Here at Arabella’s Voice Studio, we get a lot of questions and inquiries about our voice lessons. Everything from technique questions, how to practice, music theory, learning different singing styles, improving pitch accuracy, breath control, and everything in between! We’ve compiled a list of some questions we regularly get that we’ll review below. Additionally, if you are interested in voice lessons and have a question that isn’t covered here, please contact us anytime. We’d love to hear from you and provide any resources we can to help with your questions!
1. How to Practice Consistently Outside of Lessons
Work with Your Teacher to Build a Practice Routine
First and foremost, you must clearly understand what you’re going to practice. This ensures that your time is spent purposefully and productively. Practicing is a very delicate little ecosystem because, without focus, it is very easy to lose momentum, neglect important techniques, and stagnate your growth.
Our vocal coaches specialize in helping build healthy, productive, fun, and effective practice routines that stimulate our students both mentally and physically, and more importantly; produce consistent results!
A good mixture of warm-ups, breath work, vocal technique, repertoire, ear training, and vocal exploration in a structured practice routine goes a long way. This will help you build many of the necessary skills to sing at the top of your game. Also, it’s a great idea to build some different 30, 45, and 60-minute practice routines and flip between them throughout the week to prevent monotony.
Establish a Regular Practice Schedule
One of the most important aspects of regular practice is building practice time into your day. It sounds trivial and simple, but it’s also very easily overlooked. A smart habit to get into is setting your practice schedule to be the same every day if possible. A consistent practice routine will help reinforce muscle memory, build vocal strength, and ensure steady progress in your singing abilities.
It’s important to treat your singing practice like you would treat band practice or soccer practice. When you’re involved in these activities, you fully commit to showing up and spending a specific time frame on practicing. Voice lessons should be no different!
A key difference to keep in mind though is that when you’re playing on a sports team or playing in a band, other people depend on you to show up. With self-directed practice, it’s all on you!
For more on “habit stacking”, and building routines, we recommend reading “Atomic Habits” by James Clear.
Additionally, try to maintain a practice-focused mindset as much as possible. If you’re going to casually watch a 30-minute show on Netflix, grab your sheet music and take some notes while watching. Mark some of your trouble spots, highlight dynamics and articulations, write out challenging rhythms, and make breath marks.
Find an Accountability Partner
When you’re taking voice lessons, it’s typical that you will see your vocal coach once a week. That leaves a lot of time in between lessons where you’re 100% accountable for your practice time. Modern life is filled with commitments. School, work, family, social life, sports, events, parties, etc. and it can be easy to get overwhelmed and let practicing your singing go by the wayside. Two great ways to curb this are buying a Vocal Journal and writing down what you do every day, and also reporting to someone every day who also has to report to you. It’s astounding how much being accountable to someone else can bolster your desire to stay committed.
Choose wisely though! Don’t choose your super fun friend who is going to give you a pass every time you want to skip practicing (we all have those friends!!). Choose someone who you know is responsible and mature.
Lastly, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a singer. If you have a friend who plays another instrument, you can absolutely be accountability partners. It doesn’t have to take long, your exchange can even be just one text a day. Give each other details. How much time you practiced, what you practiced, what went well, and what was a struggle is sufficient.
A Quick Guide On How to Practice Without a Piano
2. Can Anyone Learn to Sing?
The answer is yes! Here at Arabella’s Voice Studio, we believe anyone can learn to sing. In fact, our slogan, “Music is muscular” reflects our belief that vocal conditioning is akin to athletic training. Just like athletes prepare for competitions, singers can train their vocal muscles to achieve optimal performance.
Natural Talent versus Learned Skill
Everyone has strengths and areas of support that they bring to lessons. Some people might have naturally good pitch and a pleasing vocal tone from an early age. Maybe they had parents who exposed them to a lot of music from a young age, and it gave them a big jump start.
Additionally, if you’re just starting to sing, it’s important to remember that singing is a skill that can be developed. With consistent practice, proper technique, and guidance from a vocal coach, you can make significant improvements with voice lessons in a short period.
Learning From the Greats!
Many of the world’s most famous singers were naturally inclined from a very young age. People like Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Aretha Franklin & Stevie Wonder were all born with a natural gift for singing, showcasing extraordinary vocal talent very early in their lives. It should be noted though – that despite their natural abilities, they all invested immense time and effort into honing their craft. Even the most gifted, natural singers benefit from continuous practice and refinement!
Here are some singers who are proclaimed practice enthusiasts!
Freddy Mercury – The iconic lead singer of Queen was far from a child prodigy when it came to signing. His unique voice and impressive range were developed through years of dedication and training.
Ed Sheeran – Ed has openly admitted that he wasn’t a good singer when he was younger. He worked hard to improve his voice, practicing relentlessly and honing his craft to become the successful artist he is today.
Lady Gaga – She faced a lot of criticism for her vocal abilities in her early career. Through rigorous vocal training and persistence, she developed the distinctive voice we all know today.
Elvis Presley – The King of Rock and Roll struggled with his singing voice in his early years. Just like the others mentioned above, he took voice lessons and practiced diligently to develop the vocal style that made him a legend.
Hard work, consistency, and dedication are the keys to being a successful singer.
3. The Impact of Vocal Training: Does it Work?
An age-old question for someone who wants to learn to sing, or improve their voice is “Should I take voice lessons?” Well…if you want to improve quickly, the answer is yes, you should take voice lessons!
Check out some of our student spotlights and see what our students say about how voice lessons have impacted their technique, abilities, confidence, and overall vocal chops. Many of our students have likely overcome the same issues you may be having, and our testimonials are a great place to get some current, honest opinions of how Arabella’s Voice Studio operates.
Below are some of the key concepts and techniques that we focus on with our students:
Improving Technique and Breath Control
When you work with one of our voice teachers you will learn how to combine proper techniques that will help improve the control you have over your voice. We teach our students how to properly support every note with supported breathing.
Improving Your Vocal Range
Improved technique and breath control often lead to an enhanced vocal range. If you’re learning to sing a song like “Hey Soul Sister” by Train, chances are you may struggle, strain, and run out of gas. It’s a tough tune! It hangs on and dances around that high note through a lot of the song, and it’s difficult to do that for over three minutes!
The techniques we work on in every lesson will not only help teach you how to get through a difficult song like “Hey Soul Sister”, but when employed and practiced properly, they will allow you to sound effortless and smooth. Your transitions between falsetto and chest voice will become seamless, and you’ll learn how to enunciate clearly and use proper vocal placements that work for your voice so you can confidently deliver a performance you’ll be proud of.
4. How Do I Know If I’m “In-Pitch”?
So how do you know if you’re consistently singing with accurate pitch? It can be a struggle for even the best singers, especially because our voice is a living, breathing instrument and so many different elements and factors can affect our sound on a day-to-day basis. Below are some ideas that can help with judging your own pitch accuracy.
Recording and Self-Evaluation
The great news is this is easier today than it has ever been! Nearly everyone today has a smartphone with them all of the time. iPhones have a built-in app called Voice Memos and Androids have numerous options that you can download (Voice Recorder, Easy Voice Recorder, and Smart Voice Recorder are all free and easy to use).
Use a recording app while you’re practicing and play it back so you can hear if your pitches are correct. It’s easy, it’s accurate, it’s free, and it’s immediate! Additionally, when you perform live, before you start, kindly and politely ask the on-site audio engineer if it’s possible to get a recording of your performance. If that’s not possible, a phone recording can still provide you with usable audio that you can analyze after the performance.
Ear Training Exercises
Consistent ear training exercises like singing scales, practicing different solfeggio exercises, sight singing, interval recognition, chord identification, and pitch matching all enhance your ability to connect your ear to your voice and will enhance your pitch awareness.
2. Do I Need to Learn Music Theory?
We frequently get asked, “Do I need to know music theory to be a good singer?” This is a little bit of a tricky question. It’s not a strict requirement to know music theory as a singer. However…it is very helpful to have a good foundation in basic theory concepts. Especially if you plan to collaborate with other musicians. Developing the skill to speak the language and engage in musical dialog will make you a much more valuable contributor to future bands, choirs, ensembles, etc.
Being able to read standard notation, learning how scales are built, memorizing basic intervals, and being able to recognize chord progressions are all invaluable skills to develop as you learn to sing. We do work on some of these basic concepts in our voice lessons, but voice lessons are more directed toward technique, performance, and refining your vocal expression.
Consider our Musicianship Lessons
If you are interested in learning more about theory, check out our Musicianship Training! In this program, you will have a private one-on-one coach and you will work on learning to read, interpret, and perform music more effectively. This program covers theory fundamentals that you don’t have time to cover in voice lessons. The concepts covered are:
- Sight reading
- Rhythm
- Notation
- Chord progressions
- Melody
- Harmony
- Improvisation
- Ear training
- Interpretation
- Using these concepts together
Final Thoughts
So many questions come up when you’re learning to sing, trying to improve, and even for advanced students. The art form is a never-ending labor of love, and there is always something more to learn. At Arabella’s Voice Studio, we are your vocal coaches and cheerleaders! We encourage questions and never want our students – past, present, or future – to feel that a question is too big, or too small. We all were newbies once and had a million questions. If you have questions that weren’t touched on in this blog, please feel free to check out our FAQ, our blog, or contact us directly. We look forward to hearing from you soon!