About practice: you will only improve if you commit to regular daily practice!
The SLaS technique is the best vocal training you will find. It will work the fastest and will give you the range, power, and artistry that you want- but only if you do your part! Your part is a commitment to daily practice and consistent weekly voice lessons. If you commit to daily practice you will see amazing results- quickly!
- Be consistent and daily about your practice routine.
- Become a dedicated learner who schedules practice time as a priority. This means eliminating other activities.
- Be accountable- learn to follow through.
- Keep your commitments to yourself, your future, and your talent.
- Practice by singing along with your recorded lesson, standing in front of a mirror, with focused attention. This is far different from singing along with the radio in the car. You need to focus.
We want you to know that we require 30 minutes per day of practice- on exercises!
The exercises in your weekly lesson are the tools that transform your voice. We are developing and coordinating muscles. AFTER you have completed your vocal workout by singing along with the recorded exercises from your most recent lesson you can work on songs.
That is the only way change and improvement occurs. To create a habit you have to repeat an action with focused attention many, many times, creating a neuropathway in the brain, a kind of groove that means you don’t have to think about the action any more. Singing will be fun and easy someday, we promise! But… at first, trying to change a bad habit or learn a new habit takes attention and focus.
Please know that:
Music lessons of any kind require daily practice. You are going to have to eliminate some activities to make time for this. You will need to establish priorities.
Magical thinking will not improve your singing! In many people’s minds singing lessons are all about singing songs. They indulge in magical thinking– that singing like a superstar is magically going to happen because they are taking voice lessons, and that if they could only get on a talent show like The Voice they would surely be discovered and become famous. No work involved.
The reality is that NO ONE who is a successful singer got there without being really disciplined and possessing an exceptional work ethic. It’s like being an athlete! It takes that kind of commitment. If your goal is success, you need to practice daily, preferably at the same time each day, for a minimum of 30 minutes per day, on the exercises we give you. Singing songs happens only after you do the exercises!
In the magical thinker’s mind, voice lessons are just singing songs. In the magical thinker’s mind just taking a lesson once a week will make them great. The reality is: you have to work specific muscles in a specific way consistently and daily to see results. You build skills, sequentially, one on the other. We are developing muscles, efficiency and coordination, one skill at a time. That is the premise of The Eight Steps of Vocal Development. If those muscles are not exercised daily with the correct exercises (by singing along with the recorded lesson) the muscles do not change and habits do not improve. You need focused and consistent repetition to create new neuromuscular habits. You have to do the work to see the results.
*Parents: Please do not over-schedule your child’s activities, leaving no time for practice, and then quit because they haven’t practiced. You need to be very pro-active at scheduling and monitoring your child’s practice time. Do not expect them to have the maturity to consistently do this. You have to be involved, all the way through high school. Even if they really like singing, they may not love doing the exercises. That is the nature of the developing brain. Be pro-active to ensure your child’s success.
A good way to encourage a habit is to start small- even 10 minutes a day will result in change and improvement. The key to creating good habits is daily consistency, preferably at the same time every day- even a 10-minute session daily is better than inconsistent practice. Then start increasing the time by 5 minutes weekly until you hit the 30 minutes per day mark.
Three books to read about this are Talent is Overrated, The Talent Code, and Outliers.
So-called “talent” actually means very little. How hard you work at something, and how many times you repeat a skill with focused attention, determine your success- or failure.
Practicing for at least 30 minutes practice daily with focused attention by singing along with your recorded lesson is the only way real change and improvement occurs. We will give you the tools- but you have to put in the work to see the results. It’s a partnership!
and focused, mindful, daily practice are so important:
