How to Practice Singing Part VII: Make Practice Habits Satisfying

This is part VII of Zac Bradford's "How to Practice Singing series". You can view part I of the series here, where we compared two different practicing styles: Striving vs Contentment. You can view part II of the series here, where we discuss how you can practice with intention. You can view part III of the series here, where we explore the nature of identity-based habits. You can view part IV of the series here, where we devise practical ways of creating practice habits for singing that promotes consistency. You can view part V of the series here, where we learn to make practice habits attractive and irresistible to singers through the principle of temptation bundling. You can view part VI of the series here, where we discusses the idea of "friction" when building a habit and suggests practical ways to make building practice habits easier for singers.

The 4th Law: Make It Satisfying

When creating a singing practice practice habit, the key to repeatability is to make the experience satisfying. Clear states that the Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change is “What is rewarded is repeated. What is punished is avoided”. (Clear, p.186)

As my mentor Dr. Brian Gill says: “Learning to sing well takes consistent, mindful practice over time.” The challenge with practice is that lasting positive changes aren’t immediately apparent, but are delayed and noticed or experienced weeks, months, and often years later. The human brain tends to prefer instant gratification over delayed rewards, which means that as singers (& voice teachers) we need to be strategic about paying attention to small victories within our practice that can provide an immediate reward while having realistic expectations about progress. We can also be strategic and create extrinsic rewards that occur after practice sessions to take advantage of our human tendency toward instant gratification. (Clear, p.188)

“The first three laws of behaviour change - make it obvious, make it attractive, and make it easy - increase the odds that a behaviour will be performed this time. The fourth law of behaviour change - make it satisfying - increases the odds that a behaviour will be repeated next time. It completes the habit loop.” (Clear, p.186)

In this article we will explore four tactics for making singing practice satisfying: Find the Small Successes Within Your Practice, Use Reinforcement, Use a Habit Tracker and Never Miss Twice. Managing expectations will also be discussed briefly, as it relates to knowing what type of rewards to expect in the short term. I hope that singers reading this article will have tools and increased confidence in developing a singing practice habit that they want to return to repeatedly, ultimately choosing to be joyful in whatever stage or season they are in.

Find the Small Successes Within Your Practice

This idea of finding small intrinsic success or rewards within the practice habit is a tactic that wasn’t mentioned in Atomic Habits, that I thought might be beneficial to include here as it is something that has been modelled for me by my mentors, and has helped me in my journey and that of many of my students. These rewards are not small in importance or priority, but rather small in that you are usually overlooked in preference of the larger goals singers have, i.e. extend vocal range, belt with more power, etc.

Feedback Helps

It is not always obvious to singers that they have improved in a given moment or a particular aspect of their singing. After all, we are living with our voices daily and it is difficult to have such a perspective with incremental changes. Having a trusted voice teacher who can point out a small improvement within a voice lesson or a more moderate improvement over a month or two of practice will often help to highlight what is often missed by the singer without such feedback. Another way of highlighting these types of incremental achievements is to compare back to recordings of your vocal practice, lessons or performances from months and years ago. This is a concept that Dr. Barbara Doscher, author of The Functional Unity of the Singing Voice and mentor to my mentor (Dr. Brian Gill) emphasized. 

Finding the helpful hidden reward, ignoring the obvious, unhelpful reward

As Clear writes “With our bad habits, the immediate outcome usually feels good, but the ultimate outcome feels bad”. Within singing practice, it can be tempting to take shortcuts that help us attain part of our goal immediately because it feels like we have achieved something. This type of shortcut often only addresses the symptom of technical issues, while leaving the underlying cause unattended. 

A common example is when a singer is practicing a challenging ascending interval, and on the first attempt they may sing the higher note accurately, but do it in a way that causes vocal discomfort or strain. The singer notices the accuracy is there (they “hit the note”) but attempts the exercise again, making a technical alteration (e.g. different mouth shape, deeper breath etc). Ascending to the “high” note suddenly feels easier, the singer experiences reduced effort, and enjoyable sensations such as vibrations towards the front of the face ("resonant voice"). 

Sometimes we are so focused on “hitting” the high note powerfully that we focus on the wrong thing. We miss the perceptually smaller successes of reduced vocal effort, increased flexibility or pleasurable sensations such as vibrations in the facial tissue even if the note isn’t as powerful as we may ultimately desire. 

How Small Successes Provide an Instant Reward and Support Your Vocal Identity

The benefit of finding this type of small success, versus the more tempting and obvious immediate reward of achieving the high note at the cost of vocal strain is two-fold: 

1. The singer is focusing on the part of practice that feels good in the moment (Instant Reward) and simultaneously helps in progress toward the long-term goal (Delayed Gratification), even if the first, vocally strenuous option helped to “hit” the high note (Instant Gratification, and Delayed Consequence).
2. This focus on reduced vocal effort and good vibrations is aligned with a vocal identity that believes that singing (and voice use) should be free from strain and that longevity of the voice is a priority. This type of continuity of vocal identity and process is what assists in the sustainability of a practice habit as well as reaching goals (see Identity-Based Habits). 

