The Importance of Training
Last month I wrote about how I haven’t been able to stop thinking about wildness, but at the same time I found I couldn’t stop thinking about training, either. And of course training feels like (is?) the polar opposite of wildness. So now we arrive at that most powerful place– the place where opposites coexist, the place of paradox. I’m kind of obsessed with this place, and I find examples of it everywhere as I work toward mastery and high performance in my own life. Even the physical act of singing well is its own kind of paradox, a juxtaposition of relaxation and energy.
Carl Jung wrote “Only the paradox comes anywhere near to comprehending the fullness of life.” I don’t know about you, but I’m here for the fullness of life! As a singer, I’m here for the fullness of singing, I’m here for accessing the absolute fullness of my own voice. As a vocal coach, I’m here for the fullness of singing (and life) for the singers I coach. I want to help my clients get to their absolute best. Their fullness.
But paradox can be a tough thing to work with, right? There is a tension contained in paradox, and when we pull it off, we’ve achieved a balancing act of sorts, like Luke Skywalker effortlessly doing a one-armed handstand with Yoda sitting on his foot.
As I wrote last month, I believe wildness is essential to singing from a free, authentic place. Yet, mastery requires training. If we want to sing at a pro level (or let’s say, our highest level), and then after that at a sustainable level, we must train.
The training gives us the tools we need. The training gives us a foundation to build upon. The training helps us go beyond our current limitations, both physical and mental. The training helps us internalize and then deliver our best performances, over and over.
So, practically speaking, how do we hold the tension of this paradox and work with it in a meaningful way? How do we get to that magical, lightning-bolt place in the middle of the Venn diagram? I think it can look different for different people but I recommend starting with simply figuring out your location. Where are you in this equation? Take a good, hard look at your daily habits. Do you tend to hang out in the wilderness far away from civilization, immersed in a dreamy, creative lifestyle and hoping for the best when you step on stage? Or locked in a left-brain prison of structure and technical analysis? Or are you somewhere in between but not in a balanced, helpful way? Once you know if you lean toward wild or trained, or need help with both, you have a better idea of where to start.
I believe a habit of staying in either place and not giving the other the attention it needs is a form of self-sabotage.
Let’s talk about that some more.
I have a tendency to take my own voice for granted. Party because, as a coach and a person who sings professionally, I sing a lot on any given day. But modeling in lessons, or recording a vocal or singing BGVs at someone’s show is not the same as training. The reality is, when I take my voice for granted and don’t spend quality time with it on a daily basis, I am short-changing myself. I am neglecting one of the most important parts of myself. So lately I’ve been asking myself why I can so easily “forget” to practice. I’ve also been having lots of conversations with lots of singers (across a range of levels, by the way) about the challenges of practicing daily, so I know I am not alone in this. Some of the reasons I have encountered in myself and others:
simply out of the habit (prioritizing other things)
afraid of not being good enough
afraid of being really good or even great
overwhelmed with pressure or expectation (so, avoidant)
fear of addressing a vocal problem (so, avoiding it)
experiencing burnout
negative childhood associations with practicing and/or discipline
lack of knowledge about how to practice in an effective way
Do you see yourself in any of these? Whatever the reason or reasons, we can borrow from Steven Pressfield and label all of it “Resistance”,* which is ultimately THE thing standing in the way of everyone’s greatness/fullness. Resistance is the stuff we tell ourselves to avoid doing the other stuff that is going to really make a difference. Resistance = Self-Sabotage.
“Success is the product of daily habits– not once-in-a-lifetime transformations.” ~James Clear
The more I study mastery the more I agree with James Clear. Once you’ve sorted out your location and asked yourself some tough questions about why you are where you are, then it’s time to work on your habits. If you struggle with the wildness piece then check out last month’s blog for some practices for staying regularly connected to and nurturing that part of yourself. And if you are resistant to daily technical practice and warming up your voice then begin reframing it. Think of training as a beautiful gift you get to give yourself, spending that time with your voice. Even (especially) if it means pushing past your fear and resistance, again and again. And start small: 30 minutes of focused singing (10 minutes of warm up and 20 minutes of technique practice or working on a song, for instance) is a relatively easy daily habit to establish and build upon.**
“Depending on what they are, our habits will either make us or break us. We become what we repeatedly do.” ~Sean Covey
In addition to the physical & technical growth we experience when we commit to daily training, something very powerful happens in our minds. It’s one of the main reasons I give people for warming up, and I often wonder if it is even more powerful than the physical effects: when we warm up daily we FEEL like a singer. Our daily warm up leaves us feeling mentally like the vocal athlete we are, or that we aspire to be. We relax and sing more confidently as a result because we’ve done our homework. So we do it even when we don’t want to do it, because that’s what singers do, and we are singers. It’s a question of identity, which has an incredibly powerful impact on our behavior. When I have fallen out of the habit of daily practice and get back into it, I feel this effect almost immediately.
Once we have our regular practices in place that support both Wildness and Training, it’s a matter of being present and noticing. How is your singing & performing affected by your practices? Record yourself and develop the skill of listening objectively so that you can keep training in a helpful way. Ask trusted friends or colleagues to watch your performances and offer feedback on your growth. Above all, stay present. It takes practicing with awareness to feel your way into the lightning-bolt space. No one can tell you exactly how to get there, but everyone will hear it when it happens. And it’s quite likely that the relationship you have with your singing, and the daily practices that you develop to support it, will evolve and shift numerous times in your lifetime. This is not a mathematical equation that you’re trying to solve once and for all; rather, it is a living, breathing, dynamic thing that you feel your way into. So you’ll want to be present to what’s working and when it’s time to adjust something. You will develop some Jedi mind skills and you will learn your voice, and yourself, in a whole new way through this process.
Last but not least: I heard once that we aren’t supposed to do hard things alone. Pushing past your own physical and mental limits, establishing new daily habits, and realizing what you are truly capable of (greatness! fullness!) are all hard things. Balancing opposite forces to reach the lightning-bolt-energy of the paradox is a hard thing. And there’s nothing quite like accountability and support for going beyond ourselves, so reach out to your people and ask for what you need. Lean into your music community, or create one if you don’t have one, so you can be in the arena with other people who are also seeking to live a life of fullness.
You can also hire a coach for extra support and guidance. I I know one who loves helping people out with this stuff. ;)
Notes:
*For more on working with Resistance I strongly recommend Pressfield’s books, The War of Art and Turning Pro.
**if you struggle with habit-building in general then check out Clear’s wonderful book Atomic Habits. His website is also chock-full of helptul habit hacks.