Because we’ve adopted a lot of myths about singing and voice production, we tend to think of it as difficult and get unnecessarily self-conscious about using our voices and practicing. As I like to combine walking with warm-ups and singing practice (and because a tight schedule often requires me to warm up in public or in the back of taxis) I have had to adopt a new attitude to my voice. I must acknowledge the principles of ‘cause and effect’ (of good and bad singing) on the voice, and, exercise a great deal of grace. If I’ve had a hard gig the night before for example, I will allow myself more time for gentle stretches and a longer, more gradual warm up the next morning.
Imagine you’ve just been born and you don’t know how your voice works or what anything means or is supposed to feel or sound like. You’re just experimenting with a new toy like a baby does with their voice!. Experiment with the sound as it sits in your body, the room, the feel of the vibrations, the breath and the air around you. Every time you practice it’s like creating a ‘clean slate’ – no fears or expectations.
Think of the traumas you’ve put your voice through. This will help you develop a sense of compassion. Your voice is your friend – treat it like one. Don’t confuse ‘awareness’ with hypersensitivity, fear or over-analysis. Practice a non-judgmental compassion towards your instrument. If you pay attention (by keeping a practice log and curiously experimenting with vocal techniques as applied to your voice), you will soon discover that there are things your voice does and doesn’t like. Register how using your voice in different ways makes you ‘feel’ rather than listening out for how it sounds only.
Listen out for the qualities you like in your voice – even if they are currently just faint flickers or seeds of voice qualities you like (depth, beauty, expression, character). Don’t listen to the parts you don’t like. Amplify the good. Be honest. If there are qualities you don’t like, be courageous enough to name them and then systematically remove them. As you practice, it is pointless looking at the problem, only focusing on working the solutions will move you forward and away from self consciousness and limitation.
Don’t be concerned with WRONG or RIGHT or how you’ve done things in the past (or how little practice you may’ve done). Just focus entirely on the task at hand – the solutions to problems and your enjoyment of the sound you make and the expression it provides. If for example, you are practicing using an open throat, make it your sole focus and remind yourself of this task if your mind wanders. If you find yourself thinking of other techniques, then allow them to be ‘added’ to the open throat rather than seen as unwelcome distractions.
Don’t expect anything out of your voice or compare it to how it sounded before (yesterday, last year, when you were a teenager!). Don’t compare it to how other people sound unless you’ve got your ‘healthy comparisons’ hat on! Accept every single little crunch and crackle in your voice with good humour and a giggle. (Like a fart or a burp).There is no need for shame in self critique.
Use the contrast of being super-critical of your voice for a few minutes. Deliberately listen to its faults and register how this self-judgment makes you feel (e.g. where and how much tension, fear, constraint, rigidity). How does this effect your vocal performance?
Do not strive for perfection – strive to have character and be yourself.
Notice how your voice feels when you sing in the shower, or surrounded by heavy traffic, or when you’re doing the vacuuming. When we don’t listen to ourselves with a critical ear (or half an ear to how we sound rather than 100% meaning and expression) we are freer, more open and enjoy our voices more.
Think about the ‘ego’ in its reaction to our ‘true self’ (or ‘intuitive self’) as similar to the ‘throat’s response to our use of the ‘head’ when we sing. Both ego and throat take on the role of ‘controller’. They like to believe themselves as the sole creator of sound or experience, when they are in fact ‘in the way’ of those things they wish to create
Envisage your ‘well’ of emotional history and reference as seated in your tummy. When we sing, we must draw from this ‘well’ in order to colour the sound and give what we sing meaning. Try to remove all the blocks to the access of this ‘well’: tummy tension, chest tightness, stiff shoulders and unaligned neck, jaw tension, tongue tension, facial tension, throat tension or a furrowed brow. Use a relaxation exercise to pinpoint exactly where you hold unwanted tension in your body. NB: Relaxing these areas doesn’t go far enough. We must open them in order to resonate the sound there and to provide an open channel for the sound from the ‘belly’/’well’ up, and out.
Allow the voice and get to know it rather than constantly keeping it at arms length with brute force, denial, unconsciously sounding like others and worshipping volume. Enjoy the journey.