How to Practice Singing, Part 3: Chunk it Up

First, the participants look at the task as a whole – as one big chunk, the megacircuit. Second, they divide it into its smallest possible chunks. Third, they play with time, slowing the action down, then speeding it up, to learn its inner archetecture. 

– Daniel Coyle, writing in The Talent Code about "talent hotbeds" where learning takes place at vastly accelerated rates.

If you want to understand or do something better, break it down into manageable components rather than trying to digest or master the entire thing all at once. It's a universal principle. Progress in science relies upon observing and manipulating increasingly smaller units of matter. Athletes often have to develop highly specific areas of strength and coordination before their very first attempt at a sport. Imagine trying to learn how to pole vault by just going for it over and over again!

The components of vocal technique include:

• Alignment
• Breathing
• Phonation
• Articulation
• Resonance

Each of these can be further broken down into more specific components. For example, articulation includes all movements of the jaw, tongue, lips and everything else that contributes to the definition of vowels and consonants. 

While there are a finite number of these components, there certainly are a lot of them, and you can't perform technical exercises without simultaneously engaging many of them. 

But you can narrow your focus so that you're really only working on one or two at a time. This is the way to create new, permanent good habits for your singing technique. 

Here's an example. 

Suppose you find that when you sustain on an [i] vowel ("ee") you lose resonance and/or feel tight. The goal for your practice session is to start redefining [i] so that it becomes as resonant and free as your other vowels. 

Vowels are internal resonating shapes. Multiple shapes will produce the sound [i], so your job is to find the one that will be the most resonant and create the least resistance, and then integrate it into your technique. 

I talked about how work on singing technique often feels like a wrestling match with deeply ingrained muscle memory. Your "muscle memory" for how to say [i] is actually a neural map that is almost as old as you are. It's a complicated movement of your jaw, tongue, and other muscles in your mouth and throat that you have been reinforcing from the time you first learned how to speak – thousands of times every day. 

Replacing this deeply ingrained habit with the brand new neural map that will optimize this vowel for singing requires patient, repetitive training. 

Try this:

1. Limber up your articulators. Make yourself yawn; stretch your tongue by sticking it out all the way; stretch your jaw by first opening it as wide as it will comfortably go, then hooking your fingers over your lower molars and giving it a gentle downward pull. 
2. Establish a relaxed open position for your jaw. Just let it hang, as though you've had a shot of Novocaine. Your teeth should be parted by about a finger's width, no more. 
3. Watch yourself in a mirror and/or press your hands against your cheeks to make sure your jaw stays put. If you don't monitor it like this, you will probably not be able to notice if it moves. 
4. Sing or speak a sustained [a] ("ah") on a comfortable low pitch. Then morph back and forth between [a] and [i] by moving only your tongue. Keep the tip of your tongue resting against the back of your lower teeth. Your tongue will arch forward quite a bit when articulating [i] without moving your jaw or lips.

(Why do I want you to articulate [i] without moving your lips and jaw? You don't need your jaw or your lips for [i], so don't use them. The simplest movements are the best for singing, and extraneous movement usually creates entanglement. In speech, most people articulate [i] by closing the jaw and stretching the lips sideways, but if you gently place a hand on your throat and do this you will notice how things tighten up there. If you can just use your tongue in the way I recommend, there shouldn't be any tightness.) 

Assuming that your [a] is pretty free, you can now sing [i] with the same level of freedom. You'll need to reinforce this new vowel position with lots of focused repetition, first on its own, then in the context of vocal exercises, and then in the context of every phrase you sing that calls for [i]. 

 

I have addressed one very specific subcomponent of the articulation category of vocal technique. When you consider how many aspects there are to alignment, breathing, phonation, articulation and resonance, it can get overwhelming. 

However, there truly is a finite number of these subcomponents. If you cultivate each of them with a high degree of focus, your technique will come together exponentially faster than if you don't. 

The voice can be pretty unforgiving. Even if your technique is utterly flawless with the exception of a habitually entangled [i] vowel, every [i] you sing will interrupt your legato, compromise your resonance, and tighten up your voice in a way that impacts all of your other vowels as well. 

If, however, you learn how to break down the elements of your technique into their simplest components you will be able to address each one effectively.

Comments

[Avocationalsinger.blogspot.com]

I must have been meant to absorb this concept -- the "chunk it up" concept -- because it's the second time I've read it today. The first time this way of working was mentioned was in a book I'm reading The Practicing Mind: Bringing Discipline and Focus Into Your Life by Thomas M. Sterner. I've kind of already been approaching things this way, but hearing it both in the book, and now on your blog makes me think that I must continue more specifically in this manner. Thanks!

[Claudia Friedlander]

Fabulous book recommendation, Frances! Thanks - I am going to get my hands on a copy of this as soon as possible. Anyone else interested can find it here:

The Practicing Mind: Bringing Discipline and Focus Into Your Life http://www.amazon.com/Practicing-Mind-Bringing-Discipline-Focus/dp/0977657205/thelibvoi-20/.

I'm always on the lookout for books and resources relating to the practice of singing, so please keep the recommendations coming.