Just as in any athletic endeavor (and yes, using your voice optimally IS an athletic endeavor), it makes all the difference to get your thinking right. If you intend to do it, and then expect to be able to do it, you are going to be a lot closer to actually DOING IT.

If you want to:

• Center your pitch perfectly - intend that pitch and expect to hit it.
• Hit a certain note like a bull's eye- intend that note and expect to hit it.
• Cause someone to feel an emotion- intend that emotion and expect to be heard.
• Breathe and control your breath more fully- intend to communicate the phrase and expect to have the right amount of breath, and it's almost automatic.
• Deliver a phrase with a certain color of resonance that communicates- intend the 'between the lines' communication you want to relay
• Feel relaxed and focused as you deliver your vocal message- intend to be relaxed and focused, expect to encounter no tension.
• Blend your voice other voice(s)- intend and expect that your voice WILL blend in with the same tone and rhythm of the other voice(s).
• Get the rhythm of the music in your phrasing- intend to immerse your muscles in the feel of the music
• Lose any anxiety or nervousness- Intend to make it about them instead of you, and expect to encounter no nervousness as you do.

If you intend to do so, you will find that you set yourself up more correctly for the vocal chore.

If you expect to do so, your follow-through will predict success much better than 'dropping the ball' (dropping the end of your phrase/breath/focus or/nerve).

Let me know how this change in thinking affects your next performance. Do you have any other special thought preparation that helps you?

Labels: Vocal_Techniques