension in the wrong places can lead to problems.

In the book Singing with Your Whole Self: A Singer's Guide to Feldenkrais Awareness through Movement, authors Samuel H. Nelson and Elizabeth L. Blades explain that when we unnecessarily tighten a muscle (or a group of muscles), it takes more effort and force to complete tasks (like singing). This extra effort leads to three things:

1. We get tired faster.
2. We're more likely to get injured.
3. Our voices sound strained. 

The authors describe this further:

"As fatigue is a function of energy expended versus energy available, obviously, for any given task, the less energy used, the less tired we will be. With extra effort, injuries are more likely both because the extra effort itself leads to added strain and wear and tear and because as we tire injuries are more likely. As more effort is made, a tense quality envelops the musculature. Since the sound we produce is a product of our entire self, this tense quality colors our sound."  -Singing with Your Whole Self, p.28

One of the Awareness Through Movement (ATM) exercises they encourage in the book is similar to the head-and-neck exercise I have had all of you do at one point or another. Moving your head back and forth a few inches encourages a sense of looseness at the upper shoulders, neck, jaw, tongue, face, etc., which can release unnecessary tensions and increase vocal efficiency before you even start to make sound.

Sure, no one comes out of a performance and says, "Wow, that was some really efficient singing up there!" But when our singing is more efficient, our voices will last longer and we will be able to place more of our effort and attention on the expressive elements of our musical storytelling.

And, just like a high-efficiency furnace, the more bang (or belting) for your buck, the better off you'll be.

How has your singing been this week? How can you bring more efficiency into your singing?

Now go practice.

Our cat (Claude) knows that although the fire on the TV is more impressive,
the actual gas fireplace is more efficient at getting him warm.

I guess that's why they call it the [winter] blues

I saw this tweet the other day and it spoke to me on a profound level. 

Winter has never been my favorite season. I mean, I love the festivities of the holidays. I like to ski and snowshoe. And, because I am apparently an old woman in a Hallmark movie, I love to sit by the fireplace while the snow gently falls outside the window, sipping tea with a book in my hand and a cat on my lap.

But once January 2nd hits, I'm ready for spring. I'm ready for sunshine, I'm ready to stop being cold, and I'm ready for some energy and motivation.

This doesn't jive well with the discipline needed to improve in a craft that requires regular work and attention. If we spend all winter hibernating—as delightful as that sometimes sounds—we risk stagnating and falling behind.

I try to remind myself during this time of year that motivation thrives on momentum. Small steps in the right direction can "snowball" into major accomplishments. It's like those days when you tell yourself you're going to get up early and go to the gym. Then the alarm goes off and you consider just staying in bed. But then you think, OK, I'll get up but I'll only work out for 20 minutes instead of for an hour. So you drag your butt out of bed, get to the gym, and start your workout. And then a few minutes into your workout you don't feel as awful as you did when the alarm went off. Twenty minutes go by and you think, OK, I'll get to a half hour. Then a half hour passes and you are in the zone and end up going for the full hour.

That is one of the main reasons I encourage you to set up your vocal practice time in short increments. There will always be days when you don't feel motivated to practice, especially if you're staring at a 60-minute session ahead of you. But if you can get yourself to do just 10 or 15 minutes, you may build enough momentum to carry you up to a half hour or more. And even if you quit after 15 minutes, that's still a lot better than zero minutes.

Winter can be grey, bleak, and blah. We all feel it. But one step can lead to another and another and another. Just put yourself in motion and remember the words of Polish poet Czeslaw Milosz:

day draws near

another one

do what you can 

How do you stay motivated during the winter doldrums? How has your practicing been?

Now go practice.

The sun'll come out...tomorrow.