Practice Tips

Part I

This week we start a new series of tips about practicing.  

In previous Vocal Fitness Friday messages, we’ve briefly touched on some aspects of practice and how to best develop and maintain your ‘phonatory physique.’  This series will go into greater detail about what we know about practice and how we can leverage that information to optimize your voice function.

In the next few weeks, we will talk about exercise physiology and motor learning principles, how they might be applied to voice training, and why they are important for you in your vocal fitness journey.  We start today with two exercise physiology training concepts, overloading and specificity.

Overloading is a means of safely taxing the body beyond what is needed for a particular task, to stimulate the body to adapt to the new load and elicit changes in function.  Overload can involve an increase in training volume (how much), training intensity (how hard), and training frequency (how often).  

So what would overload look like for a vocalist?  For a singer who must perform a song with several very lengthy phrases that are challenging to make on a single breath, slowing the tempo down (slower than performance tempo) might be a way to use the overload principle in practice.  If the phrase takes 12 seconds to complete at performance tempo, slow the tempo down to where the phrase takes 13 seconds; once that is accomplished, try 14 seconds, then 15 seconds.  The slower tempo will tax the coordination between respiratory (breathing) and phonatory (voicing) systems beyond what is needed for the actual performance.  Then the actual tempo will be much easier to perform in a concert or recital.  This is a safe way to adjust the intensity of the training.  Practicing singing 6 days per week rather than 4 days per week would also be an example of overloading, increasing the frequency of practice.  Overload must be carefully adjusted so as to avoid overstressing the body’s systems.

Specificity is doing training that relates very carefully with the skills that are needed for a performance.  If you are a classical vocalist and have staccato (short, detached notes) passages in a song for an audition, then doing vocal exercises that incorporate staccato notes would be an example of the specificity principle.  For a country singer who needs to yodel in a song, doing exercises with rapid register changes would be a prime example of this specific training.  In both instances, a singer might do exercises which specifically target the skill in question, then sing a portion of the song which requires that skill.  Alternate back and forth between the exercise and the music to best transfer the voice production that gives success.

With these two principles, you can fine tune your work to make the most out of your practice time.  Happy practicing!

Next week, we discuss individualized practice and reversibility.

Breathe easy,
Your SonoVoice Team

Next Week: Practice Tips Part II

You are a vocal athlete!

Athletes put superhuman demands on the human body. They practice to stay in shape, get better and prepare for the event. No athlete expects to perform at their best without working on their technique, practicing skills, and preparing for the game. 

The same goes for you as a vocal athlete. Practice will help you be prepared for your event: performance. Unfortunately, there’s no shortcut! If you want to be at your best as a singer, you’ll need to establish a regular vocal exercise and practice regimen.

In our weekly Vocal Fitness Friday email, SonoVoice's team of experts in science-based voice training  will be sharing information about how the voice works, tips on keeping your voice healthy, and ideas for vocal exercises for peak vocal fitness.