Use Reinforcement: Give Yourself an Immediate Reward When You Complete Your Habit

“Reinforcement…refers to the process of using an immediate reward to increase the rate of a behaviour. Habit stacking… ties your habit to an immediate cue, which makes it obvious when to start. Reinforcement ties your habit to an immediate reward, which makes it satisfying when you finish”. (Clear, p.191)

If you happen to practice singing in the morning after breakfast and are somewhat caffeine-reliant (like I am) the reward could be a cup of coffee right after your practice session. The reinforcement reward could also be listening to a podcast or Netflix show you love, really anything you look forward to, that feels like a reward for you. The point is that you are taking advantage of our human desire for instant gratification to keep you coming back to practice again and again. 

As Clear states: “In the beginning, you need a reason to stay on track. This is why immediate rewards are essential. They keep you excited while the delayed rewards accumulate in the background.” (Clear, p.191)

As the habit develops and grows, I believe it is possible and perhaps likely that the singing practice itself will become the reward. It has been my personal experience that singing practice is satisfying in and of itself, the further I move in my journey. The act of warming up, exercising the voice, and working through challenging repertoire is rewarding in two main ways. First, the sense of accomplishment in showing up to sing and develop my craft is satisfying. Secondly, the more I show up to practice, the more my awareness and proprioception are heightened. This helps me to appreciate the shorter journey within each practice session. From feeling vocally “unwarm” and relatively “lethargic” to an increased sense of vocal freedom, efficiency, and expressiveness by the end of each session.

Use a Habit Tracker: Keep Track of Your Habit Streak 

When we hear the term Habit Tracker most of us probably think of a phone app (of which there are many free and paid). However, there are also other simple methods of keeping track of singing practice habits. One of my students has a large whiteboard, with a column for each day of the week, and a row to track each habit i.e. singing practice, guitar practice and physical exercise, for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc.

"Habit trackers assist with habit formation on many levels: as they make it obvious; seeing a streak of practice sessions on a whiteboard or app can trigger you to start your next practice session" (Clear, p.197). Trackers make it attractive, as Clear states “The most effective form of motivation is progress”. In other words, just having a desire to maintain the practice streak can be enticing enough to practice on a given day (Clear, p.198). Finally, trackers make it satisfying, the satisfaction gained from marking off another practice session and seeing that practice streak continue is rewarding. This type of gamification can prove highly effective and is taken advantage of by the most popular apps around, Duolingo for language learning streaks and Strava for exercise streaks just to name a couple (Clear, p.198).

I love to track stats whether it be exercise, language learning or otherwise, but I understand that some people find measuring and monitoring habits laborious. A helpful approach that Clear suggests we adopt to decrease friction involved in the tracking process is to make it automated (Clear, p.199).

He proposes a formula, The Habit Stacking + The Habit Tracking is: 

After {Current Habit}, I will {Track my habit}

(Clear, p. 200)

Or more specifically adapted for singing: 

After (Singing Practice}, I will {mark off practice with an X on my whiteboard calendar}

The key is to make this tracking process simple so that you are more likely to do it. Making a ritual out of tracking can make your singing practice more obvious and attractive for future sessions and more satisfying in the moment. 

Never Miss Twice: When You Forget to Do a Habit, Make Sure You Get Back on Track Immediately

“The first mistake is never the one that ruins you. It is the spiral of repeated mistakes that follows. Missing once is an accident. Missing twice is the start of a new habit.” (Clear, P.201)

No matter how much planning, systematization or self-discipline a singer has or employs, we all fall short of achieving perfection with our singing practice. Some circumstances are out of our control and impede our ability to practice on a given day or for a given length of time. When these circumstances inevitably arise because of health, work, family or other reasons, the important thing is to make sure you don’t miss the next practice session. 

Beware of the All or Nothing Mentality!

“If I don't practice one day, I know it; two days, the critics know it; three days, the public knows it.” Jascha Heifetz (World Renowned Violinist)

One of the biggest mistakes singers make when it comes to practice is adopting the All-or-nothing mentality. This is the attitude that if practice can’t be done perfectly then there is no point doing it at all. Whereas, singers who decide to not miss twice, and are willing to adapt the session to meet the limitations of various circumstances are likely to maintain more consistency with practice e.g. reducing the duration of practice from 30 minutes to 10 minutes on a given day because a friend needed to be picked up from the airport.

This type of flexibility helps us as singers maintain the practice streak, which is both a vote for singing as a part of our “identity”, i.e. choosing to be the type of singer who practices regularly. It also helps us maintain and build vocal conditioning and fitness. If a singer chooses to miss the practice session just because the planned 30-minute session wasn’t possible then they are more likely to lose some previously earned gains, whereas doing the 10 minutes may allow the singer to maintain conditioning even if there are no noticeable gains. Clear agrees: “Lost days hurt you more than successful days help you…Don’t let losses eat into your compounding” (Clear, p. 102).

