Singing is one of the most difficult and frustrating professions out there.  I haven’t tried them all, but I’ve tried enough of them!

That first hand knowledge, combined with hundreds of conversations I’ve had with friends, colleagues and family members in other fields, make it clear that what singers do is up there near the top of the difficulty scale.  

I even had a friend who told me after graduating from med school that in some ways, being a musician was way more stressful than what he went through…who knows. “I’m not a doctor, Jim,” well actually I am, but not that kind of  doctor. Dad joke…  

Why then, do we do this to ourselves?  The answer to that my friends, is the reason therapists are in business…

One of the most debilitating things to deal with as a singer, is when you can’t figure out how to master a certain technical concept either because you don’t fully understand it or you haven’t found out how to get your instrument to do it yet.  Sometimes both. 

However, we are often incapable of noticing all of the things we ARE doing right during this process.  Here are a few possible reasons why:

• Lessons are short and geared towards correction, not always toward motivation, encouragement and support.  We need to be efficient during that time,  sometimes there’s no room for a pep talk. 
• The “Grass is Greener” principle. We always see what we can’t do in other singers and seldom what they are working on that we’ve got.
• We are impatient.  We want results immediately.
• We fixate on the things we can’t do, sometimes to the point of obsession.
• We can easily get so discouraged that we aren’t able to motivate ourselves to practice or improve, especially when there is no perceivable progress or positive result for our efforts in a specific area. This can start us on a quick downward spiral and halt progress completely.
• Teachers, coaches and other professionals often give us the same notes regarding our biggest weaknesses until they are fixed, so it frequently feels like that’s all we’re hearing, what’s not working.
• Developing a voice is like growing plants.  The changes should be small and incremental, not overnight quick fixes.  It’s incredibly difficult to notice progress that is most likely happening from  day to day. 

So what do we do about it? Well, take some time to identify what you are doing well.  I believe that every singer has at least one “vocal superpower.” One thing that they do really well, possibly better  or potentially better than anyone else.  Often singers don’t know what that “thing” is at all. 

What are some of the possible superpowers anyway? Maybe the reason we don’t see them in ourselves is because we aren’t even considering some things to be superpowers in the first place.  Many of these are not limited to the voice alone, for example. 

• Learning music quickly
• Clean and fast Coloratura
• Singing high and quiet
• Making a big sound
• Huge range
• Great High Notes
• Ability to sing all vowels, or even just an “e” vowel, in to the top of your range
• Taking correction well
• Great stage instincts
• The ability to memorize quickly
• An ear for languages
• The ability to analyze what is happening with your voice on any given day. 
• The ability to teach a vocal concept to someone else. 
• Good Sight-reading chops
• The ability to understand implement suggestions and corrections quickly.
• A beautiful tone
• Excellent posture
• Solid Low Notes
• Good comedic timing
• The ability do dance and sing at the same time (not everyone can do it!)
• Excellent breath control
• The ability to cry on cue
• A voice that doesn’t tire easily
• The ability to eat or drink anything with little to no change to the way your voice works.
• The ability to memorize staging the first time, or without taking notes.
• Naturally rich tone without manipulation
• Not easily flustered or intimidated when something doesn’t go right in a rehearsal.
• The ability to stand still on stage without a lot of gesturing or movement.
• Comfort singing in different styles, i.e. Musical Theater, Jazz, Blues, Pop etc.
• Ability to look natural on stage
• The ability to work well with a variety of colleagues
• Ability to sing in different climates with out much disruption or need for allergy medication
• Good immune system, you don’t easily get sick
• Project well in most halls or theaters
• Ability to work well with a variety of people and personalities.

What are other superpowers?

What do you notice in other singers that you wish you could do?

What do you notice most of the time about other singers when it’s done well or poorly? 

Now the question is, how in the world do I discover if I possess some of these vocal superpowers?  In addition, how do I cultivate them if I don’t have them? Is that even possible?

the short answer is that you have to try new things! Things that are initially uncomfortable.  

I would suggest that the first step be to discover and
quantify your own abilities. If you know what you do well and what you don’t, you’ll have an easier time focusing your efforts in the right places. Whenever  a student comes to me for the fist time,  I often ask this question:  “What are your weaknesses as a singer/performer/musician?”  They give me a laundry list of things. 

I then follow that up with “What are you good at?”  Silence. Occasionally someone will say something like “I’m really passionate about what I do,” or ” I have ok dynamic control.”  These are often “non-answers” and usually very timid. 

