One of the most daunting aspects of vocal practice isn’t necessarily the complexity of the exercises, but rather the fact that you’re often trying to accomplish too much at once. As a vocalist, it’s easy to make a mental note of all the things you want to work on, only to feel frustrated when you don’t see results. In your practice routine, it’s essential to have a clear objective. Maybe today you want to work on your breath control, or perhaps you want to try and extend your vocal range or work on your tone. Whatever it is, you need to be focused.
A good practice routine should begin with a proper warm-up that is not taxing to the voice. A warm-up should be basic, relatively the same, and should concentrate on breathing and placement. Such a warm-up routine enables the singer to perform more difficult exercises with ease and confidence. Many singers neglect to warm-up properly, or hurriedly attempt to do so, resulting in unnecessary strain and poor tone production. A good warm-up also sends a message to your body that you are about to sing, enabling your vocal mechanism to function with greater ease during the remainder of your practice routine.
In addition to warmups, there should be one specific skill to work on per practice session. If the goal is accuracy of pitch, exercises that highlight and isolate the pitch and emphasis of listening should be used. If it is power, support and resonance should be emphasized, but loudness should not be pushed. This avoids fatigue and enables the singer to repeat and gain confidence in the new patterns. As this new skill becomes more established, the rest will follow in kind.
The second crucial element to practice being productive is to record results. By having a practice journal to mark which exercises were completed and the results observed, a singer can begin to observe trends in their voice. If an exercise seems to produce better tone or less strain, then it can be repeated, and so on. This prevents time from being wasted on practices that aren’t accomplishing anything. We’re not looking for perfection, we’re looking for steady increases in ability, and a practice journal is where you’ll see this increase.
Lastly, practice is most effective when linked to performance. Singing isn’t about technique, it’s about communicating ideas through music. When there is music to sing that is close to a person’s heart, they are more likely to make time to work on it, and the work will feel more relevant to their interests. Progress is best when practice is linked to performance. It makes it feel less like work and more like working towards the same goal of having a more confident and solid sound.