The Art of Practicing.

Why should we consider singing as a daily "practice"? Singing is a complex process. It requires the coordination of many different muscles and the cooperation of multiple parts of the brain and body. Practicing helps strengthen the neural pathways for greater ease, confidence & improved abilities.

But practicing is more than just doing something over and over again, it's also about the quality of the time spent doing the exercises.

It's about focus. It's about awareness.

It's about bringing mindfulness into your singing practice. (Or any kind of practice for that matter.)

I spoke about Meditation/ Mindfulness Practices in a recent blog. I spoke about how this kind of practice is about being the moment, bringing your awareness to something specific.

How might we cultivate that kind of awareness as singers when we are singing? What would that look like?

Plan on setting aside 15-30 minutes a day, 5 x a week. This includes all means of preparation; warming up and singing through songs, but also any research you might want to do as well as visualizing your practice.

TIPS

-Don’t sing on an empty stomach.

-Try taking 5 minutes to meditate before you make sounds.

-Remember you are the only one who truly knows what is going on with your voice. If something doesn’t feel right, stop, take a break, and reevaluate.

-Start out singing softly and with as little effort as possible. Build from there. Pace yourself.

-Take frequent breaks.

- Work on developing an awareness around your instrument. Notice when your voice gets tired. Notice when you're "pushing".

-When you’re warming up, be a technician, not a performer. This is not about making perfect, beautiful sounds. Take the emotion out of it and think like a technician. Save the emotion and feeling for your song.

-Warm up SLOWLY, by starting off SOFTLY. When we add volume…. we engage more muscles. By using the straw exercises or humming softly you’re stretching like an athlete does before running a marathon. Don’t skip steps and start belting your song out without warming up. You’ll tire yourself out more quickly.

-Treat your voice with the respect, care and honor it deserves. Eat well, drink water, be quiet if it's tired.

GIVE IT A TRY

For the next week see if you can find focused time everyday day to warmup and sing through a song. Track your progress and see if you notice any breakthroughs!

Let me know how it goes! Send me message on instagram or through my contact page! I'd love to hear from you!