Make it fun.

 

The other day, as I sat at the computer, my son started running up the stairs.

 

I heard some crashes, then the sound of him running back down.... then....tumbling, jumping over imaginary hurdles, leaping into the air.

 

Suddenly an alarm started going off.

 

“I did it!” he said.

 

“Did what?” I asked between smiling, slightly gritted teeth. (The alarm going off was… intense. Think air raid siren levels.)

 

“I dismantled the bomb before the alarm went off! I’m getting in my exercise by playing this game.”

 

Ok, I’m pretty sure he didn’t say, “playing this game," he is 14 after all, but you get the point. 😉

 

It got me thinking.

 

When we’re kids, we don’t really separate effort from play.

 

We don’t say:

“Now I must exercise.”
“Now I must work on my skills.”
“Now I must practice.”

 

We invent a game.

 

And somehow, inside the game… the work happens.

 

Running up the stairs becomes a spy mission.

Jumping around the house becomes training for battle.

Blowing bubbles in water becomes the best way to pass five minutes at the table.

 

There’s a kind of joyful efficiency in that mindset.

 

Kids experiment more. They repeat things endlessly. And they rarely call it discipline.

 

They call it fun.

 

Somewhere along the way, though, many of us lose that instinct.

 

We start thinking that if something matters….if it’s important enough…it probably has to be serious.

 

Practice becomes something we “should” do, something we analyze and try to get right.

 

The wonder fades a little.

 

And yet, if you look closely at some of the most effective vocal exercises out there… they’re basically disguised play.

 

This is one version of what’s called a semi-occluded vocal tract exercise- a fancy term for exercises that partially close the vocal tract to help the voice work more efficiently.

 

But if you strip away the terminology?

 

You’re blowing bubbles in a glass of water.

 

I was just being interviewed by a 12-year-old budding musical theatre actress the other day, and when we talked about this exercise, she lit up.

 

“Oh my parents get SO mad when I blow bubbles in my water,” she said, gleefully.

 

Of course she does it.

 

Because it’s fun.

 

And that’s the point.

 

When something feels playful, we engage with it differently.

 

We WANT to do it, we repeat it more.

 

We explore.

 

We stay curious.

 

Play creates momentum.

 

Adults, on the other hand, often try to motivate ourselves with pressure.

 

We tell ourselves we should practice more.
  

We judge ourselves when we don’t.
  

We make it feel heavier than it needs to be.

 

But what if the path back to consistent singing wasn’t more pressure?

 

What if it was more play?

 

What if practicing singing sometimes looked like:

 

🫧 Blowing bubbles in a glass of water and seeing how steady you can make them.

 

🤡 Sliding your voice up and down like a cartoon character just to experiment with resonance.

 

😵 Trying out a song with the total opposite emotion before singing it normally.

 

🤠 Pretending to sing your song like a country singer. 

 

None of this is wasted time.

 

In fact, play often creates the exact conditions the voice needs to improve:

 

Relaxation.

 

Curiosity.
  

Experimentation.
 

Wonder.

 

In other words, the things that help the voice learn.

 

The version of you who loved singing once probably wasn’t analyzing every detail.

 

Maybe it was your four-year-old self singing loudly in the living room.

 

Or your fourteen-year-old self belting along to your favorite cast album, fully convinced you were the star of the show.

 

That part of you isn’t gone.

 

But sometimes we have to invite them back in.

 

Not by abandoning technique or structure, but by letting joy be part of the process again.

 

By asking:

 

“How could I do this in a way that feels a little more like play?”

 

Because when singing becomes playful again, you will want to practice more often and you will take more risks.

 

Risks that lead you to your answers.

 

And slowly, your voice begins to feel like yours again.

 

Joy, it turns out, is a pretty incredible fuel source.

 

If you’d like a place to explore that kind of playful, low-pressure singing, I’d love to invite you to Monday Night Singing Group.

 

We warm up together and (if you feel called to) each share a song- without the pressure to be perfect.

 

Next session:
🗓️  March 23
🕰️  7:00 PM ET

 

It’s a welcoming space whether you’re returning to singing after a long break or simply looking for a way to reconnect with the joy of your voice.

 

If that sounds like something you’d enjoy, you can join us HERE.

 

Come blow some bubbles with us. 😉