How to be your own Teacher.

Having a teacher that you trust can be an important part of becoming more confidant as a singer.

It’s helpful to have another set of eyes and ears to help guide you as you develop your relationship with your voice.

AND

The most important thing you can do as an artist is to take ownership over your experience.

The only way to make the relationship with your voice less mysterious is to become ACTIVELY involved with its development.

Become your own teacher. (When your teacher is not around.)

How do you do that?

I've created a FREE guide to help you with that process that you can download here ↓

AND here are some ideas in the meantime to get you started:

Take a moment to get centered.

Doing this helps you to align with the part of yourself that is loving, discerning and supportive.

Look in the mirror.

Have a mirror nearby that you can glance at frequently while you are singing. The mirror provides immediate feedback that you can work with to make adjustments as needed. For example you might be holding tension in your jaw or furrowing your brow.

When you have a realization or breakthrough, write it down.

Have a journal nearby to jot down ideas, realizations, frustrations, celebrations you want to remember. It’s so easy to forget the breakthroughs! Write it down and review.

Have those notes/ reminders nearby.

Read through them before you start to remind yourself of your recent discoveries.

Go by feel, not by sound. (But listen back if you record yourself.)

The experience of hearing yourself as you are singing is very different inside your head than outside in the room. Trust that what you are doing should be gauged by how it is feeling. Taking note of how something feels when it’s working well is helpful to remember to later recall.

Record yourself and listen back.

As you watch/ listen back, take notes mentally or literally on what you are hearing and noticing. Be as specific as possible. (“I hear tension in my sound on this particular note.”) Avoid generalizations (ie “that sounds bad.”). Write down any insights you have. Watch out for your inner critic making sweeping judgements and instead work to be discerning.

Check in frequently with your body.

Are you holding tension somewhere? Can you do something to ease the tension or find release? PLAY.

Do warmups that your body and voice need in THIS moment.

This might change very day. Have a list of favorites for different purposes and pull out as needed. Trust your intuition.

For example, if I am singing and I feel like my sound needs more forward resonance, I will do something like the puppy whines or the kee, kee, kee exercise (You know the one! :)) to bring it forward. Or if I notice tension in my tongue I might pull out a favorite to address that issue to help bring relaxation.

Go with where your voice is that day.

Every day is a new day with different physical & emotional happenings. What worked yesterday so easily might not feel as easy today. (Or vice versa!) Understand that by developing this mindset you are developing an awareness for your body- your instrument- that will serve you in the long run to respond to the needs of the day.

Check in frequently with your state of mind & mood.

Is your inner critic highjacking the practice session? If so, take a break. Do something that will calm your mind and connect you to your body like 2 minutes of focusing on your breath.

Developing this kind of relationship with yourself will enable you to grow exponentially and feel way more empowered on your journey. You’ll also be inspired to ask specific questions and give feedback more readily in sessions with your teacher. Go team. :)

Send me message on instagram or through my contact page! I'd love to hear from you!