How often should I practice singing, and how?
Ask your Vocal Coaching Expert…
When you first start studying the ins and outs of the voice, there will likely be a lot of information and techniques given by your coach, as you might experience with a physiotherapist (whose postural exercises will help your singing) or speech therapist (who will likely give you complementary or similar exercises to a vocal coach).
Find out about vocal coaching lessons, here.
You might ‘feel’ you need to practice a minimum of an hour or two a day on your voice to get results. Not necessarily true.
If you have the time and the mental capacity, or you’re a professional developing a character or audition for an imminent event, you may, indeed, need lots of concentrated work…
However, not everyone is able to commit this.
So, how can you keep your skills ticking over and / or developing without the sense of guilt or worry you’re not doing enough?
Less is more…
The main thing is not to let yourself get overwhelmed.
You don’t have to do all the given techniques in one go. In fact, like going to the gym, it’s better to do little and often, rather than spending hours on your voice and then finding you’re too tired the next few days to sing, or you’ve done some damage.
Little and often…
wins the race.
Breaking it down
Some exercises your vocal coaching expert Dr Anikó Tóth will give you in your vocal coaching lessons are:
Fricatives + recoil breath
a) unvoiced - F, S, Sh, Th (thick)
b) voiced - V, Z, Zh, Th (mother); lip trills (noisy horse lips) and/or tongue trills (rolled r) on sirens
c) recoil in-breath
This is a great way to warm up the voice for any occasion and can be accomplished in 5-10 minutes in the car, on the bus, as you’re walking, or in the next room of anywhere you are about to sing or speak. If this is all you do on a daily basis, it is already making a positive change in your breath management, vocal flexibility, resilience and longevity.
In general, any SOVTs (Semi-Occluded Vocal Techniques) will help you manage your breath pressure and airflow for a consistent vocal sound.
Postural support - think High Status, like a King / Queen; Superhero / Superheroine
a) ‘High status’ (or ‘Say, what?!’) head - pull your head back until you create a double chin, then slight chin lift - bring your head back into alignment (to avoid ‘text neck’) - also good when playing instruments.
b) ‘Squeeze oranges under armpits’ (à la Dane Chalfin) - bring your shoulder blades together, back and down (without being too militaristic). This engages your lats (latissimus dorsi ), rhomboids and trapezius muscles to help your back muscles support your sound. This is especially important for belt techniques.
c) ‘Catch a ball’ - pelvic tuck isolations - find a position of slight tucking + knees slightly bent and weight slightly forward, as if you’re about to catch a ball.
d) ‘The Gorilla’ - release arms and lean over 90 degrees with a flat back and slightly bent knees; slowly rise up into the ‘Catch a ball’ pose, above. You will feel ‘diagonal’ at first, until you become used to the slightly forward feeling of the stance. You may feel more of the muscles of your ‘back body’, e.g. hamstrings, back muscles, are engaged, which is correct. All of the above will mean you are not just singing from your throat, but are using your larger muscles to support your voice.
e) Yoga, Tai Chi, Feldenkrais, Alexander Technique classes / videos online
You can check in with your posture throughout the day - at your desk, while cooking, reading texts, waiting in line, eating in a restaurant, as well as when you are practicing in a concentrated way. Being present in a conscious way in your body at little points during the day will start to train your muscles and brain to stay in alignment.
On your in-breath: lifting your soft palate, relaxing your tongue behind the bottom teeth, and doing your ‘Mona Lisa smile’ to engage your facial muscles can be done anywhere - public or private.
You may find this also has ‘face lift’ benefits. Have you ever noticed the cheek bones on opera singers? It’s not an accident! (See previous blog post on ‘Breathing in the Shape’).
Adding twang (see previous blog post for twang exercises!)
TWANG will save your voice.
Start adding twang into your speaking voice to support your singing voice. Remember, it’s the same voice; it should work similarly in speech and singing, certainly in the lower ranges of CCM (contemporary / chest voice) singing (slightly different for Classical).
Remember, there are two main language centres in the brain: one for speech and one for singing. (Actually, three!)
(This is why stroke victims who have lost speech can sometimes still sing.) If you can train both language centres to remember the lyrics, you’re doing great!
This is another thing you can do anywhere, e.g. by looking at the lyrics or using any acting line memorisation app.
If you’re well-prepared, you will be able to bring your artistic expression and good technique to your performance.
So, to the question "How often should I practice?”, the best answer is…
“often and for short periods in a very focused way”.
Less is more
… when trying to achieve small goals at one time, especially if you’re snatching time. Fricatives while washing dishes; tongue root release exercises while cooking; line learning while travelling - these are ways to integrate attention to your practice while living your daily life.
Once you do get into the practice room to practice your song, your body will already have a great basis on which you can build further development!
Book your Solo Vocal Lesson with our vocal coaching expert Dr Anikó Tóth via the button, below, for more support on your vocal journey!
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