Love your Practicing Sessions?

“Go and practice now”….words that rang in my ears often as a child.  Short of dragging me by the ear, I must have driven my mother mad.  She was paying for the lessons and I was balking.

You’ve got to practice she said often, yet the more I could get away with not, the happier I was.  In time you will get better, I was told by my teacher (who must have been equally as frustrated with me.  I just did not enjoy it!  It was back-breakingly boring.  A chore!

How familiar is this?

How to turn the situation around…

What is the answer that will make practice a joy instead of a pain?  Some people are wired for practice and do it anyway. What about the rest of us, what can change our frustration to motivation?

Firstly….it’s not the passage of time or the amount of practice that will make the difference. 

It’s what you do with that time….And how you do WHAT YOU DO with it. 

‘It ‘aint what you do it’s the way that you do it’!  Elle Fitzgerald first made this song famous and I guess she nailed it right there!

Singers so often pay more attention to their singing and getting it louder than they do with easing up.  This is a big mistake.

Here is a list of essentials for happy practice –

Willingness – is almost halfway there.  Giving the necessary time to become a ‘star’ in your life, the wish drives the will and the whole process becomes easier. And there are two sides of the coin.

Unwillingness can happen occasionally and it is vital to give yourself permission to release yourself from any automatic thought patterns – give yourself the occasional break.  The upshot will result in renewed commitment.

Awareness – makes the journey infinitely easier.  Without it we are in the dark not knowing how best to work with all the subtle needs of the delicate vocal process.

Knowledge – builds confidence.  This not only includes facts, ideas and principles, but in-depth learning of how the whole body/mind connects and works.  When I am giving a lesson of Alexander Technique to anyone invariably their interest mushrooms as they realize how much more stable they become just because they grasp the deep know-how body workings which for most is vague at best.  For example, when I ask someone how the lungs work; usually there is no precise understanding of this system.  And vague answers mean vague use.

Inspiration leads to motivation.  As knowledge escalates, it stirs an expanding grasp of the very need of practice…and without struggle, the time is ‘made’ for practice…without struggle!

Alignment – As I work with someone verbally making them aware and guiding them, their physical organisation starts to release upwards and out-wards.  A spontaneous breath let’s go as the automatic reflex sends messages to the brain to set free the tension we needlessly hold in our shoulders and neck.

This happens without ‘trying’.  The problem with ‘trying’ is that it is not possible to directly make it happen despite an anxious need to do so. It’s a bit like ‘try to stand while sitting’!  You can’t, it is not possible. Try relaxing while you breath in…it causes a subliminal ‘panic’ and we take in too much breath instead of getting what is needed.  So this only happens indirectly through aligning the whole Self.

Breathing – developing a calm, easy, deep breath is essential because when we are on stage if it gets short or laboured it affects the whole body and mind togetherness which affects the voice.  It is critical to cultivate this over time so that it is built in and available always.

Self talk – during practice, you find a mistake, you do it again; and again, till you get it right.  Not so?  If this is you, you are among friends.  We all do it.
And when you have done practicing, your mistake list is long and negative.  Time to try something different!  Get a paper and pen and list all the negatives.

Now the hard part…!

Make a corresponding list of all the positives of your practice.  It is a fact that we automatically list the worst of ourselves.  In fact, the only counter-balance of this automatic action is to highlight the opposite, list an equal number of positives.  Read that list every day for a week.  I guarantee it will spur you on.

Joyousness – re-nourishes the motivation.  And we start to get a upward loop, each piece encourages the next.  The more you ease up the more your voice eases.

Success at last – maintains the passion for singing; like a rising spiral your increasing ease puts you more at ease.

And so the circle ends and starts again!

If you feel this makes sense, read it again and work with it.

Work with Nature instead of against Nature.

Happy days….

P.S. I give you my core life experiences here so you can benefit from my ‘roadmaps’ AND set your own inner joyful singer free.  If you enjoy my articles, sign up here for Natural Vocal Freedom tips, articles and advance notice of upcoming classes.

P.P.S. Building your Confidence class starts in the new year, click for details.
Anybody who has ever been in any of my classes is welcome.