In preparing for the fourth and final session of Voice as Practice, I found myself jotting down a list of approaches that have been helpful in supporting our voice practices.
Instead of understanding our voices as something that needs fixing or control, what if we related to the voice as a place we can go to, an experience we can return to, something that naturally shifts and grows through continued interaction?
Our voice and our relationship to it can feel intense, even urgent at times. I don’t mean to minimize that in any way. But I’ve come to believe that the simple act of continuing to show up, of giving myself permission to make sounds (whether weird, uncomfortable, clear, or pleasant), has led to the most meaningful change, and a deeper connection with myself.
So, here’s the list I created, which I’m calling A Field Guide to Practice. I hope it supports you! Leave me a comment if you have any thoughts or questions :)
A Field Guide to Practice
This is a field guide. These are not rules.
They’re ways of protecting the container so that change can take its course.
Change is the only constant, and continuing to show up will eventually, naturally, yield to change.
Learning to enjoy and nurture our practice supports our continued attempts to show up.
Your (only) job is to show up.
Treat it like a yoga class.
No expectation of mastery
Spending the whole class in Child’s Pose is valid, even encouraged
What is Child’s pose in Voice Practice?
this could be… feeling your pulse, counting your breath, softening/widening your gaze, humming gently out loud or in your imagined voice
Accept our different body/voice types, and let go of the need to compare
Walking away and taking breaks is part of the practice
Ritualize it.
Make practice inevitable.
Leverage habit science (one of my favorite writers/thinkers on this topic is James Clear)
Encourage repetition
Doing the same thing is good
Developing a “launch sequence” for your voice practice so it becomes automatic
Embrace spirituality
Savor it
Make it special.
Treat small things with reverence.
Small chunks.
Respond to overwhelm not as failure, but as a sign to downsize.
Focus on just one thing to work on
Set a timer and practice for just 5 minutes
Break down a song into more tangible pieces
Choose a 5~10 second chunk to sing/listen/speak
Hum just the pitches without the words
Speak just the words without the pitches
Leverage the body and nervous system.
Protect the container through self-regulation.
Incorporate somatic practices (somatic = relating to the body, distinct from the mind) & grounding techniques
Patting/tapping
Physiological sighs
5-4-3-2-1 grounding
Widening your gaze
Humming (stimulates the vagus nerve!)
Be curious, not corrective.
Assume you and your body are responding intelligently.
Begin to let go of the need to fix
Descriptive feedback > prescriptive feedback
Prescriptive feedback often sneaks in wearing the disguise of helpfulness. If it sounds like a command or a correction, it’s probably prescriptive
Be nice. Say only things you’re also comfortable saying to a dear friend
Be an explorer. Or a scientist!
Invite playfulness and strangeness.
Pick a song you ‘don’t care about’ and try imitating the singer just for fun
Watching videos of vocal anatomy.
Experimenting with extended technique (overtones, suboctaves, multiphonics).
Get weird. Make yourself laugh.
Track and reflect.
Make change visible.
Create tangible ways to track progress
ex. Paperclip method
Keep a practice journal
Use practice aids
Timers, tuners, spectrographs
My favorite practice apps: Spectrolite, Tonal Energy TE Tuner, Voice Tools, dB Meter
Let practice leak into life.
Hum in a public space
Beyond your voice practice, expand awareness of how you use your voice in your day-to-day life
Use your supportive mindset around your voice beyond yourself
Notice criticism of voices/creativity without need to fix
Wonder out loud