Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.

1950's and 60's American Footballer, Vince Lombardi, is quoted as saying "Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence." and that is truly relevant for every pursuit in our lives.

While we don't want to resign ourselves to our current level of skill, nor can we realistically assume that we will ever be our very own, overly harsh, and unrealistic state of "perfect".  By definition, perfection is a state of completeness or flawlessness, and there is nothing in the universe that is truly flawless.  Sure you may look at a celebrity in a magazine and say to yourself, "oh look at her flawless figure", or "man I wish I looked like that", some of you may even say, "I wish I sounded like [x,y,z]".  You must find the beauty in yourself.  All these celebrities, might have the appearance of perfection, but that's never really the case.  Imagine having your day intruded and photographed every time you decide to go for a coffee, what's worse, if you don't put your makeup on before you go, then you've got some incurable illness, or if you're a little bloated, then Boom, your teeny tiny size8 body is clearly pregnant!  I think I'll stick with my problems, those ones would annoy me.

Since there is no one out there that is perfect, has the perfect life, the perfect this, and the perfect that, then why would you put that pressure on yourself?  No really? Why are you sooo unbelievably different from the other 7 Billion people on the planet, that you and you alone MUST be perfect?  Ok, that sounds harsh, but it's true, none of us has everything we want, and if we did, where would our challenges lie?  Challenge is part of the joy of living, so lap every single one up with glee!

Now, in our singing lessons, we try to set reasonable goals every term with students so that they can see a realistic progress.  It is not realistic to assume that someone who cannot pitch a single note, is going to be the next Robbie Williams, auto tune is good, but it's not THAT good.  If you're struggling with your pitch, your goal will be to combat that, and over time, you will succeed!  If you're looking 8 stages down your path, and beating yourself up for not reaching that stage, then of course you're going to feel deflated, or low about it.  Stick to what's in front of you and take it in nice small consumable chunks.

Remember, what you put in, will affect what you get out.  If you don't practise your exercises, developing your techniques and combatting nerves, then you will not achieve the goals you set for yourself, and a vicious descending cycle will begin.  Only with effort will you break through and when you succeed, it feels good.  

So, instead of hearing yourself sing and assume that if you don't sound like Beyonce, you're totally "wrong", start thinking about what you've done right, what bits were good?  What bits put a smile on your face, I bet it was when you weren't trying so hard to be "perfect"!

Combat your nerves

This was modified from an "about.com" article on sporting performance, but it's as relevant to singing as it is to running a race...

Preparation

*  Recognise that the "jitters" are normal - Accept, rather than fight your nervous energy.  Don't misinterpret it, by thinking that it's fear.  The adrenaline rush you feel is a normal part of your body's function.  Notice it, but don't focus on it.  Once you're in the full swing of things, it WILL subside, it always does.

*  Prepare both mentally and physically - Arrive in plenty of time, so that you aren't rushed, which will only increase your stress.  Do a good warmup and think about your breathing, it might sound mad, but stretch a bit too...

*  Visualise - Allow a few minutes to practise visualisation.  During this time, mentally rehearse, showing yourself doing everything right.  Breathe easy, close your eyes and use the mental imagery to visualise yourself performing well.  This positive self-talk can change your attitude towards singing.

During the Performance

* Focus on the task at hand - Stay present in the moment and avoid thinking far too far into the future, the song or the end.  If you find yourself thinking negative thoughts, or negative self-talk, stop and focus only on your breathing.  Focussing on your breathing rhythm will automatically pull you back to the present.  Sometimes this requires practise, so spend time regularly to do it.  Take 10 minutes, set an alarm on your phone (or alarm clock), lie down and focus on that breath, in and out.  If your mind wanders, don't chastise yourself, rather bring your focus back to the breathing.  Your mind is a cheeky monkey that is always looking for the next adventure, it doesn't quiet easily.

*  Force a smile - (really) - If you're struggling with negative thoughts, and you can't break out of the cycle, then simply force yourself to smile, even if only for a few seconds.  This simple action will change your attitude in a split second.  Perhaps, all the time you need to relax back into your performance.

* Sing like you don't care - If you find yourself caught up in negative thoughts, and find that you suddenly expect the worst, it will be impossible for you to perform at your peak.  If you begin to sing like you don't care about the outcome, you will relax and and enjoy it for what it is, another day in your life, not the most important one!

Afterwards

*  Review the performance and recall the things that you did well - Focus on the thoughts, actions and behaviours that helped you perform.

*  Acknowledge, but quickly dismiss the things that hindered your performance - This is the same principle as avoiding an obstacle while driving.  You look where you want to go, and where you don't.  When you focus on the pothole, you almost always hit it.  Focusing on the negative aspects of the performance will not help you to improve in the future.  Better to focus on what you did right!  This is a form of mental rehearsal, where you practise skills that will be used in the next one.

