Happy New Year!
I was thinking this week about what to share with you, and someone asked me “do you do New Year’s Resolutions?”.
This got me thinking that many of you may be wholly on-board with the New Year’s resolutions pattern, and others may merely like some suggestions on what to focus on in a new year.
So here are three simple things I suggest that you focus on this year to hear progress with your voice. None of these are complicated, in fact, in many respects it’s about doing less and working smarter.
1. Practice little and often, to keep stress down
All too often people equate quantity with quality. People assume that if they don’t have hours to devote to practice that there’s no point doing so. This could not be further from the truth. I’ve written about the principles of effective practice before.
The goal of good singing practice is to train our voice to make all the necessary adjustments for song with the minimum of effort. This means practicing both the mechanical aspects, but also making sure our body does it in a stress-free manner. This is most easily tapped into during short, focused practice sessions. Even 5-15 minutes can be highly effective in this regard.
For example, if I am short on time but want to get some more practice in within 15 minutes, I will spend 2 minutes warming up, 8 minutes on just a few choice exercises, and the remaining 5 minutes deploying what I’ve worked on within 1-2 songs. Provided I have done this in a relaxed manner rather than rushing through it, I will have warmed up, ingrained good mechanical and neurological function into my voice/body, and deployed it on song.
You don’t need hours. If you can practice 5-15 minutes, and to do so more days than not in this way, you will see vocal progress without ever taxing your voice to breaking point.
2. Focus on a handful of songs that show off your voice, NOT songs that make you sound like you’re showing off
The voice is an instrument where quality of aesthetic on a song matters more than a song’s technical difficulty. Sure, complicated songs sound impressive, but ultimately it’s whether something is listenable that gets people to sit and listen.
In the classical world, singers find a few operas where the songs already sound great in their voice. They make a living out of the handful of songs in those operas, and over time, try out new songs within other operas. When they find a new set that sounds better than current ones in rotation, they swap them out. In that way they are always ready to sing, but always upgrading how good they sound as their voice and ability improves.
In the same way, don’t try and find ever more difficult songs, or always be singing a totally different song every day. Instead focus on 3-5 songs (up to 10) that you can already hear you sound decent on, and spend time refining that selection of songs. You will discover far more about your voice while becoming ever more listenable the more you do this. You will inevitably grow beyond that short list, but you lose the effectiveness of song practice by exploring too far too fast.
3. Remember your recovery: take rest, and don’t neglect sleep
I’ve written about the importance of rest and sleep before.
When we sleep, our brain reviews and integrates whatever we have practiced in the day. Hence, getting good quality, consistent sleep is essential for getting our practice to sink into our voice and bodies.
If we have sung too much, or been less precise than we out to be, wear and tear is an inevitable outcome. Sleep is when our body repairs itself. So for both recovery of your physical body, and development of your neurology and muscle memory, we need to tap into the power of sleep.
Conclusion
You’ll note that only one of the tips relates to actual singing practice. One of these relates more to having a consciously decided list of songs in a notebook, and the other pertains to your sleep patterns. Yet that’s how interconnected all these things are, and how it’s the simple conscious fundamentals that make the biggest differences.
Good luck in your singing journey in 2025! If you’d like help along the way, you can book in via my booking form right here.