What do we mean by practice? Practice means a repetitive action done on a regular basis.The more an action is repeated, the more embedded the action becomes in the subconscious mind and the autonomic nervous system. So when you practice you make something your own. In vocal technique this means that it becomes automatic, so that you can focus more on music and less on the mechanics of your voice.
So does practice make perfect? Only if you are repeating a perfect action on a regular basis. The old saw should really be rephrased as “Practice Makes Permanent.” This is the reason why beginners are encouraged to be in lessons once per week at a minimum. We want you to establish healthy singing habits from the start. It’s much easier to instill good habits than it is to remove old bad habits and replace them with new, desired ones.
In fact, I have had some students come to me with bad habits so engrained that it has taken three or four times the amount time to un-train and retrain those patterns than it would have ever taken to train their voice in the first place.
It’s imperative if you expect to make significant progress, that you get trained properly from the beginning, get into lessons EACH WEEK, and practice what you have been taught diligently. Simply singing songs on your own does not count as practice. I take care to make sure that every student I teach has a recording of each and every lesson they take with me. The reason for this is that you are expected to practice with this recording each day, so that you can get better fast! If you are serious about singing, then make it to your lesson every week and practice with your recording every single day. If you do this, then then the sky really is the limit for you!