*  Try to mimic the conditions -  Do what you can to recreate the setting that is causing your nerves, invite friends to sit and listen.  Do what you can to make a fake audience.

The main thing you need to remember, is to ENJOY yourself!  

How long does it take to be a good singer...

How long is the proverbial piece of string?  Many people will tell you that they "Mastered" and instrument in a few years, while others, believe the Malcolm Gladwell hypothesis that it takes 10,000 hours to fully master an instrument.  10,000 hours?  That's really YEARS!!! 

Well, it will not turn around overnight, and you will not grasp a new instrument in weeks, or even months really.  But plugging away at the new skills that you've learned and practising the technical, will eventually pay off, with persistence.  Sometimes, you really need to fight through the bad days, to keep the flow going, but those bad days will get less and less, as your skills improve.  With any instrument, you can trundle along for a long time, apparently not moving forward, then one day... BAM, you're able to do something that had once eluded you, and you've no idea why!

When learning something new, don't try to compare yourself to the masters of the craft.  You'll only annoy yourself that you're not that good yet, after all it's been 3 months!!! I can assure you, that they didn't master their craft in 3 months, and many professional musicians, will spend hours every DAY perfecting their instrument.  That's not really practical for most, who are learning as a hobby, even those who aspire to be semi or fully professional would struggle to fit in the kind of hours that the touring musician can!

Singing is a unique craft to learn.  While most other musicians have the need to learn where to place fingering, breath control, scales on an instrument, singers need to learn how to be singers at the same time... A guitar already knows how to be a guitar, but how do you know, right away, how to use your voice?  Some have a natural grasp, which usually comes from a specific learning style, but it still makes learning to sing difficult.  Why?  Because learning to sing, isn't easy!

Remember to practise regularly, and to concentrate on your technical skills during scales, but when it comes to singing a song, enjoy it.  Let your mind go, and your body will follow! 

How does smoking affect my singing?

This is a great question, I get asked frequently by singers if it's ok to smoke and sing!

Truth is, smoking is not the best for you in any way, shape or form.  There really is no way to beat about that bush, it's bad for you!  If you want to be a singer, it's just not going to help you advance your career, and may very well do just the opposite.

So what does it do?

Breathing: - First and foremost, smoking affects your breathing, and as we know, breath is the fuel for your voice.  The lungs contain little fibres, called Cilia, which help to move debris from the lungs.  When you smoke, these fibres are damaged, so they don't work, debris sits in your lungs and you have to work extra hard to cough it out, hence, smokers cough.




 

The Vocal Cords: - The vocal cords are what create the pitch, their resonance is what creates the notes as the air from your lungs passes through.  They are pale in colour and covered in a slight mucos, which helps them to vibrate.  In a healthy voice, this movement is effortless.  If you smoke, you can disrupt the blood flow in the vocal cords, and they can become inflamed, a-symmetric and dry. 

 

 

This is when you notice changes to your voice, you sound hoarse, or dry and no matter how much water you drink, it doesn't go away.  The swelling in the cords and the a-symmetry, (as seen in the diagram), mean that the cords cannot vibrate together freely, and do not come together cleanly, instead there may be airy gaps in the process, which can alter desired pitches, or may make a note sound like it has an overtone as two pitches can be created.

It's not about fear, but if you want to sing, best to drop the ciggies!

The Peanut Butter Adagio!

Singing made easy!  Ha, if only there was a quick fix.  

The truth is, there isn't a quick way to become a good/ great singer.  It takes hard work, effort, practice and guidance to help you develop and understand the sensations that you're feeling.  You have to know whether you should be feeling it, or what you should, instead have going on.

People learn in different ways, and some are more responsive to kinesthetic (it feels like this... or that) rather than the auditory (listening to) examples of technique.

I love this one.  It might not appeal to everyone, particularly those with the old peanut allergy but if you have any similar products that I could substitute, I'd welcome them!

So yes, the peanut butter, what is she talking about?  

Well, when we do our singing lessons in Edinburgh, one of the first things we do, is warm up!  Every good teacher should make sure that the voice is adequately warmed up and ready for the session!  One of our warm up exercises is a series of descending hums, on a major scale.  When you're thinking about doing the hum, imagine that you're trying to lick peanut butter from the roof of your mouth, and relax the tongue at the point where the tip of the tongue is about to cross the threshold made by your teeth.  You'll notice that your tongue is down at the back, you're soft palate will be raise slightly at the back, and above all the internal workings of your mouth will be relaxed!

Relax relax relax!

Try it!