We’ve all thought about it at least once. How do I get better at the best rate possible? There is no concrete answer but over the years of being a student of not just music but other creative fields as well, I think I know what the best way to become better is.
Develop a system where you track your progress and allow a few select individuals to tell you how you’ve performed regardless of what stage you’re in. This will allow you to have an unbiased view of your progress and keep you on track at all times.
Now, what does it all mean? Let’s dive in deeper and try to understand what steps we need to take to become better.
Why You Ought to Track Your Progress
Once you start practicing you have to realize that practicing is finite. There is an end to it.
For example, the end goal of practicing the major scale is to sing it without going off pitch and in time. You can’t linger on something like this for a year.
You need to know how much you have progressed and in how much time.
Create a PDF, notebook, or whatever but I have made something for you to track your progress in days, weeks, and over the course of a month.
This will do wonders as it will start to show your pain points as your progress.
For example, you may be able to sing everything well except the major 7th leading to the octave. So, once you have made a note of that, you can now practice what is ailing you rather than something you are already good at.
Remember, practicing a part of what you already can do won’t do much if the other parts of the whole are left unattended.
So, in your act of taking notes of what you are still struggling with in your practice, you will refine what you need to work on.
Don’t Forget to Reward Yourself
Celebrate the small wins.
Everything in music is a sum of smaller parts. Songs are based on a scale and the scales are made up of notes. So, when you do finally accomplish a small task, reward and congratulate yourself. Even if it is just a successful practice session.
Though, don’t overblow it out of proportion. Celebrate your wins in accordance with the task accomplished.
Why You Need a Feedback System
I personally like to call it a feedback system.
Why? Because you feed it your progress and this system then goes ahead and shows your results to someone else. These trustworthy people whom you’ve chosen now will review your progress apart from yourself.
You are free to name it whatever you like. I thought it sounded cool so I went with the ‘Feedback System’.
I have been a narcissist when it comes to my own compositions. I had overlooked how bad my singing actually was until my feedback system told me. In my case, it was my mentor and my friend.
Believe me, we are the worst judge when it comes to ourselves.
It is crucial that you have someone other than yourself to tell you how you have performed. Even if it is just exercise. What this allows you to have is an unbiased view of your own singing. You could be going in the opposite direction of me, you may be singing better than you think you are!
The last thing I could ever want for you at that moment is for you to feel otherwise.
Choose Your People for Feedback System Carefully – Three Rules
Never show a wolf where your hens are.
There is good feedback and bad feedback. I am talking about the morality of the issue here, not the accuracy of the feedback itself.
Some people genuinely want your good and some genuinely bad. The three rules are this
- If you 100% trust the person you are sharing your beginner singing progress with, then and only then include them in your feedback system.
- Don’t have more than five people in your feedback system.
- Listen to their critiques and judge/remove/keep them accordingly.
The Bonus Effect of The Feedback System
There is a good effect to having a feedback system for a beginner. It will force you to start networking early on. If you’re going to find people other than the already established network you have.
If someone had told the 18-year-old me that I would have to talk and be in the good books of other people to be invited to be in a band or other activities by talking well with them, I would’ve slapped you and said “…only skills matter”.
I was naive.
Effective Practice
You can’t just sit there and do vocal exercises while watching TV or boring your mind with something else. No, you have to be a person who does practice and is aware when practicing.
Identity
You have to become a person who is identified with the act of practicing vocals. It is only when you ‘are’ a practicing kind of person that you will sit down and practice. To kick start your new identity tell everyone you know that you will be practicing your singing chops on [insert day] from [insert hours].
The conversation may go something like this.
Meeting a random friend
John: Wings! How are you?
Wings: Hey! Long time!
John: What’s up? How have you been?
Wings: Practicing my vocals lately!
John: Sing something for me!
Wings : *slaps John*
At your partner’s parents’ having dinner
Future Dad-In-Law: So, Wings, when do you plan to ask my daughter to marry you?
Wings: After my vocal practice two years from now.
Daddy ‘O: That’s too far!
Wings: I love practicing my vocals.
Dad: You haven’t finished your current song!
Wings : *Slaps Never Becoming my Father-In-Law*
Jokes aside, what I am trying to imply is, that if enough people have the impression that you have a habit of practicing your vocals, you will. When your environment is primed to make you into a certain individual then you ought to.
Practicing consistently is the only determining factor in your life as a musician. Showing up every day. Without an identity that upholds that belief, you simply won’t show up. Change small things in your life and make it easier for yourself to practice.
Aware = Flow = Deep Work
Go on Google or YouTube and search about what deep work or flow is.
It is when you are so much into what you’re doing, time starts to slip. I am keeping an eye on my word count and between when it was 500 words till now, time vanished. I love what I do, also I am hyper-aware of what I am typing about.
You need to start making the quality of your practice like this. Only then will you be able to proceed at the best possible speed. These little optimizations will start to show their results in a month’s time.
This ‘quality’ shouldn’t be confused with putting in ‘more hours’. No, you can waste four hours or you can concentrate and give your best hours of practice to yourself. Not practicing singing, to yourself. Yes, yourself.
The end result of practicing singing is that you become better.
Do You Want to Learn to Sing?
I have written another article in which I talk about why online courses are the way to go. You can read it here.
I personally own a copy of ‘The Four Pillars of Singing’ and it definitely helped me hone my singing skills, now I would like you to be able to do the same. Check this page out for more details.
Whatever you end up deciding, I hope you are successful!