Becoming a Vocal Athlete: Part II

How Much Should I Practice?

Recently one of my students posted a note on FaceBook about being so pleased with his vocal progress. When I asked him about it and to what did he attribute it, he replied, "Well, I am practicing every day now." That's in addition to whatever singing he already does.

As teachers we emphasize the importance of regular practice, but singing every day is not enough. For a singer's body to transform into an optimum singing "athlete", he/she needs to delicately push the limits of the voice. One needs to create the physical demands that will cause the body to adapt and change. At the same time, one must not push the voice too much.

So, how do we know how much is just right? Singing and practicing until the throat begins to feel tired is a good guideline. One will feel that the voice is less flexible in dynamic levels, range, and color. The voice may feel heavy. It should not, however, feel strained or begin to sound edgy or hoarse. That's pushing too far.

Aim for a "good" tired in each practice session. Depending on your body and the level at which you are at on any given day, the length of time will vary for each individual and from day to day.

Next: How to use the principle of "Muscle Specificity."

Becoming a Vocal Athlete: Part I

Why do we need to practice? One can look to exercise physiology for some of the answers. Conditioning the body for singing is like conditioning an athlete's body for any sport. One must "build up" one's body through time with repeated and specific exercises in order to achieve optimum singing ability. This is the first in a series of posts on how principles from exercise physiology can be applied to the voice

The body wants to conserve its current state. Before the body will make physiological changes it must "believe" it is going to need those changes for a long time. It yields its current state only over time and with repeated demand.

Here are just some of the physical changes that occur with regular singing and the time it takes for the body to begin those changes:

• 3 months: The body begins to transform the processes that inhibit the signals that stimulate the muscles. This allows muscles to respond more readily when called upon.
• 6 months: The Body begins to increase the number of mitochondria (microscopic "energy factories" that supply muscles with fuel to contract).
• 12 months1: The body starts to increase the ability to circulate, deliver, and use oxygen during intense muscular contractions. This help to develop extended range as well as sostenuto, intense, and continuous singing.
• 15 months: The body beings to grow more capillaries that reach teh muscles used in singing over time, increasing the blood supply and the oxygen available for the muscles to process energy and ward off fatigue.

Not only do we, as singers, need to practice regulary, but we must continue to do so over a long period of time to even begin to affect change! So let's get going and sing!!

(Excerpted from Excellence in Singing by Robert Caldwell and Joan Wall, Caldwell Publishing, 2001, Vol. 3).

Going Backwards for Success

Feeling clueless on how to proceed towards your goals? Don't know quite where to start? Or feeling overwhelmed by the enormity of what needs to be done? Use this plan to take you, step by step, towards acheiving your goals. It's planning backwards and here's how it works...

Start by stating, in writing, where you want to be in, say, five years. This can include your career goal, financial goal, fitness goal, really anything you want. For each one of those goals you will work out a backward plan. For example, let's say that I want to be twenty pounds lighter and able to run a marathon. In this case, I might want to work backward from a one year goal (since it is doable in that amount of time). Okay, now where do I need to be in six months? Maybe it's ten pounds lighter and able to run a half-marathon. What are the steps I need to take me there, in three months, one month, one week, and one day at a time?

By breaking it down into smaller and smaller units as well as daily tasks, I no longer feel whelmed by it all. Plus, I can have a sense of accomplishment with each mini-task that I've completed. Before you know it, I've arrived at the destination!

Where do I want to be (to have accomplished) in 5 years?
What has to happen this next year to get me there?
What do I need to do by the end of 6 months?
3 months?
1 month?
This week?
Today?

Map it all out on a large calendar or chart and place it where you can readily see it each day. Be sure to check off each item that you've done to show your progress. By starting backward, you can move forward and end up right where you want to!

Back to Basics

I recently took a voice lesson that consisted almost entirely of just starting the tone, over and over again. Keep in mind that I have been singing professionally and teaching for almost thirty years. One would think, then, that this lesson was both boring and useless to me. Instead, it was one of the best lessons I’ve had. It is precisely because I have been singing and teaching for so long that this was terrific. One gets so used to one’s routine as well as seeking newer and better ways of doing things that it is easy to forget that the simplest and most basic of elements can often be the most profound.

Particularly in the last decade or so, the voice teaching profession seems to have gotten more competitive with more and more business minded types out on the internet, advertising, blogging, and, sometimes, hyping their wares. “You, too, can learn the secrets to a high C and ultimate success.” In this environment it is easy to think that one is not up to date, or providing the best information and service to one’s students. Yet when I go to a lesson myself, I am not looking for the newest, shiniest “toy”. I am looking for someone to care about me and to hone in on and help me with whatever issue I may be having with my voice; or, just helping me to stay on track. So, it is an excellent lesson to realize that sometimes the simplest of things can be the best of things.

In practicing and in teaching, don’t be afraid to revisit basic tenets of singing and performance. In our quest to constantly advance, these basics can often get left by the wayside. Yet they are the core of what we do. Breathing, easy onsets and phonation; how to walk onto the stage and just be present; these are things that are worth our time and effort, even if it IS the thousandth time!