It’s ok to think you’re good at something, as long as that’s the truth.  If you’re laboring under the delusion that you’re amazing in one particular area,  that’s a recepie for disaster. 

There are however, way too many opportunities in this line of work to be humbled, we really do have to develop confidence in what we are doing well, or what we feel we can potentially do well. 

After that, it’s time to challenge yourself. 

I like to apply a set of three guidelines or categories with with everything that I do related to performing and teaching.  

1. Fall out of Bed
2. Current Snapshot
3. Here’s where I’m headed

When applied to technical exercises in the practice room for example, start out with something that is easy for you.  Something that’s familiar and comfortable to execute without much thought.  Then, move to things that address your current technical needs. Then try some things at which you are terrible.  It’s ok to stink at things.  If you don’t have things that you’re working on right now, get some.

Where there is no obstacle to overcome, there’s no need for improvement and therefore, no growth. 

There is a fascinating connection to be made here with a recent broadcast connecting a few TED talks that discuss this principle.  They call it creativity in this segment, which is exactly right.  Using creativity to overcome obstacles produces exciting results.  Here’s the link to the whole segment here below.  It’s absolutely worth  lesson for any artist and really, anyone at all:

Creativity

These guidelines also apply to auditions.  Not competitions in every case, but many auditions, yes.  

Concerning your vocal superpowers, my advice is to healthily push yourself to figure out what you can and can’t do at any given moment.  Try the things you are most afraid of.  

If your lesson rep and practice sessions are filled entirely with “fall out of bed,” material, no wonder you don’t feel like you are progressing or that you have any one skill or attribute that sticks out to you. 

I have a soprano student with a lovely voice who loves to sing Puccini, Verdi, Strauss and all of that beautiful stuff.  She’s terrified of coloratura, so of course, I gave her a bunch.  It turns out that she’s terrific at singing it, but she just thought she shouldn’t or couldn’t sing it because she had a bigger voice that was capable of things that many other voices cannot do.  It took a LONG time for her to discover that. Had we not began the process though, she would have never made that discovery.  

Big voices can sing coloratura, light voices can make a “big” sound.  Just because it’s not your technical calling card, doesn’t mean you can’t get that skill to a professional level. There are no rules!  Try it out, you might love it. 

Many years ago, I had the tremendous fortune to make the cast of Ohio Light Opera.  I had limited experience with operetta, dialogue, dancing and staging shows at a rapid pace. I thought I would spontaneously combust when I received the stack of music to learn.  

Well it turns out that I love dialogue, operetta, learning shows quickly, and I’m ok at dancing, yes, really!  Dance Dance Revolution taught me a lot as a kid. 

 There’s no way I would have known that if I hadn’t taken some risks and pushed myself right off of that proverbial cliff.  

I’ve definitely had some coyote and road runner moments while taking risks and have failed miserably.  That’s the point! Sometimes those failures have helped me see that I’m terrible at a certain thing.  Occasionally that particular thing is not something I’m even interested in developing, but often, it’s something that I begin to work on systematically over the course of a few years, and the payoff is incredible when it starts to move from a weakness to a strength. 

To sum it all up, here are a few things I’ve learned about developing these “superpowers”: 

• Where there is no accountability, there is no progress.  Give yourself a deadline or goal.  If you have an upcoming performance or audition and you have to figure our your high c, or that monster lick of coloratura or get your breath to last through that insanely long phrase, that goal will help motivate you in a healthy way. 
• Generic efforts get generic results. If you do the same old stuff every day, you’ll get the same old stuff back.  You have to expand, push and stretch yourself little by little in a healthy but sometimes painful way. 
• Don’t be afraid to fail.  It’s ok to be terrible at something.  In fact, it’s necessary.  Remember that failure without giving up is how we all get better.  Even if you could do something perfectly the first time, who is to say that you’d remember how to do that thing as you get older and mature and your voice changes. 
• Hold yourself accountable.  Keep a list of the attributes you’d like to develop. Ask your teacher or coach for things that will help you figure out how to master those things.  Listen to the singers you admire.  It’s ok to steal good technical ideas as long as you don’t try to mimic the voice exactly.  Solid technique is solid technique. 
• Use existing resources.  There are a number of rubrics, analysis sheets and scoring evaluations for such things as NATS, Solo and Ensemble and college entrance auditions. Get your hands on some of those things and take a look at what the judges or adjudicators have to listen for when they evaluate.  
• Ask.  Don’t be afraid to ask your team, those people who will give you an honest answer, what you are good at.  If they are any good, they’ll be able to tell you your strengths as well as your faults. If you don’t ask, you might never know!