Voice is one of the hardest instruments to practice on your own… Since there’s no book or instruction manual to follow, it can be hard to know what direction to move in or how to execute efficient practice sessions. Here’s what to do…
Utilize Lesson Recordings
My best recommendation to you is… record each of your lessons while you are in the studio! This simple habit alone has proven to be the most efficient way for my students to practice at home and retain the information I pass onto them at lessons. You’ll be able to practice along to each recorded lesson & repeat the exercises we specially curated for your voice & development each week.
At each of your voice lessons, we often will perform 10-30 minutes of vocal scales, warmups, and other exercises at the beginning of each session. These vocalizes change from week to week depending on your rate of advancement, muscle coordination, and performance. The scales and exercises we practice in your lessons are NEVER generic; they are specifically chosen and tailored to your voice, range, level, weaknesses, strengths, etc and I change and adapt them throughout your lesson to meet your unique needs and your rate of advancement. If something isn’t working, we change it and adapt. If something works well, we work our way up from there. I guarantee that if you do not record your lessons, you will forget most of what we do and it will slow your progress down significantly.
I’ve actually linked some of my favorite, top rated, & affordable voice recorders at the end of this blog post for you. So take advantage of that <3
Order of Practice
Too many students will go home and just practice repertoire, often forgetting that the most important step in their vocal education and training is developing proper muscle coordination. We apply technique to repertoire not the other way around. This is the only way a song will get any better and feel any better.
Always precede your repertoire practice with an efficient vocal exercise session (ie. your recorded lesson vocalizes). This allows your body to consistently feel and memorize the specific muscle coordinations we work on in each of your lessons. As you consistently practice your uniquely tailored vocalizes, your body will start to carry those good muscle coordinations over into your repertoire. Your songs will start to feel and sound better than ever. If you do it the other way around, or by skipping technique warm ups all together, all you do is stunt your growth and dig deeper and deeper into current habits. You are in voice lessons to develop new habits & coordinations because your old ones weren’t working for you. Developing these new skills & coordinations is key to any kind of growth in singing.
Beginning to advanced students also benefit from recording the work we do on their repertoire. We get meticulous and work specific & often difficult sections, measures, and notes within your songs applying technical exercises, vowel/consonant combos, shapes, & imagery. We also practice and apply performance strategies, acting techniques, emotion, gesture, and movement to our repertoire – all of which is good to have record of via recording.
Meticulous Self Recordings
Your lesson recordings are essential, but also recording your at home practice sessions will help you be meticulous and efficient. Not one of us has an accurate perception of our own voice because we are hearing it from the inside out. It isn’t until we hear a recording of ourselves that we hear the truth and develop an awareness of our habits and what little tweaks we need to make.
If you are working on repertoire: 1) record yourself singing a small passage, 2) listen back, 3) tweak and change, 4) repeat.
Use the same process for any and all vocalizes or techniques you are trying to master.
What to Use
You can record your sessions via a phone, tablet, computer, or buy a simple voice recorder from Best Buy, Target, or Amazon. Apple products all come with the Voice Memos application, which works great, or you can download a voice recorder app on any device.
Voice recorders are great because all of your recordings are stored in one place and then you can transfer those recordings via usb over to a computer at any time.
Some of my students find it helpful to video record certain parts of their lessons, especially if we are perfecting a performance or audition piece. This allows you to see yourself and your performance and critique it. You can do this at home during your practice sessions as well.
Lesson Notes
I also try to provide basic outlines, instructions, & links to resources in your lesson notes each week. These lesson notes are emailed to you at each lesson. You can also access your lesson notes archive via your portal under the Attendance & Notes section. These notes also help you & I remember exactly what we worked on the week previous and how to proceed.
Practice Log
Inside your portal, you can log your practice time and leave notes, comments, & questions. Sometimes this is useful because you can alert me as to what you are working on, struggling with, and/or excelling at. There will always be a record of it inside your portal for you or I to reference.
If you prefer a more personal voice journal, I would highly encourage keeping a record of the things you are experiencing and working on in your own private notebook. Bring it to lessons, record epiphanies, important info, possible repertoire, etc.
Research
This year we are going to encourage a lot more at home music research and exploration. Many of us are only exposed to a tiny percentage of musical styles & genres; so we are encouraging our students to dip their feet in some unfamiliar genres and time periods of music. Explore and experience different cultures and music! Parents and grandparents can assist their children by exposing them to some of the music and songs they enjoyed growing up.
Study professional singers! Singers should watch other professional singers perform live; whether that be via youtube or attending live performances. Youtube is an excellent resource for live professional performances. Study great singers; study how they sound, how they stylize, and what they do while they sing and perform.
We can be very limited if we don’t develop a wide variety of musical experience and exploration. You are what you listen to; and that’s the truth especially for musicians. The type of music we immerse ourselves in and the artists we continually listen to, all inevitably influence our own artistry and style. We each connect with different artists, styles and genres. If you dip your feet in all kinds of music, your own distinctive style, sound, & image will start to evolve, and you’ll find a voice that is uniquely your own.
Young Children
I approach lessons with young children a little differently. It always depends on each child’s unique needs, but I generally ease them into small and short periods of basic vocal techniques and scales, and then apply those techniques to fun ditties, songs, and exercises. We then work repertoire; which is really important in young children’s lessons! Parents of young children play an important role in their child’s singing lesson experience. At home, it is very important that students first memorize the lyrics to our chosen repertoire, because I use the repertoire, melodies, and lyrics to sneak in vocal technique, exercises, and performance technique. If the lyrics are memorized, they have a much easier and enjoyable time applying the techniques; and they remember them when they go home! I continually ease young students into more knowledge about how their voice works and help them experience new ways of using their voice.
Conclusion
I hope this post was helpful! I want you all to succeed, reach all of your goals, and find joy & fulfillment in your singing! Singing should most definitely be fun, but mastering singing also takes a lot of hard, dedicated, and efficient work, just like any other instrument or skill; But it’s all so worth it in the end!
Happy singing my dear friends! Keep up the good work! You are all amazing and such a joy to work with.
P.S. I’ve linked some of my favorite, top rated, & affordable voice recorders below.
