Does Practicing Help? An Informal Study (Part I)

My friend and colleague at New York Vocal Coaching Australia, Zac Bradford, wrote a fantastic series of articles on how to practice (see the latest article here). As I was reading through all of these, an idea came to mind - I want to create a casual study on the practice habits of a handful of my students during the week for six weeks. And so I did! This first part will give you my setup for the study and what I asked of folks; In part two, I will share my findings.

Throughout the six weeks, I’ve been asking the same core questions with the exception of a couple of added questions. Before I give you those, I want to talk about my WHY. 

Practice Makes Better

To get better at anything, we have to practice. People, myself included, have a love-hate relationship with practicing. Not only do we need to practice thoughtfully and purposefully, we need to keep up the motivation to do it consistently. My study focuses more on the consistency of practice. I was curious about how often and how much people practice their singing. Most people can stay focused on and motivated to practice, but at the end of the day, it needs to be sustainable for long-term growth. 

Additionally, my goal wasn’t to motivate or personally find what works best for each person. I hoped to help shed light on each person’s habits so that THEY can have more information on what works for them. There is a lot of research on practice habits and motivation, but at the end of the day, we are individual human beings who need to find our own path. We also have our own goals and reasons for singing and not everyone is interested in practicing or has the time to practice. As I constantly remind my students, there are no rules; there’s no right or wrong; there’s no good or bad. If you are getting the results you want, are satisfied in your singing, and enjoying the journey then that’s what’s important. 

Study Method: Questions For Students

With all of that said, here is what I asked each person before I asked folks to start keeping track of their practice habits:

• How many days per week do you currently practice (on average)?
• On average, how many minutes/hours do you practice per week?
• How motivated are you to practice (in general)?
• How satisfied are you with how often you practice?
• How satisfied are you with the quality of your practice?
• Are there any factors getting in the way of you practicing (unrelated to motivation)? (ie work, space, roommates, time, etc.)
• When practicing do you spend more time on vocal exercises, more time on song work, or about the same amount of time on each?
• Is there anything else you want me to know about practicing or this informal study?

At the time of this writing, my informal study is already almost finished and I have to say it’s been interesting and fun to see everyone’s answers AND to be able to talk to folks about how they’re feeling through it all. Please be on the lookout for part 2 to see what I found and the feedback I got from the participants. I think you will find some commonalities with the folks which I hope will make you feel less alone in your practicing! It’s a JOURNEY and it’s always helpful to find fellows who are struggling and also finding success. At the end of the day, we are human beings, not robots. We are imperfect, and that goes for our progress as well. The best we can do is embrace the imperfection and enjoy the ride!