Disclaimer about realistic expectations

Returning for a moment to the quote from my mentor in the introduction of this article: “Learning to sing well takes consistent, mindful practice over time.” This means that we, as singers, benefit from having realistic expectations about how and when results may become apparent. Singers must have an understanding and awareness that real, lasting positive change in vocal coordination occurs in the realm of years and decades, more so than weeks and months of practice, even if they are diligent, mindful and consistent in the process. Without realistic expectations, it can be difficult to notice and use these small rewards for our benefit in the practice of habit development. A well-known saying often attributed to Bill Gates echoes this mistake: "Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years."

This realization is a game-changer for many singers, and without it, I have witnessed singers experience utter defeat because they have expected to reach their “end goal” within a time frame that is not realistic, and simultaneously they are not able to appreciate the small victories within each practice session that lead to such large goals. 

C.S. Lewis uses a wonderful illustration to highlight how our expectations govern our responses. He states: “If you’re shown a hotel room you’ve been told is the Honeymoon Suite, your expectations will be high. If there’s no plush carpet, spa and champagne, you’ll be disappointed. On the other hand, if you’ve been told before the door opens that it’s a jail cell, you’ll be delighted to find even modest comforts. (Lewis, p.136-37)

Be Patient!

I am not suggesting that singers become pessimistic about vocal improvement, which can be crushing for a singer, and neither am I advocating that singers expect results that are unrealistic within a given time frame, which can ultimately be equally destructive to a singer. The ability to manage expectations and notice small positive changes is made much easier with the feedback of an experienced and trusted voice teacher who can guide you in the process, or speaking with other singers who have more experience than you do. A bonus of maintaining realistic expectations is that if you expect the process to take time, even with consistent, mindful practice, you will likely be able to celebrate when an unexpected breakthrough occurs. 

I am relieved when a singer realizes that this process is going to take time and isn’t always linear and that shortcuts or attempts to skip necessary steps often result in regression. This shift in mindset and expectations is often the beginning of a singer being able to appreciate and celebrate the journey, which comes from choosing to focus on the current and next step rather than end gaining, i.e. the ultimate goal (King, n.d.). Put another way, realistic expectations provide the potential for a singer to take delight in small successes within or after a practice session, that reinforce the habit, and keep them returning to practice again and again.

Rome (and your singing voice) is not built in a day!

In this article, we have explored four tactics for making singing practice satisfying. With our first tactic, we explored Finding the Small Successes Within Your Practice by utilizing feedback, comparing back and ignoring the obvious, unhelpful reward which can provide an instant reward and support the singer's vocal identity. We then examined the idea of Using Reinforcement to create a reward after each practice session that will entice the singer to return to the next practice session. Our third tactic was to Use a Habit Tracker, which gave us a way of gamifying and making our practice streak more tangible thereby reinforcing earlier laws of behaviour change and simultaneously making the current practice session more satisfying. The rule of Never Miss Twice was discussed to help us become adaptable with our practice to life's unexpected circumstances and to make sure that occasional lost practice sessions don’t eat into our compounding improvements. 

The concept of having realistic expectations about progress and the vocal journey was considered so that we could better focus on small successes and enjoy the helpful immediate rewards. We learned that maintaining this balance with expectations can help us mitigate unnecessary frustration in the short term, increase hope for the long term and keep us returning to practice again and again as we enjoy the journey.

In this and the previous three articles, we have examined the four laws of behaviour change in the context of singing practice. 1. Make it obvious, 2. Make it attractive, 3. Make it easy, 4. Make it satisfying. In our next article, we will be exploring the idea of avoiding and breaking bad habits, which can often sabotage or interfere with the development of our desired habits, including singing practice. 

Reference

• Clear, J. (2018). Atomic habits: An easy & proven way to build good habits & break bad ones. Random House.
• Clear, J. (n.d.). Continuous improvement: How it works and how to master it. James Clear. https://jamesclear.com/continuous-improvement#:~:text=Here's%20the%20punchline%3A,the%20time%20you're%20done
• Goodreads. (n.d.). Jascha Heifetz quotes. Goodreads. Retrieved August 20, 2024, from https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/196246.Jascha_Heifetz
• Goodreads. (n.d.). Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years. Goodreads. Retrieved August 20, 2024, from https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/302999-most-people-overestimate-what-they-can-do-in-one-year
• King, H. (n.d.). End gaining. In Alexander Technique Glossary. Retrieved June 24, 2024, from https://www.hilaryking.net/glossary/end-gaining#:~:text='End%20gaining%20is%20a%20universal,whereby%20the%20request%20 is%20 achieved
• Lewis, C.S. (2021) Mere Christianity. Harper Collins Publishers. https://www.harpercollins.com/products/mere-christianity-c-s-lewis.