VOCALS
INTELLECT TO INSTINCT | Sheri Gould
If you are growing as a singer, you will have singers. We need those good habits to come with their church team once or twice a week.
noticed a few things. I suppose it’s true with so naturally that we don’t even have to think They sing from their hearts and don’t really
anything new that you are trying to learn; it about it. How do we get there? want to think about proper singing technique.
doesn’t always come naturally… at first.
FIRST THINGS FIRST It reminds me of a funny experience I had with a
When working to improve your singing, it can We need to make sure that the techniques we close friend. She and I were prayer partners and
take quite a while before your new techniques are currently using are healthy vocal techniques. good friends for many years before she asked
come naturally. I find it amusing to hear how We should not assume, any of us, that every me one day, out of the blue, if I would teach her
long people think it takes to build a new habit. A time we open our mouths to sing (or speak) how to sing. I was so pleased (surprised too)!
quick search came up with all of these: that we are using the best technique. Instead, So, we began our lessons and shortly into the
we should carefully review how we approach experience she stopped me and said, “This is
What this research suggests is that it’s true… it singing or phonating, of any kind, to make so much work! Do you do all these things when
takes about 21 days to form a habit. sure that we have proper technique in place. you sing?” I told her, “Of course!” At which point
The good news is, that we can literally practice she said, “But it looks so easy when you do
On average, it takes more than two months these things all day. We all use our voice it!” That is, of course, because it had already
before a new behavior becomes automatic — throughout the day, so if we can simply make gone from intellect to instinct for me. She was
66 days to be exact. ourselves more cognizant of our technique, we just beginning the process of understanding
can capitalize on building good habits without intellectually (and physically) what was involved.
One popular method to build habits is called necessarily having to stop and “practice” them Sadly for me, after hearing this, she said, “Then
the 21/90 rule. The rule is simple enough. specifically. never mind! This is too hard!”
21 straight days. After three weeks, the pursuit What are some of the most important It’s a humorous story to tell, but the reality is
of that goal should have become a habit. Once techniques to be aware of? sad because this is how many singers feel
you've established that habit, you continue to 1. Proper breath support about learning to sing properly. Because they
do it for another ninety days. 2. Relaxed throat and neck area feel overwhelmed, they simply stop trying to
3. Low Larynx learn... but they don’t stop singing, they just
Researchers from University College London 4. Good tone placement continue to sing incorrectly. Thus, (in part) we
examined the new habits of 96 people over the 5. Avoidance of harmful behaviors (clearing see the epidemic of vocal damage.
Commit to a personal or professional goal for
space of 12 weeks, and found that the average
throat, yelling, coughing, etc)
time it takes for a new habit to stick is actually 6. Getting proper hydration In conclusion, if you care about singing for the
66 days. Furthermore, individual times varied 7. Breathing through your nose and not your duration of your lifetime, as well as improving
from 18 to a whopping 254 days.
And my personal favorite article… Stop
Expecting to Change Your Habit in 21 Days.
mouth your skill overall, invest in your voice. Learn the
8. Keeping a relaxed open mouth proper techniques for strengthening and saving
9. Warming up the vocal cords each morning your voice. Build good habits that eventually
(regardless of whether you’re singing that you’ll stop having to think about doing because
day) you do them “instinctively”.
So, you can see that the data is clear: no one
really has a clue how long it takes for something SECONDLY
to become a habit. Haha! As singers, if you want your singing to improve,
God bless you as you sing for Him!
it is important to make time to actually practice.
What is clear, to me, is that it takes time In the field/genre I primarily work with, it’s
and effort to take a behavior from intellect to difficult to expect a whole lot from singers. Most
instinct, and this is what we need to happen as of the singers I come in contact with are singing
52
April 2020
Sheri Gould
Sheri is an internationally acclaimed vocal coach.
She’s been helping artists and worshipers find their
voice for over 40 years. For help and resources visit
her site.
www.SheriGould.com
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