Does Practicing Help? An Informal Study (Part II)

In the Spring and Summer of 2025, I put together an informal study on a handful of my students’ practice habits. You can read Part I here. In short, my goal was to ask about singers’ practice habits, how they practice, what motivates them, how much time they spend practicing, satisfaction with their practice, etc. Every week, I sent out a short survey with questions asking them to evaluate their week in singing and practice. In this article, I’m going to share with you some highlights and interesting points that stood out to me.

The Results

Part 1: The First Wweek

To begin, I wanted to share a few charts from the first week: 

And a few comments on my question about whether folks will do anything different for the next week:

“Focusing on specific techniques or segments of a song may help me wring more out of each practice session.”

“More time, I would like to do more exercises.”

“Focus on spending more days practicing OR extending the length of practices for the days I do practice.”

“I want to try to be consistent and practice at least 2-3 days a week.” 

“I’d like to commit a bit more time to practicing.”

“More sessions during the week.” 

“Probably more time.” 

“More consistency in blocking off time.”

“I’ll practice 6 days instead of 5.” 

“Will try to make sure I practice 4 times.” 

“Next week, I want to practice more frequently.”

I also asked: “Is there anything else you want to note about this past week?” A common response was the specificity in their goals, what they practiced, and the results in their eyes (both positive and negative):

“Structured practice going over stuff we talked about in lessons really helped internalize that stuff and make it second nature.”

“This week has been challenging because I felt my voice take a bit step backwards in capability. However, it really ramped up my motivation to get some structured practice in…”

“I’ve noticed that while I’ve been making great progress with my range, I’ve been struggling with riffs, which I plan to focus on more next week.” 

“Felt like it was a weaker week than usual. My voice got tired quicker, and I didn’t feel like I was at my best at the end of each practice session. Didn’t feel consistent.” 

“I enjoyed singing more this week! It was helpful to set a small, achievable goal of 15 minutes, and usually I practiced longer than planned.”

We’re already seeing a lot of commonalities between folks, and I’m sure you are seeing yourself in some of these responses. 

Part 2: The Final Week

Jumping ahead to our final week, I wanted to share a few responses from some of the participants.  I asked if anything of note motivated them the past week: 

"Trying to find the sweet spot for 'Sweet Child O’ Mine.'” 

“The lack of time I had sharpened my focus to carve out even just 10 minutes to vocalize.”

“Having a lesson the week before.” 

“Getting ready to record my own music.” 

“The fact that I’m performing in less than 2 weeks aaaaaa.”

“Taking a break definitely pushed me more to get back to practicing. And having voice lessons helped.”

I also asked: “Did you make any discoveries from these past 6 weeks?”

“I’ve seen all sorts of benefits, choosing hard songs outside of my typical range and committing to them fully.”

“Singing for fun can be just as educational. It showed me why I enjoy singing and how I utilize it to express myself. I’m very critical of myself and have high expectations. And sometimes the best method to evolve as a singer is to let go.”

“The amount I practice seems to be correlated with my general happiness. I sing SO MUCH when I’m looking forward to things in my life. When I experience anhedonia, it’s such a struggle to do anything.” 

“I feel like it solidified what I already knew, that practice is beneficial.”

“I really want to start practicing vocal exercises.” 

“I really need deadlines and external pressure to keep me motivated.”

“Lots of positives. Definitely saw improvements over the 6 weeks with my practices and auditions. I found myself more motivated to practice when I had an audition coming up or a lesson versus a week where I was on vacation.”

Finally, I asked: “Did you gain any knowledge about how you practice and if you want to make any changes for the future?”

“Working on a specific aspect of a song helps me a lot. It’s hard for me to keep in mind what I need to pay attention to when doing warm-ups, but having that one aspect to focus on as a simple example has been huge.”

“The pre-recorded warm-ups are great for me!”

“I think the most incredible thing is realizing how easy it is to devote 15 minutes a day and that it’s still beneficial.”

“I sing a lot unstructured throughout the day, but would like to focus on structured singing, paying attention to what I’m doing.”

“I think I get a more than decent amount of singing practice, and that I should try to be less hard on myself when occasionally skipping practice on busy days.”

“I need to focus more on problem sections and not just running things/doing exercises. It matters how I practice more than anything else.”

“I like practicing my songs over technique exercises. Took a note of that to be sure I add more of those vocal exercises into my practices alongside the songs.”

Discussion

As a singer, I see myself in many of these responses. As a teacher, it’s helpful for me to see how I can continue to help and support my students. What is working; what isn’t working. How can I adapt better to the individual in front of me? To take a voice lesson is a collaborative effort. There are two people in the room working together to make that person’s unique and special voice shine in the best way possible. And the “best” way possible is ALSO subjective. Yes, efficiency and health aren’t subjective, but all the stuff after that is. And that’s what makes singing so fun, interesting, and magical! 

You can come to your own conclusions from this informal study, but a few big takeaways from the responses: being specific in your practice is helpful, having some outside motivation is powerful, singing and practice usually mean you will sing and practice more than you intended, and lastly, practicing (even a little bit) WORKS.

Thank you to all of the participants in this study for taking the time to consider your habits, and for being so thoughtful in your responses. 

If you see yourself in these fellow singers, if you’ve got questions or comments about any of it, reach out!